Gay Pride march. Photo credit: Bishopsgate Institute, ’74-24 Past Marble Arch’
News in of the latest exhibition at Charlton House:
Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust are displaying a small archival collection of LGBTQ+ memorabilia from local charities at Charlton House this month. On display in the Tea Room throughout February this mini exhibition includes items such as postcards from LGBTQ campaigns, through to sharing information on HIV prevention.
Pamphlets and magazines with information and services available to LGBT people in Greenwich, as well as significant changes to civil and criminal law in the fight for equality for LGBTQ+ people are also on display.
Two t-shirts can be seen from Pride Marches, one in 2005 and the other unknown, both from Metro charity a leading equality and diversity charity providing health, community and youth services across London and the South East.
There are also postcards and other ephemera, also from Metro charity, including a cartoon sketch discussing the inclusion of Trans people in LGBT history.
Producer and Community Engagement Officer Helen Young said “The Trust is currently on a collection freeze while we work through a back-log of documentation and collection move, but we are delighted to bring this mini exhibition to the local community and hope to begin collecting oral histories and other ephemera from the LGBTQ+ community in the very near future”.
Yesterday afternoon The Charlton Champion, Friends of Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust and local councillors were invited to Charlton House for the inaugural lighting of its Christmas tree. Afterwards, mince pies, mulled wine and a welcome break from the cold and windy weather were on offer inside.
The trust’s Helen Moon told The Charlton Champion that it has exciting plans for a larger event in 2019, so watch this space for further information in the coming year.
And keep scrolling for a video of the countdown!
Courtesy of Helen Moon, Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust
Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust was set up by Greenwich Council in 2014 to manage historic buildings in the borough, including Charlton House, the Assembly Rooms, and the Tudor Barn in Eltham, as well as the borough archives and war memorials.
News from Charlton House about its involvement in a new scheme providing support for local residents with learning disabilities:
Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust is delighted to announce that Charlton House has been confirmed as A Safe Place, part of a network of shops, cafes, museums and heritage buildings around the Royal Borough of Greenwich where any local resident with a learning disability can go for help should they need it.
With funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), support from the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the Metropolitan Police, the Safe Place Scheme was set up by Advocacy in Greenwich.
The Safe Place logo
Charlton House as a heritage building at the heart of the borough is proud to have joined this new initiative and scheme, providing support or shelter should anyone feel scared, intimidated or unsafe.
As Christmas creeps closer, it’s quite possibly time to purchase some presents for your nearest and dearest – unless they only deserve a lump of coal this year…
Here is a round-up of the festive events The Charlton Champion has details of so far, but please let us know if you’re organising something that we’ve not spotted yet. Send us a message or leave a comment below, and we’ll update this list over the coming weeks.
On Saturday 24 November Pound Park Nursery hosts their Winter Wonderland from 10am to 1pm, head to the school for wintry treats, a raffle and extra special guests.
Saturday 1 December has Charlton Park Academy’s Christmas Craft Fair with choirs and kids’ activities from 10am to 2pm, and Maryon Park Community Garden has a Santa’s grotto with hot drinks, cacti, jams and chutneys from 12pm to 3pm.
The Corner at 96 is open for Christmas on the 7th, 8th and 9th of December, keep an eye on their Instagram for further details.
On Sunday 9 December at 5.30pm, St Thomas Church presents their Community Christmas sing-a-long, song sheets will be provided and there will be a retiring collection.
Friends of Charlton Park have a Mince Pies and Meet Up evening at 8pm on Wednesday 12 December at the Big Red Bus Club.
Thursday 13 December has the British Oak pub on Old Dover Road hosting an 8pm Beer and Carols night in conjunction with St John’s Church, Blackheath.
On Christmas Day The Old Cottage Coffee Shop in Charlton Park are running its annual Christmas lunch for the elderly and it need volunteers and donations for the day. Please get in touch in person or on Twitter.
An update on activities at Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust from board member and Charlton councillor Gary Parker:
I would like to update you onthe work ofthe Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust (RGHT) whichhas beenbusy managing and developing their significant portfolio of Royal Borough of Greenwich heritage assets.
A new facility is in development with the Royal Borough of Greenwich with public access to a new Research Room. The Greenwich Archive Users Forum has been established and RGHT are working with the Forum to ensure access to the borough’s archive collections continues and can be enjoyed by many more residents in our community in the future. The Museum & Archive team are now based at Charlton House.
Pauline Watson, the archivist, has continued to deal with enquiries from the public by email and telephone since the closure of the Heritage Centre, and is looking forward to working with researchers in person again as soon as the new facility is up and running.At the momentshe is carrying out some incredibly useful research into past repairs and maintenance of Charlton House since the 1920s, the Trust will be sharing some of its findings on its blog in the coming weeks.
Layers of London
RGHTisproviding the ‘Hub’ at Charlton House for a new project, Layers of London. Launched at an event last week, the project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fundin partnership with London Metropolitan Archive and University of London,aims to work with the community to record layers of ‘London’s rich past’. The first meeting at Charlton House saw a wide attendance, not only from the Charlton and wider Greenwich communities but from interested people across the south east. Some very interesting projects were sharedat the meetingandanyone can take part by adding their story to the site. RGHT looksforward to seeing the content grow over the next two years as the project develops.
Making Woolwich
The‘Making Woolwich’exhibition, from the Heritage Centre is the focus of the teams work now as they manage the redesign and relocation of the display to Woolwich Town Hall. This exhibition opened in December2016 to celebrate the 300-year history of the Royal Artillery. Elements of this story will transfer to the Town Hallin Novemberwhere new audiences can find out about the important story of the Royal Artilleryin Woolwichand the men and women who haveserved in the Borough over the last 300 years.Therest of theMuseum & Archive collections will not be mothballed during this period of closure. The Trust teamwill take this opportunity todevelop a programme ofexhibitions and events that will see the collections travel out into the community.
WWI Centenary
The war memorial in Charlton. The borough’s war memorials are maintained by Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust. Photo by Neil Clasper.
As the centenary of the end of the First World War approaches RGHT has 4 Tommies’ from theThere but not Thereproject. If community groups are interested inloaninga Tommy for an event they can contactEdward@rght.org.ukfor details.You can find out more about the First World War Victoria Cross recipients of the boroughonthe RGHT blog where each week the story ofone ofthe four local heroes will be revisited.
The new RGHTWhat’sOnleafletis now available. Youcan pick up a copy at Charlton House. You can also collect a copy of the Woolwich History Walk leaflet, designed and printed with a generous grant from the Ministry of Defence Community Covenant Fund.If you can’t drop into CharltonHouse,you can download the leaflet herewww.greenwichheritage.org/visit/woolwich-history-walks.Alternatively,if you would like to take part in thewalk orwould like copies of either the adult or family version for your group please contactoffice@rght.org.ukand copies can be sent to you for display.
I will publish a further report earlyin2019.
Best Wishes, Cllr Gary Parker
The Charlton Champion is keen to know: do you use or visit Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust facilities? What do you think of their current plans? What could they be doing, and what are they are getting right (or wrong)? Let us know in the comments below (but keep it constructive, please!)
News in from Charlton House about a concert on Friday 16th November, where the Decus Ensemble will be performing a celebration of Black British and African Classical Composers at Charlton House:
plainsightSOUNDis a research project by oboist Uchenna Ngwe, exploring, uncovering and promoting the work of Black British and African musicians working in European and West African art or classical music. Although modern composers are included, the main focus is on musicians who were active before the 1970s. The Decus Ensemble will be performing the first concerts in this series, which includes music for instrumental ensemble by Segun Akinola, Errollyn Wallen and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Concert dates:
– Saturday 27th October – 2pm, Southwark Cathedral
– Sunday 4th November – 3pm, Sutton House, Hackney
– Friday 16th November – 7.30 pm, Charlton House, Greenwich
Tickets are free but should be booked in advance here.
The Charlton Champion 