Walk for December - Christmas Tree Festival

This month, we enjoyed a Christmas themed walk. We went to the Christmas Tree Festival at Upminster Methodist Church. The theme for the decorated trees was 'Around the world.' With over forty decorated Christmas trees, we enjoyed looking at each tree themed around a country. The creativity and ideas were fantastic. Members of the community around Upminster had decorated the trees such as primary schools, choirs, beavers, brownies to name but a few. As we walked around, we had to vote for our favourite tree but it was so difficult because all of the trees were fantastic. The local community had such good ideas e.g. the Italian tree was decorated with pasta whereas the choir wrote the word 'sing' in different languages on musical notes. The church also had the lovely idea for the children to go on a tree hunt and find the Mary, Jesus and Joseph hidden in the trees.
Outside the church, there were two gorgeous donkeys and Cheryl dressed up as Mary and encouraged us to join in with singing a few Christmas songs.

Afterwards, we walked down the main street in Upminster to the tea shop, Susie Bon-Bea where we enjoyed a lovely cream tea. The tea shop had decorated the tables beautifully, the scones were delicious and we were looked after very well. We are now talking about going back for some cupcake decorating lessons in the new year.

Susie Bon-Bea Tea Shop, Upminster

Walk for November - World War I

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War 1, the ladies did a guided tour for November. Keith Warner guided us around Westminster and told us the story of the First World War using building, statues and monuments as prompts.

We started the tour at the Houses of Parliament, walked around to the Foreign Office and then proceeded through St. James's Park. We listened with interest to the countries involved and the triggers for the First World War. We then walked on to Wellington Barracks to see the new Flanders Fields Memorial Garden.

The Queen had unveiled the memorial garden this week and we learnt about how the 70 bags of soil from the burial sites in Belgium were brought over to make the garden. The words of John McCrae's poem 'In Flanders Fields' are carved around the edge on the stone of the sacred soil. Keith also told us about the foot soldiers fighting in the war.

We continued the walk at Buckingham Palace and learnt about the Royal family and how they were a family at War during the First World War. We talked down the Mall to 'The Guards Memorial'.

We then walked across the Horse Guards Parade to learn about the cavalary and the 6 million horses who died during the war.

We moved on the statue of Earl Haig and learnt about his role in the war from bringing the soldiers into the fateful Battle of the Somme to then leading them into the Western Front and winning the war. He later helped to establish the British Legion.

We finished the walk at the Cenotaph. The 'empty tomb' for 'The Glorious Dead' will be scene of the laying of the wreaths tomorrow on Rememberance Sunday at 11am.

We had a wonderfully informative walk and Keith gave us a super compacted talk about the history of World War 1. We were lucky that the rain stayed away and we enjoyed our lunch around the corner at Pizza Express, Victoria Street.

Keith Warner's Walking Tours of London

More information about 'Flander's Field Memorial Garden'

Walk for October - Wilton's Music Hall

This month, we took a walk to Tower Hill and Wapping. We got the train to Fenchurch Street and walked through Tower Hill Memorial to get to the Tower of London. At the Tower, we watched the volunteers planting the ceramic poppies to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. By the 11th November, there will be 888, 246 poppies for each person who died in the War. It is a truly magnificant sight which takes your breath away.

Next we walked to the gorgeous St. Katherine's Docks. We walked along the bridge and admired the boats moored in the dock as well as the Queen's Row barge, Glorianna. We stopped for coffee in the Dickens Inn.

We walked a short distance to Wilton's Music Hall. Jody gave us a tour around this hidden gem in the East end of  London. She told us the history of how Wiltons was built in 1700 as an ale house and transformed into a music hall in the 1800s. Afterwards it became a Methodist church until the 1960s. Finally it remained untouched until 2004 when it became a charitable trust and it started back as a music hall again. We will keep an eye out for the shows in the future.

After a walk in the rain to Wapping, we had a bite to eat at The Prospect of Whitby. It is the oldest riverside pub dating back to 1520. We then caught the train from Limehouse back to Barking.

http://wiltons.org.uk/index.php?p=234

Butcher's Walk - September 2014

Our walk this month was themed around meat. Roger Kelsey, a retired butcher and Company Officer of The National Federation Of Meat And Food Traders, brought the ladies on a fascinating tour based around butchers and meat in the City of London.

We started the tour at Barbecoa Jamie Oliver in St. Pauls. Here the talented Sophie gave us a demonstration on the different cuts of meat in the butchery. She showed us how the meat is aged and cut and talked about economical cuts of meat for the Autumn.

Next we walked to the Worshipful Company of Butchers where we were given a guided tour around Butcher's Hall by the Deputy Master, Bernard Woodhouse. We walked around the Taurus Suite, the Court Room and the Great Hall. In the Great Hall, we met the newly appointed Master, Nick Anstee. As we walked around the beautiful surroundings, we learnt about the Masonic symbols and furnishings as well as the links with New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. We felt very priviledged to walk around the Butcher's Hall since it will be closing for four years whilst the surrounding area is redeveloped.

To finish the tour, we walked to Smithfield Market. Roger guided us through the many changes that the market has gone through from 1852 to the current day. We learnt about the railway line underneath the market to the change in the opening hours due to the introduction of the congestion charge. 

It was a fantastic day. Thank you, Roger. 

Sophie at Barbecoa showing us how to cut the chops on the lamb

The WI ladies, Roger and Master in the Great Hall, Butcher's Hall

The Great Hall at Butcher's Hall

Roger talking to us about the history of Smithfield Market

Smithfield Market

http://www.barbecoa.com/

http://www.butchershall.com/index.php

http://www.smithfieldmarket.com/

Walk from Leigh to Southend-On-Sea - June 2014

This month, the First Ladies took a 3.4 mile walk along the Thames Estuary. We got the C2C train to Leigh-On-Sea and walked along the coast to Southend. We walked by the cockle sheds, the mud flats and pretty, quaint pubs and restaurants in Leigh. We carried on walking through Chalkwell with the beach and less hustle and bustle. We continued to Westcliff with the famous Rossi ice cream shop and alfresco eateries and the pretty gardens on the cliff. Finally we reached vibrant Southend and finished our walk at the end of the 1.34 mile long pier (the longest pleasure pier in the world). We enjoyed the walk / train ride to the end of the pier where we enjoyed our lunch and walked around the RNLI lifeboat station. On a bright and sunny day, it was a great way to spend the longest day of the year.

Walk at St. Pauls and the hidden corners of the city - May 2014

Using Walk London's 'Spring into Summer', the First Ladies Walking Club enjoyed a free guided walking tour at St. Paul's and the hidden gems of the City. We had a fantastic guide called Ian Swankie who guided us through the back streets of the city to discover wonderful gardens and structures that usually you would walk by. The highlights were:
1) Paternoster Square with the Temple Bar and the noon mark sundial on the London Stock Exchange;
2) Christchurch Greyfriars garden on the grounds of the blitzed church;
3) Postman's Park with the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice;
4) The views from the elevated walks at the Museum of London;
5) The crooked spire at St Lawrence Jewry Church;
6) Guidhall;
7) The views of St. Paul's Cathedral from the 6th floor of One New Change;
8) The six angels of St. Paul's Cathedral.

We finished the walk with a fine pub lunch at Ye Old Watling before travelling home. Following our walk, we would love to explore more parts of the City of London especially the Sherlock Holmes exhibition which will be at the Museum of London from October and tour around the Guildhall and the Guildhall art gallery.

http://www.walklondon.org.uk/

Walk at Kew Gardens - April 2014

For the Easter holidays, we thought that we would go to see the 'Best Spring Display in the UK.' We took the district line westward bound to Kew Gardens and enjoyed a walk in the warm spring sunshine. Kew Gardens is on a site of 326 acres and we spent the whole day walking. We enjoyed the blossoms on the cherry trees, the gorgeous flowers and smell of the lilacs, the magnificent magnolia trees and the tulip displays. We explored the trees on the treetop walkway but I don't think that will be a wobbly experience that we will revisit. It was a glorious day and we truly saw spring at it's best.

http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/explore/spring-kew-gardens

Walk in Hainault Forest - March 2014

Following a very wet and stormy winter, we finally got the chance to take out our walking boots and get back to walking. This month, we chose to walk in the local forest 'Hainault Forest.' It is a large country park with woods and a farm. We met at the Miller and Carter and walked a large loop. We walked through the forest, stopped by the cute animals, especially the chipmunks, in the farm, carried on around the lake and back through the forest. We narrowly avoided the galloping horse who was minus his rider. Despite the large amount of mud that we have to walk / squelch through, we had a lovely walk on a clear and bright day. The walk took over two hours and afterwards we thoroughly enjoyed our delicious meal at the Miller and Carter. The walk definitely cleared out the winter cobwebs.

http://www.hainaultforest.co.uk/

Walk to see the London Christmas Lights - December 2013

Unfortunately the December walk had to be cancelled due to the storms. However, a walk around the Christmas lights is definitely in the diary for next year.
The best London lights are usually on:
Oxford Street;
Regent Street;
Wardour Street;
Piccadily Circus;
South Molton Street;
Trafalgar Square;
Covent Garden.
The best Christmas window displays are usually at Harrods, Selfridges, John Lewis and Fortnum and Mason.

http://www.londonarchitecturewalks.com/Pages/Walks.aspx

Walk in Little Venice - November 2013

On a crisp and dry Autumn Saturday, we explored the hidden gem 'Little Venice.' The walk started at Warwick Avenue tube station and we were entertained by a fantastic tour guide from the London Walks. He guided us around the romantic and beautiful Little Venice and kept us entertained with poetry, interesting facts and sing-a-longs.

Afterwards we enjoyed coffee and cake in a cafe called 'Toast'

We also discovered that Little Venice host a festival in early May called the 'Canalway Cavalcade.'
https://www.waterways.org.uk/events_festivals/canalway_cavalcade_2014/canalway_cavalcade_2014