Walk for August 2015 - Liar, liar walk

The First Ladies of Barking and Dagenham Walking Club enjoyed a fun filled hour and half with our walking guide, Matt from Fun London Tours as he brought us on a Liar, Liar Walk in London.

Matt gave us a guided us around the City of London but with a twist. We had to decide which of the facts he was telling us were lies. The ladies had great fun in competing against each other in teams as they worked out the fact from the fiction at Tower Bridge, the Gherkin and Leadenhall market to name just a few of the thought provoking stops.

Well done to the Monument Ladies who won the Liar, Liar tour with 50 points. This walking tour was a resounding success and we are already hoping to book Matt for another of his tours in 2016.

http://www.funlondontours.com/

Walk for June 2015 - The history of Elm Park and RAF Hornchurch

This month, we travelled a few stops along the District line to Elm Park station. Local historian, Brian Evans, guided us through the history of Elm Park and RAF Hornchurch.

In 1935, new houses were built in Elm Park by Costain at a cost of £330 each with a £25 deposit. People in the East End of London were attracted to the open fields and the fresh air. They were told that the mortgages would cost the same as their rent in the End End. Even a new station, Elm Park, was opened especially for this new estate.

We walked along the High Street and looked at the range of local shops. the oldest shop being 'The Hobby shop' which dates back to 1959. We all commented on how they still have a butchers and bakers. Although we didn't see a candlestick makers.

We learnt about the relevance of the road names such as Coronation Drive due to King George VI's Coronation. Whereas on the old RAF airfield site, the roads are named after pilots e.g. Berry Close after Squadron Leader Ronald Berry, a pilot stationed at RAF Hornchurch.

We also heard about landmarks that have since gone such as Snow White's cottage on Coronation Drive and the original estate agents office for the sales of the new houses which was only knocked down recently.

We then walked along the old RAF airfield which has since been turned into houses but the traces of its history is still there. We walked past the officers' homes on Abbs Cross Road and saw the RAF Mess which is now a doctor's surgery. Previous serving officers were Max Bygraves, Ronnie Corbett and Iain Duncan-Smith's Dad.

We finished the walk at 'The Good Intent' pub and heard a few ghost stories from the airfield. We enjoyed a tasty lunch before heading back westbound on the train.

Date for the diary: Elm Park are celebrating their 80th anniversary on Saturday 18th July 2015.
Elm Park Local Information

Walk for May 2015 - A tour around Ilford Hospital Chapel

Have you driven past the Hospital Chapel in Ilford and wondered what it is like inside? The First Ladies of Barking and Dagenham were lucky enough to get a tour around.
  Martin, a friend of the Hospital Chapel, gave us a fantastic tour of the chapel. He told us the history of the oldest building in Redbridge (1145 AD). We learnt all about it's origins as a hospice for aged and infirm men. We were very interested to learn that it was set up by Barking Abbey and a lot of it's history was linked to Barking and Dagenham. The chapel is a survivor and managed to escape Henry VII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was also a leper hospice and then went on to enjoy expansion in the Victorian period.
 Martin pointed out features of interest in the church for example, the stained glass and the beautiful altar as well as the newly discovered Norman window.
 After the tour, we enjoyed tea, coffee and biscuits at the back of the Chapel and greatly admired the handmade cards that are for sale.
 Everyone agreed that it was a real treasure in Ilford and vowed to spread the word so that other people could enjoy it's charms.

Ilford Hospital Chapel Website

Walk for April 2015 - 'Women through time - Inspiring change'

The sun was shining when Tina Baxter from 'Footprints of London' took us for a walk around London with inspirational women as the theme.

We started at the Guildhall and walked around the City of London to hear the stories of the courageous and forward thinking women such as Elizabeth Fry, Emmeline Pankhurst, Boudicca and Mrs Beeton. Tina kept us captivated with her stories of the women by using plaques, buildings, statutes and parks as prompts. We finished our walk at St Paul's Cathedral where we stumbled across 'Shaun the sheep' as part of the Shaun in the City trail.

 Hearing about Elizabeth Fry and her links to Barking

 Tina talking about Pocahontas

 Postman's Park: The memorial to heroic self-sacrifice

 Shaun the sheep

Afterwards, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Pizza Express before heading back on the District line.

Footprints of London Walking Tours

Miss B takes a walk tours

Shaun in the city trail

Walk for March 2015 - Havering Museum

Since there is a still a bite in the air, we started the walking season inside. This month, the Walking Club enjoyed a guided tour of Havering Museum in Romford.

The museum is located in the old Ind Coope Brewery on the High Street. For some of the ladies, the brewery brought back many memories from smells of the hobs to family members working there. We were greeted by Monica and a team of volunteers who help to run the museum.

Monica guided us through the musuem with tales of how it took 40 years for Havering to get a museum and the many stories linked to the borough. The museum is well laid out in pods which focus on different areas of the borough. We learnt about the many royal connections of Havering-atte-Bower and how Colonel Blood of Romford stole the Crown Jewels but managed to charm his way out of a sentence and was pardoned by Charles II. We learnt about the brewery's history and how rumour has it that barrels used to be smuggled on the barges along the river to Gallows Corner. Interestingly, the river runs under the main street in Romford and still floods the store rooms of the shops. We learnt about the history of Romford Market and the many archeological finds in the area. We particularly enjoyed the memories that are recorded by residents from the past.

Afterwards, the amazing team of volunteers set up tea and cake for us in the museum and brought us behind the scenes to see where the historical artefacts are kept. We learnt about keeping the store at a constant temperature and the need to be vigiliant with bugs around the artefacts.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and we all agreed that we would return. We are also intrigued to visit the Golden Lion pub across the road after hearing about it's history of secret tunnels and hauntings.

 http://www.haveringmuseum.org.uk/

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'