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No.54 - January 2003 | Contex HOME THE CHRISTMAS SOCIAL Guys Hospital, County Hall, Blackfriars . . . and Kuwait Airlines! HOLLY LEAVES The COLAS Christmas Social is one of the highlights of our calendar - a chance to get together informally for a glass or two, a chat and a lecture which usually provides a fresh view of London. We provide the food which always seems to have been delivered by the Tardis - more food than people present! Where does it all come from? Our wine master for the evening was Pip Thompson. He brings to the meeting a case or two of the very best and a wealth of knowledge as to its quality and provenance. Perhaps a master-class with Pip could be a future feature of the Social? The evening started with Roy Walker’s lecture. He asked a question: What is the link between County Hall, Blackfriars, Guy’s Hospital and the Kuwait Airlines office in Baker Street? The answer of course was boats - obvious when you ignored the Airline office which has a model of a boat in the window! Roman boats were found at the three other locations and Roy showed us a representation of a Roman boat from the screen arch at the Admiralty in Whitehall, complete with SPQR. Boats in London was the subject of this trip - bits of boats, representations of boats, sea-going people and London links with the ill-fated Titanic. The bits of boats were diverse - Liberty’s extension in Great Marlborough Street has timbers from old wooden men-of-war; "the cupboard" at Middle Temple Hall is made from a hatch of Drake’s Golden Hinde and timber from the piles of Rennie’s Waterloo Bridge (1817) line the interior of The Paviour’s Arms. The pub was included as a link with the restaurant ship Queen Mary which is moored next to the present Waterloo Bridge. Trafalgar Square linked us with Lord Nelson looking to Portsmouth via The Mall. In the Square are two lanterns believed to be from HMS Victory and on lamps in The Mall are representations of ships claimed to be Nelson’s fleet at Trafalgar. I have visited The Mall many times and had never noticed these ships. I had never noticed the ship on the side of South Africa House either - how does Roy spot these gems? We were shown the Bawley boat at Billingsgate and the nearby re-used galleon weather vane on St Nicholas Cole Abbey formally on St Michael Queenhithe, which had been demolished in 1876. A representation of the Santa Maria adorns Lady Astor’s former home at Temple Place and the Swaziland High Commission in Buckingham Gate has an incredible model ship outside. Several buildings have ship features incorporated in their design, such as ship’s prows but the International Maritime Organisation building on Albert Embankment excelled itself with what looked like the front half of a tanker jutting out of its front door! It was amusing to note that The Ark, an office block at Hammersmith designed by Ralph Erskine, was currently unoccupied due to flooding. And Broadcasting House actually has small waves incorporated into its design. A battleship indeed! Naval personages included Sir Cloudesley Shovell of Ship and Shovell pub fame (under Charing Cross station), Samuel Plimsoll whose statue was provided by the National Union of Seaman in gratitude for the lives that his work saved and Admiral Philip who founded the first penal colony in Australia. The RNLI was founded in 1824 following a meeting held in the City of London Tavern which formerly stood in Bishopsgate. The London links with the Titantic were intriguing and I suggested to Roy that this should be expanded to provide a full lecture as there were surely other links. 24 Belgrave Square was the meeting place between the Chairman of Harland and Wolff Shipbuilders and the President of the White Star Line in 1907 when the decision was made to build The Titanic. Marshall Mackenzie, architect of Australia House and the restaurant of the Waldorf Hotel, Aldwych, designed the interior of the ship. Oceanic House at Trafalgar Square was the White Star headquarters where tickets for the maiden voyage were sold. The church of St Edmund, King and Martyr in Lombard Street has a memorial to Charles Melville Hays who died in the sinking. The inquest was held in Buckingham Gate at a territorial army drill hall. And in Stamford Street we still have an active legacy of the tragedy - The London Nautical School. It was established to train young lads for a career at sea in the hope of improving the standards within the Merchant Navy after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. |
