Public and Street Art in Westminster

A few quick snaps from today's Cycle Confident ride looking at Public and Street Art in Westminster

A pride of lions in Westminster

It was a glorious day to lead a Cycle Confident ride around Westminster in search of lions. Here, in no particular order, are a few of the ones we saw:

Waterloo Station through the ages

While I was researching the ride I led for Lambeth Cyclists last week, "Tick Tock, Ding Dong, Keep Calm and Carillon", I found a great blog post showing paintings from one spot over the years - see it for the interesting full details but I've 'borrowed' the photos of the paintings to show here, because 15 cyclists met me under the clock on a chilly February Saturday for the 6 1/2 hour ride and I thought I'd take a snapshot from a vaguely similar perspective to keep the sequence up to date.From the most recent to the oldest:

Waterloo Station 2013

Waterloo Station (Terence Cuneo 1967)

Waterloo Station Peace (Helen McKie 1948)

Waterloo Station - War (Helen McKie 1948)

The ride itself went like clockwork (almost). On the downside we didn't hear 'Oranges and Lemons say the Bells at St Clement's' because the bell-ringers were having a full peal rehearsal. On the upside we heard the Atkinson Carillon (below), the only Carillon in London that a musician can play, which I wasn't expecting as it isn't normally played until after Easter.

Other highlights for me, neither of which I'd popped into prior to the ride, were the Clockmaker's  Museum in the City of London and the clock rooms in the British Museum. Amazingly brilliant work in both of them and I'll be back for a longer look..

Tick-Tock, Ding-Dong, Keep Calm and Carillon

You're invited to meet me under the clock in Waterloo Station this coming Saturday 2nd March. I'll be there from 11.15, but at 11.30 on the dot we'll be away on the first of Lambeth Cyclists' monthly Architecture Rides in 2013 in search of bells and clocks.

This isn't a long distance ride, and it certainly isn't a fast paced one, but it should be a well-timed ride, aiming to arrive by bells just before the hour. The ride will end at precisely 6.02 pm.

Hopefully it will have warmed up a bit, but we won't be outside all the time, so don't forget your locks. We'll stop for a quick pint of lunch somewhere, and for a cup of tea somewhere else

.

We'll certainly drop into a museum, and maybe a church or two. We'll be looking at and, hopefully, listening to some very old things....and seeing one very new bell that we're hoping won't be rung

Although we'll be cycling through some of the most expensive real estate in the world, the ride and museum entry is free.

Free Brixton Neighbourhood Ride,Sun Oct 28th, 2pm

 All are welcome on this free family-friendly Lambeth Cyclists Neighbourhood Ride on Sunday afternoon, 28th October, taking a couple of hours to gently explore Brixton and its neighbouring area.

The ride, which will mainly be on quiet streets, starts at 2pm, with a free bike check just beforehand, in Max Roach Park (named after the jazz drummer) on the corner of Brixton Road and St John's Crescent, SW9.

We're meeting just by the moving. if impossible to photograph, statue 'First Child' by Raymond Watson. 

If you email to say you're coming before Wednesday 24th October you'll definitely get a free bag of goodies from Barclays (doesn't include a Barclays Bike) and free back-up lights from Lambeth Council.

  To register just send an email headed Oct 28 with the names of those coming along to charlie@capitalrides.org.uk . It's fine also to just turn up on the day, but there's no guarantee you'll get the lights etc. (Also check out the Waterloo and Vauxhall Neighbourhood Ride the previous Sunday, October 21st).

On the ride we'll be passing some of Brixton's fantastic and long-lasting murals, such as the 1981 'Nuclear Dawn'.

and following a little of the inner London motorway that was planned in the 1960s to roar through Brixton, resulting in the Barrier Block being built.

We'll also pay tribute to the Effra river (and its tributaries) which, before it was covered over, was practically navigable by boat from Brixton to the Thames at Vauxhall.






We're going to rock down to 'Electric Avenue' (as Eddy Grant sang), the first shopping street to be lit by electricity.

 and we'll be checking out various embellishments to the buildings

 before passing Brixton Tate Library, with the bust outside of Sir Henry Tate - sugar magnate, philanthropist and Streatham resident.

We'll gradually work our way up to the last remaining windmill in inner London (there were twelve in Lambeth alone).

 before heading across Blenheim Gardens (not the ones attached to Blenheim Palace, the monumental stately home in Oxfordshire)

 and down to two recently built houses, the exquisite Tree House and it's neighbour, the rather more imposing house featured in September's 'Grand Designs' C4 programme.

We'll then be passing by the house where David Bowie, the face of the ten pound note (Brixton),  lived until he was six

The ride will end back at Max Roach Park at 4pm.


Barclays are proud to support “Lambeth by Bike” as it allows residents to explore their local area and gain confidence riding on the road. Riders of all ages are welcome on the rides, but under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.