End of Year 2020-Review – looking back at ‘London Shoe’s’ activities throughout 2020

Jan 20 – Chiswick Station – south west London – the nearest station to the very 1st WW2 ‘V2 Rocket’ attack on London

 Jan 20 – A full view of the Staveley Road commemorative memorial in Chiswick

Jan 20 – The memorial in suburban Staveley Road-Chiswick – the site of the first V2 Rocket attack on London – which killed 3 of the streets residents and seriously injured 17 others.

Jan 20 – the site of the old Woolworth’s building in New Cross Gate – the site of the worst V2 Rocket attack WW2

Jan 20 – a commemorative plaque is displayed on the exterior wall of what was once the Woolwort store in the New Cross Gate Rd – the site of the worst V2 Rocket attack WW2

Jan 20 – Victoria Park-Hackney – the site of 2 of the historic Stone Alcoves of the old London Bridge

Jan 20 – Victoria Park-Hackney – the site of 2 of the historic Stone Alcoves of the old London Bridge

Guys Hospital-central London – the other site where 1 of the 3 remaining historic Stone Alcoves of old London Bridge, is sited

Guys Hospital-central London – the other site where 1 of the 3 remaining historic Stone Alcoves of old London Bridge, can be found

Jan 20 – The famous ‘Tate & Lyle Sugar Refinery’-Silvertown-London E16

Jan 20 – Me, with one of the products produced at the famous ‘Tate & Lyle Sugar Refinery’-Silvertown-London E16

Feb 2- – the old Regent Palace Hotel – now the venue of the Crazy Coqs Club-Piccadilly

Feb 2- – the art-deco interior of the Crazy Coqs Club-Piccadilly

Feb 20 – Jazz at the famous ‘Crazy Coqs’ Club-Piccadilly

Feb 20 – Me – pre-gig – inside the famous ‘Crazy Coqs’ Club-Piccadilly

Feb 20 – The “Jazz of Judy Garland” being performed at the famous ‘Crazy Coqs’ Club-Piccadilly

Feb 20 – Me – & my old drum tutor ‘George Double’ backstage at the famous ‘Crazy Coqs’ Club-Piccadilly

Feb 20 – ‘Leyton Orient FC’ – its history and historic landmarks

Feb 20 – Brisbane Road – Leyton Orient FC’s famous home ground

Feb 20 – Me – at Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road ground, with James Graham & Les Bannell – old workmates of mine from my Barclays Whitechapel branch days, back in the late 1980’s

Feb 20 – Jazz on board the ‘Tereza Joanne’ – King George V Docks

Feb 20 – The ‘Tereza Joanne’ vessel moored in King George V Dock & the venue for the Jazz gig attended by London Shoes

Feb 20 – a view from the ‘Tereza Joanne’ moored in King George V Docks – looking west towards Canary Wharf, where the Barclays Bank Head Office is located where I worked from 2001 up until my retirement in 2017

Feb 20 – Jazz on board the ‘Tereza Joanne’ – King George V Docks

Feb 20 – Me & ‘George Double’ – my old drum tutor from the mid 1990’s – backstage on board the ‘Tereza Joanne’ venue – King George V Docks

Feb 20 – London Shoes was invited to accompany the ‘Laughing Policemen’ – a couple of walking tour guides, who were ex-Met Police officers – & who have designed a walking tour all about the history of policing in London

Mar 20 – ‘Scenes from the Square’ cinema screen star sculptures – Leicester Square

Mar 20 – ‘Scenes from the Square’ cinema screen star sculptures – Leicester Square

Mar 20 – ‘Scenes from the Square’ cinema screen star sculptures – Leicester Square

Mar 20 – Me – & Paddington Bear at the ‘Scenes from the Square’ – Leicester Square

Mar 20 – “Holy Holy” perform the ‘The Birth of Glam Rock’ The 50th Anniversary of David Bowie playing the legendary Chalk Farm Roundhouse-London NW3 (* just a couple of days before the Covid19 full lockdown was instigated)

Mar 20 – The iconic Roundhouse venue – Chalk Farm

Mar 20 – “Holy Holy” perform the ‘The Birth of Glam Rock’ The 50th Anniversary of David Bowie playing the legendary Chalk Farm Roundhouse-London NW3 (* just a couple of days before the Covid19 full lockdown was instigated

Mar 20 – “Holy Holy” on stage at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse performing tracks from Bowie’s ‘Man Who Sold the World’ & ‘Hunky Dory’ & ‘Ziggy Stardust’ albums (* just a couple of days before the Covid19 full lockdown was instigated)

May 20 – an old Romford Brewery product

May 20 – The once iconic Romford Brewery was founded in 1708 by one Benjamin Wilson. It originated as an extension to the already long standing ‘Star Inn’ that was situated in the old ‘High Street’ on the main road out of the City of London, that lead onwards towards Chelmsford, Colchester and eventually on to Norwich in the east.

May 20 – Me – alongside the site of what was once the iconic Romford Brewery

Jun 20 – A Tribute to ‘Vera Lynn’ – one of east London’s finest

Jun 20 – A Tribute to ‘Vera Lynn’ – one of east London’s finest

Jun 20 – A Tribute to ‘Vera Lynn’ – one of east London’s finest

Jun 20 – Before it was designated an airfield, this plot of rural Hornchurch land was known as Suttons Farm – and it still retained that title when 90 acres of the farm were commissioned by the military at the start of the WW1, for the specific purpose of protecting London’s skies from potential attacks from enemy airships & zeppelins.

Jun 20 – Because of its close proximity to London (14 miles from central London), and its position near to the River Thames, Suttons Farm was considered the ideal place for an air defence airfield, as it was on the flight path of any enemy attacker using the Thames Estuary and the River to navigate its way towards London.

Jun 20 – Me – inside one of thev old Pill Boxes that can be found within the site of what was once the Hornchurch Airfield

Jul 20 – In 1866 Dr. Barnardo moved to London to train as a Doctor at the London Hospital in Whitechapel. Living and working in the heart of London’s east end, he got to experience first-hand the squalor, deprivation and horrific poverty that the working classes in that area of London were living and working in – and it had a profound effect on him.

Jul 20 – In 1879 Barnardo and his wife moved from their Bow Road home and set-up home on their Mossford Lodge estate and came up with an idea to build an ‘village of cottages’ that would be used to house destitute & difficult girls with a ‘crime record’, of all ages from London’s east-end.

Jul 20 – In 1887 the construction of the ‘Cairns Memorial Cottage’ was completed at the Dr. Barnardo Village, notable for its elegant clock tower – this building would be the new admin centre for the Dr. Barnardo Charity.

Jul 20 – In June 1917, London experienced its very first ‘day-time’ bombing attack – with a devastating outcome. On the Wednesday 13th June 1917, at around noon on a clear and sunny day 14 German ‘Gotha GV’ fixed wing air-craft – dropped their cargo of incendiary bombs on east London’s docklands district. This air-raid claimed the lives of 104 Londoner’s and left over 150 more, seriously injured.

Jul 20 – Of the 104 killed, 18 were school children, all pupils of “Upper North Street School” in Poplar-E14, right close by to Docklands.

Jul 20 – On the 20th June 1917, one of the biggest funerals London has ever seen, was held for 15 of the 18 children killed in the North St School bombing. The burial took place at the ‘East London Cemetery’ just up the road in Plaistow

Aug 20 – The City of London Cemetery is today a designated and thus protected Grade 1 listed site on the Historic England’s National Register for Historic Parks & Gardens.

Aug 20 – The City of London Cemetery is also holds the grave of one of my all-time hero’s, the late great ‘Bobby Moore’ – England’s only World Cup Winning captain to date, and the legendary long time captain of my beloved West Ham Utd. Bobby’s ashes are buried in a plot with his mum & dad Robert & Doris.

Aug 20 – Me – inside the beautiful City of London Cemetery – Manor Park E12

Aug 20 – the majestic ‘Thames Lions’

Aug 20 – me down on the Thames with the the majestic ‘Thames Lions’

Sept 20 – The ‘Albert Bridge’ was opened in 1873 – and links Chelsea on the northern banks of the River Thames – to Battersea on the southern banks The oldest ‘original’ bridge structure is Tower Bridge – and the 2nd oldest original structure is the ‘Albert Bridge’

Sept 20 – There were even large notices displayed at both ends of the bridge that instructed the military troops to ‘break-step’ (eg march out of sequence) when crossing the bridge – and amazingly, these notices are still in situ on the bridge to this very day.

Sept 20 – Me – alongside Albert Bridge

Sept 20 – London Underground’s quietest, least used tube station is “Roding Valley”. Its station sees only a little over 360,000 passengers per year

Sept 20 – South Greenford station is London’s least used, quietest rail ‘overground’ rail station – with around only 28,000 entrances & exits per year.

Sept 20 – Canary Wharf tube station is the busiest ‘single-line’ tube station in London – servicing a staggering 54 million passenger entrances & exits at the last count in 2018.

Sept 20 – Waterloo ‘tube’ & ‘overground’ is London’s busiest station. With a collective 100 million entries & exits per year it is not only London’s but also the UK’s busiest station – and in terms of floor space, and platforms etc – the UK’s largest.

Sept 20 – ‘Finsbury Circus-EC2’ – the City of London’s oldest public park

Sept 20 – ‘Finsbury Circus-EC2’ – the City of London’s oldest public park

Sept 20 – ‘Finsbury Circus-EC2’ – the City of London’s oldest public park

Of London’s 8 Royal Parks, Green Park is the smallest one – and it is unique in that it has no lakes – no flower beds – no buildings in it grounds – no playgrounds,

Green Park is a 40 acre triangular area of parkland that is lodged between the much larger St. James’s Park and Hyde Park – with Buckingham Palace stuck in the middle of all 3 of these parks.

Green Park underwent extensive re-landscaping in 1820 – still with trees and not flowers – to the design as it is to this very day.

Situated at the north of Green Park, alongside its Piccadilly border – there is the magnificent ‘RAF Bomber Command Memorial’ – that commemorates the 55,573 who died in WW2 whilst serving for the ‘Bomber Command’.

Oct 20 – ‘Leadenhall Market’ – one of London’s oldest markets

Oct 20 – ‘Leadenhall Market’ – one of London’s oldest markets

Oct 20 – ‘Leadenhall Market’ – one of London’s oldest markets

Oct 20 – ‘Big Ben’ & its younger sibling ‘Little Ben’

Oct 20 – ‘Big Bens’ younger sibling ‘Little Ben’

Oct 20 – The iconic ‘BBC Broadcasting House’ – Portland Place-London W1

Oct 20 – Me outside the BBC’s ‘Wogan House’-London W1

Meard Street is located in the heart of London’s Soho district, and is a street that runs between and connects Wardour Street & Dean Street – and its unique houses depict an almost perfect example of ‘Georgian’ architecture – which covered the period of time between 1713 and 1830, and is regarded as the greatest period of English architecture.

John Meard was responsible for developing the street as far back as 1720 through to 1730 – and the properties he designed and built, are still in situ to this very day – and as a result is one of the few surviving London streets from the Georgian period

Apart from these magnificent historic houses – there is another ‘street fixture’ that makes Meard Street so popular – it is the site of one of my favourites of London’s many ‘quirky’ landmarks – the “7 Noses of Soho”.

Nov 20 – Remembrance Sunday & the amazing ‘Poppy Cabs’ – Me & my London cabbie mate Lee

Nov 20 – me & my London cabbie mate Lee, on Westminster Bridge – on Remembrance Sunday 2020 – respecting the chimes of Big Ben at the 11th hour on the 11th month

Dec 20 – The Upminster Windmill was originally built way back in 1803 and is said to be one of the finest remaining examples of a ‘Smock Mill’ in Britain.

Dec 20 – In 2003 the ‘Upminster Windmill Preservation Trust’ was formed, and were granted a 35 year lease, for the sole purpose of renovating and restoring the Upminster Windmill to all its former glory – so that it can continue be retained as an historic landmark for the public to visit.

Dec 20 – In 2015 the Upminster Windmill Preservation Trust commissioned a renowned firm of Dutch Millwrights to manage all the necessary renovation and restoration works. This December saw the lifting and placing of the Upminster Windmill’s newly renovated ‘Sails’.

Dec 20 – The ‘Mile End Road-Mural’

Dec 20 – Me alongside the brilliant ‘Mile End Road-Mural’-London E1

London Shoes – signing off for 2020 – with the arrival of the Covid19 virus, its been the weirdest and most challenging year for many a generation.