The celebration of 200 years since the birth of Passmore Edwards, as mentioned in the previous blog, was a spectacular success! Held two days after his birthday, on 29th March, we opened the Library on Wells Way, closed for many years, and provided refreshments. We had an exhibition of John Passmore Edwards’ life and achievements,

a rowan tree, planted by the Council on his actual birthday was dedicated by Doreen Evans, a longstanding member of the local community,

we had a book reading by first-time local novelist Jacqueline Crooks.

The main event, however, was a Passmore Edwards architectural tour by our own famous local architect Benedict O’Looney, which looked in depth at the Wells Way building

and the Passmore Edwards Camberwell College of Arts and Art Gallery,

as well as many other contemporary buildings in the area.

A great time and a great way to commemorate the great man!

So together with Andrea from Art in the Park (based in the Chumleigh Gardens enclave) and Monica from Friends of Burgess Park, we’ve compiled as comprehensive a list as we could muster. As always with these things, they’re a work-in-progress, but we now have details on some 12 of the 15 items we’ve identified so far. Please help us if you have more details on these, or let us know of any we’ve missed.

The list so far is on a permanent page and it covers works ranging in age and style from the 1920 WW1 war memorial outside St George’s Church to the carved tree trunk near the tennis courts, made in 2018. The page has an interactive map you can use to create your own tour of the works, so get out there with your smartphone or tablet and visit as many as you can. They’re all outside (apart from the Children’s Library murals which need a special arrangement to view), so make it your lockdown – and post-lockdown – exercise!