Remembering the Somme

On Friday morning thousands of people throughout the UK were surprised by the ghostly sight of World War One soldiers, as they made their morning commute.

The soldiers made for an eerie sight. Sometimes seen waiting, sometimes walking. Often caught through the corner of the eye before vanishing. If approached by members of the public, the soldiers simply handed out a card with the name of a soldier they were representing.

I was proud to be among 1400 men taking part in what was a living memorial to all who fought and died in that dreadful conflict. We Are Here was named for the song sung by soldiers on their ways to the trenches, and was a piece of artwork created by Jeremy Deller and the Royal National Theatre.

I was representing Lance Corporal William Dudley Bezer, a volunteer recruit of the London regiment to which Bishop of London Winnington-Ingram was chaplain. A South Londoner, William was just 31 years old and had been married for less than a year to his wife Agnes when he died on the first day of the Somme. A story repeated tens of thousands of times over on that first fateful day.

My day took in Waterloo, Liverpool Street, Fenchurch Street, London Bridge, The Tower of London and even Basildon as we weaved our way through alleys and streets, before a finale to surprised shoppers at Stratford. It was a memorable day for many reasons, not least the emotional response from members of the public.

I hope it was a fitting tribute to the courage and stoicism of the many who gave their lives for the peace we now take for granted.

Steve Lee

FOLD Festival Review

On Saturday I took advantage of the volunteer offer for tickets to Nile Rodger's inaugural FOLD Festival at Fulham Palace. This was quite a coup for the Palace. For those of you who haven't heard of the legendary musician/producer and his band Chic, you've undoubtedly heard his music. He's worked with a stellar cast of artists such as Luther Vandross and Mick Jagger. He's written songs like Le Freak, Good Times, We Are Family, and produced album's for artists like Duran Duran and David Bowie. One of his three sets of the evening was a tribute to Bowie. Rodgers sang Let's Dance, and we did.

The Palace Green made for one of the most intimate festival experiences I've ever had. With such a bucolic setting, the general mood of the evening among the audience was laid back. Staff were friendly and professional. I was initially worried by the festival being cashless. I'm a self-confessed luddite. Guests had to pre-load a card with cash to pay for drinks and food. However after briefly queuing to put money on the card, I found it made the rest of the evening run much smoother. Queues for food and drinks was made much quicker. At the end of the evening it took barely a minute to have my remaining money returned.

Headlining the night was the artist Beck purveyor of folk funk Americana. You can tell I'm struggling to pigeon hole him as a performer. His music can be quite melancholy and whimsical. However he was determined to make the evening as upbeat as possible. Out went songs from his heart breaking (and my favourite album) Sea Change and the night was instead rounded off with hits like Loser and S*x Laws. 

We had so much fun that we sincerely hope there are many more concerts at the Palace. If you saw any of the acts at FOLD 2016 please feel free to comment below.

Steve Lee

Share your volunteering stories in June

'Volunteers Week 2016' is coming up in June, and we here at the Volunteers Portal will be sharing stories of some of Fulham Palace's 190-plus volunteers. That means you! Tell us what brought you to Fulham Palace when you first started out, or what keeps you coming back now.

We want to hear about why you volunteer at the Palace, and if you've got any interesting pictures or anecdotes please do send them along to volunteerwebsite@fulhampalace.org , or drop by and have a chat with us on Monday or Tuesday. Video and audio clips also welcome (we can help with that). No story is too short!

If you come along to the Volunteer Summer Party in July you might get a chance to meet some of the lovely people featured here on the Portal. Don't forget to RSVP, which you can do here.

To help us get started I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I'm Juliana, one of the Communication Assistant volunteers. You can find me at the computer in the Education Centre on Tuesday mornings. I started volunteering at Fulham Palace to learn more about the museum and heritage sector, and am looking forward to meeting lots of interesting new people. Volunteering at such a beautiful site is a treat, I look forward to seeing how the garden changes over the coming months. I have also heard tales of the Bothy Biscuits. I'll come check them out if the Learning Centre ever runs out of cake -- unlikely!

Juliana Malzoni
Volunteer Communication Assistant

Mrs Creighton: “a woman of strong personality”

Mrs Creighton

Fulham Palace Curator Miranda Poliakoff gave an illustrated talk about Mrs Louise Creighton, wife of Bishop Mandell Creighton (Bishop of London, 1897-1901) on Monday, 16 May 2016, in the Jessie Mylne Education Centre.  I was joined by about 20 others – all women, which was appropriate.  Miranda explored the life of Mrs Creighton at Fulham Palace, and elsewhere, eighty years after her death.  I now realise that she was a remarkable woman, in her own right.

A local history interest article in this month’s issue of the Fulham Residents’ Journal had described the editor’s interview with Miranda, and invited readers to “find out more about this admirable woman” at the talk.  Also, as a Volunteer Guide at Fulham Palace with an interest in architecture, I had come to admire the Chapel designed by William Butterfield in 1866-67 for Bishop Tait in the Tudor revival style.  Butterfield’s original Victorian-gothic interior had used “a full orchestra of coloured bricks, marbles and encaustic tiles”.  But Mrs Creighton on arriving at Fulham in early 1897 declared “nothing can make that Chapel beautiful”.

inside the Chapel

Very quickly, Bishop and Mrs Creighton (they were very much a team) displayed their different taste and camouflaged the Chapel’s east wall and the original 'reredos', a mosaic depicting the Adoration of the Magi, with a curtain.  In front, they placed the present altarpiece of the Crucifixion, which they had bought in Oberammergau, Germany.

The original mosaic, now uncovered and placed on the west wall – at the opposite end of the Chapel, was designed by Butterfield (his first use of the medium) and made by Salviati of Venice.  Incidentally, Salviati glass mosaics also adorn the Albert Memorial any many other Victorian monuments.  I had not forgiven Mrs Creighton for her artistic ‘camouflaging’, and also for being a fervent temperance campaigner around Fulham!

Education Centre

However, Miranda’s talk made my views more nuanced.  Louise von Glehn, the 10th of 12 children, was born in 1850 and grew up in Sydenham.  Her frugal father – in trade – was an immigrant from the Baltic.  Louise lacked formal schooling, but she started a self-help essay group, and in her late teens took an early University of London course for women.  Invited to visit Oxford in 1871, the story goes that she daringly wore a bright yellow scarf, which Mandell Creighton spotted.  They were engaged within three weeks.

Rev. Creighton was a notable scholar – an ecclesiastical editor and historian, but his wife was not to be outdone.  Each of them published over 20 books. After Rev. Creighton was appointed to a living in Northumberland, his wife initially found life in the remote vicarage difficult.  But in time, she showed her frugal, practical and energetic side and came to relish gardening, and long walks.  The couple had seven children.

Mandell Creighton became Bishop of Peterborough before taking on the role of Bishop of London.  The family moved into Fulham Palace in deep snow.  Mrs Creighton managed to run the Bishop’s household, bring up the children, and re-launch the Women’s Diocesan Association in 1897.

Her husband died suddenly in 1901, aged only 57, but by 1904 Mrs Creighton had published her two-volume Life and Letters of Bishop Mandell Creighton, Sometime Bishop of London, a copy of which is in the Fulham Palace Library.  Despite her loss, Mrs Creighton remained a champion for women workers, and women’s education.  Although she had been against women’s suffrage (as the Bishop of London’s wife, she had to be cautious, as Miranda explained) in 1906 she changed her mind and publically supported votes for women.

Finally, Maya Donelan MBE of both the Fulham and Victorian Societies, who was in Miranda’s audience, told us about Bishop Creighton House on Lillie Road, which was founded by Mrs Creighton in memory of her late husband, and is still a Community Centre today. I had enjoyed an informative and interesting talk: thank you.

Jane Bowden-Dan

18 May 2016

Volunteer Trip to Chartwell

We are planning our annual volunteer trip to Chartwell House in Kent for September. 

Chartwell is a beautiful National Trust property famous for being the family home of prime minister Winston Churchill. This will be a great opportunity to see the historic house, find out what they offer visitors and meet other volunteers.

You may have already taken part in a poll to find a date, however due to staff changes we are having to move the trip a bit later in the year.

The new proposed date will be one of:

 Sunday 11 September

 Sunday 18 September

 Sunday 25 September

Please follow the link to the doodle poll to let us know which dates you can do, before Wednesday 18 May. We'll pick the day most volunteers can make.

Vote for us!

Voting is open for the Connect! Competition.  

Fulham Palace has been shortlisted to host a unique event for Museums at Night in October.
Now we need your help. The venue with the most votes wins. Get all your work contacts, friends, families, neighbours…the man down the pub to vote for us too! You can only vote once from an email address, if you have more than one email use them all to vote!

Voting closes on Sat 14 May.

http://museumsatnight.org.uk/aowen-jin/#.VyMxv2H2YdX

If we win –

Artist Aowen Jin will be creating for us -

· Paintings inspired by our history that can only be viewed in darkened rooms with the use of UV torches.

· A temporary 3D installation that can also be explored with UV torches.

· Choreographed performances which challenge modern perception of beauty and aesthetics.

Aowen wrote this to inspire museums and galleries:

“Imagine a gallery that’s filled with magical figurative stories, like the Sistine Chapel, but that can only be seen using UV torches. As you move the torch around the museum in the dark, all of the paintings on the wall come to life, and they appear and disappear as your beam of light moves from one image to another. The paintings are inspired by the history and collections of the museum itself, reflected through the eyes of the viewers. I am also interested in using balloons to shape the space, painted with UV ink, which can then create a temporary 3D installation that can be explored with UV torches too."

This will be a new body of collaborative work that is not only created by the artist, but also invites the local community to take part and imprint their sensitivity of the museum onto the space they love. In a grand finale, Jin will choreograph performances which challenge modern perception of beauty and aesthetics. During the event, artist Aowen Jin will share her experiences through talks and offer a workshop in collaboration with local people to create art together for the project.

This would be an amazing opportunity for Fulham Palace.
So please vote now!

Hazel Coppicing Workshop

Monday 25 January 1.30pm-3.30pm, we are offering five free palace for volunteers on our Hazel Coppicing Workshop. (normal price is £20 per person.)

For more information and to book a place click here.