Painting New Cross ..... my swimming baths

Now the other day I was telling Peter how I learnt to swim at Laurie Grove and how I still carry a small scar on my chin from the Boys Baths.  

That scar was the result of being too clever and attempting to come out of the water onto the side, which in my case was a failure as I fell back into the water catching my chin on the ridged stone slabs which were supposed to help you from slipping.

And with that tale firmly lodged in Peter’s stories to tell in the pub he also decided to paint a picture of the place.

So here in the series of Painting New Cross is Laurie Grove which I know will strike a chord with many and add to the comments which have come with other stories on the place.

Painting; Laurie Grove Swimming Baths, © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph by ©  Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1786698

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When the snow fell across New Cross and pretty much everywhere

It is odd what you remember especially on a wet and windy day looking out over Manchester.

The sun has vanished and the rain is falling like stair rods and I am thinking of the winter of 1962-63 and the “Great Freeze.”

The snow had begun falling on Boxing Day which almost qualified it as a White Christmas, stopped I think the following day and then began tumbling out of the sky on December 29th locking us into nearly four months of ice and snow with the thaw only beginning in March.

Now when you are thirteen you take such events in your stride and after snow ball fights became boring there was always the game of pulling a wooden bench up the hill at Pepys park and then descending down the slope.

All of which had the added thrill that we might get caught by the park keeper who probably had more sense and was keeping warm in his hut beside a paraffin stove.

Come to think of it I don’t recall ever being challenged by one of the keepers in their brown uniforms as we risked life and limb.

But nor do I remember visiting our local library because by 1962 libraries no longer featured as one of my places to visit and it would be another four years before they again tempted me in.


All of which is a lead into Peter’s painting of New Cross Library in the snow.

I had set him the challenge of painting the place using  a photograph kindly supplied by the Music Room London.

They now occupy the old library and offer a service "with 5 different rooms ideally suited for a wide array of creative applications."

Peter and I have collaborated on a series of books and projects including an 80 meter installation, so painting New Cross Library in the snow seemed the thing to do.

He told me he “was very pleased with the finished painting” and I have to agree.

So there you have it, just fifty six years after the snow fell across London here is a little bit of New Cross Road after another snow fall.

Location; New Cross, London

Painting; the old New Cross Library, now the Music Room London, , © 2015 Peter Topping
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*Music Room London, http://www.musicroomlondon.com/

Painting New Cross ................ the Fire Station

Some things about Queen’s Road don’t seem to have changed in fifty years.

The Fire Station is still there and so is Edmund Waller School but much else has gone including that row of shops from Lausanne to Dennet’s Road.

But reading back copies of the BBC news I see that even the fire station was nearly lost when it was one of those slated for closure in 2013.*

And that would have been a shame.  It was built between 1893-4 and is an impressive building reminding me of a grand French Chateau rather than a work a day fire station.

So much so that Peter decided to paint it just in case.

Painting; New Cross Fire Station, © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph of New Cross Fire Station, January 17 2007, © Danny Robinson licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license,.

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

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*Two London fire stations win reprieve from closure plan, July 10 2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23263766

Painting New Cross ............... the Montague Arms

Now the Monatgue Arms is one of the places that does not loom large in my memory.

I would have passed it regularly enough, given that Lausanne Road where we lived  was on the route via Queens Road and Kender Street  to New Cross Library.

But we left  when I was thirteen so the place was  just  a pub I passed and never went in.

All of which means it's story and its history belong to others.

That said I rather think my old friend Peter has captured it well.

Peter and I have worked on many projects including an eighty meter instalation, and I rather think we just have begun a new one.

After all there are some fine buildings with intriguing stories waiting to be recorded.

Location; New Cross, London

Painting; The Montague Arms, © 2015 Peter Topping

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Painting Peckham ............ that telephone exchange just over the border

Now I recently used that well known phrase “you can take the boy out of Peckham but you can’t take Peckham out of the boy.”

It was during a conversation with my old friend Peter who reposted “you can take the boy out of Preston but you can’t take Preston out of the boy” which pretty much tells you where we were born.

All of which led to an exchange of banter about the merits of both places and at the end of it all I promised to write about Preston and Peter decided to paint Peckham and New Cross.

I say paint Peckham and New Cross but it would be more accurate to say he has set about painting some of those iconic buildings we all know and remember.

Now I lived on the Peckham side of Lausanne Road, but went to school in  New Cross, played in Pepys park and visted New Cross Library, so the two places pretty merged in mt childhood.

The series will run alongside My Peckham and Growing up in New Cross along with the The Story of one house in Peckham which reflects on some of the buildings and places which mean a lot to me.*

And in some cases Peter’s painting and my stories will replicate each other but then there will be plenty who say you can never get enough of Peckham.

He has already painted the Montague Arms, and the old New Cross Library which will appear later in the month.

And here because I like it and it struck such a resonance with everyone when I wrote about it the other day is the New Cross Telephone Exchange, which Peter painted from an original photograph by Stephen Craven.**

And yes I know it was just over the border, ............... but it was the New Cross Telephone Exchange.

Painting; The New Cross Telephone Exchange © 2015 Peter Topping
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* My Peckham .............. nu 1 the New Cross Telephone Exchange St Mary’s Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/my-peckham-nu-1-new-cross-telephone.html

Growing up in New Cross, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Growing%20up%20in%20New%20Cross

The Story of one house in Peckham, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20one%20house%20in%20Peckham


** New Cross Telephone Exchange, © Copyright Stephen Craven and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence, http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/23315