Greenwich Tall Ships Festival
Apr 16, 2017 13:48:15 GMT
Post by patricklondon on Apr 16, 2017 13:48:15 GMT
Where I live, a popular historical image is of a large ship dominating an ordinary street, from the days when the Thames was lined with warehouses, processing factories and repair facilities, all to do with the cargo ships that came right up as far as London Bridge. Nowadays we occasionally get visiting warships and cruise ships moored up between where I live and Greenwich; but this weekend we have the Tall Ships Festival at Greenwich and further downriver at Woolwich - all the sailing ships participating in a series of races from here across the Atlantic, this year to Quebec to mark the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation.
Only some of the ships are moored at Greenwich, from Norway, Portugal, France and the Netherlands:
But that doesn't stop the crowds coming for the onshore stalls and events. Around our permanent neighbourhood "tall ship", the Cutty Sark, there's a concert stage for a jolly band singing sea shanties, and a funfair, and temporary food stalls to add to the cluster of restaurants and cafés that already dominate the town centre.
So that we shan't forget the nautical purpose of the occasion, there are fishy-themed aquabats:
and Lord Nelson is placed outside the Trafalgar Inn with a good view of the proceedings (though whether he's turning his blind eye, we shan't know):
Strategically-placed cannon allow one to fantasise about taking out a bank or two in Canary Wharf, if it weren't for the rather pretty caravel from our oldest ally in between:
The National Maritime Museum has got some costumed volunteers out in fancy dress to talk about some of the exhibits and what they tell us of life on the old ships (Sir Walter Raleigh observing):
but every good Victorian takes up newfangled technologies like photography:
Meanwhile, there are opportunities to sign up to join an ocean race yourself, or take up boatbuilding, or do your bit to help marine conservation and the lifeboats - or even to have a taste of Canada, since that's where the ships are going:
Nor are the children forgotten, with Punch and Judy, a pirate ship and an inflatable lobster to play with:
All this gives an opportunity to explore the riverside alleyways of Greenwich, where different periods of its history are all jumbled together. From the riverside, the view is of the modern commercial and residential developments on the other side of the river:
The Trinity almshouses of 1616 (which would once have neighboured the royal palace of those days) is now overshadowed by the hulking 1930s power station:
whose massive wall in turn now plays host to a tale for children, in ceramics:
Down the alleyway, alongside the essential pub, and the rowing clubs, once humble workmen's cottages now command riverside prices, and modern nautical-themed houses are just around the corner from old-school municipal flats:
and the tower blocks of the 1960s, the utilitarian flats of the 1940s and the shiny steel and glass riverside blocks of recent developments on the site of the wharves and factories where once the occupants of the older housing would have worked, all come together:
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Only some of the ships are moored at Greenwich, from Norway, Portugal, France and the Netherlands:
But that doesn't stop the crowds coming for the onshore stalls and events. Around our permanent neighbourhood "tall ship", the Cutty Sark, there's a concert stage for a jolly band singing sea shanties, and a funfair, and temporary food stalls to add to the cluster of restaurants and cafés that already dominate the town centre.
So that we shan't forget the nautical purpose of the occasion, there are fishy-themed aquabats:
and Lord Nelson is placed outside the Trafalgar Inn with a good view of the proceedings (though whether he's turning his blind eye, we shan't know):
Strategically-placed cannon allow one to fantasise about taking out a bank or two in Canary Wharf, if it weren't for the rather pretty caravel from our oldest ally in between:
The National Maritime Museum has got some costumed volunteers out in fancy dress to talk about some of the exhibits and what they tell us of life on the old ships (Sir Walter Raleigh observing):
but every good Victorian takes up newfangled technologies like photography:
Meanwhile, there are opportunities to sign up to join an ocean race yourself, or take up boatbuilding, or do your bit to help marine conservation and the lifeboats - or even to have a taste of Canada, since that's where the ships are going:
Nor are the children forgotten, with Punch and Judy, a pirate ship and an inflatable lobster to play with:
All this gives an opportunity to explore the riverside alleyways of Greenwich, where different periods of its history are all jumbled together. From the riverside, the view is of the modern commercial and residential developments on the other side of the river:
The Trinity almshouses of 1616 (which would once have neighboured the royal palace of those days) is now overshadowed by the hulking 1930s power station:
whose massive wall in turn now plays host to a tale for children, in ceramics:
Down the alleyway, alongside the essential pub, and the rowing clubs, once humble workmen's cottages now command riverside prices, and modern nautical-themed houses are just around the corner from old-school municipal flats:
and the tower blocks of the 1960s, the utilitarian flats of the 1940s and the shiny steel and glass riverside blocks of recent developments on the site of the wharves and factories where once the occupants of the older housing would have worked, all come together:
My blog | My photos | My video clips
"too literate to be spam"
