Tower Hamlets Cemetery and Mile End Parks

The Central Line was partially running, and the sun was fully shining, on Sunday 15th June, when a group of EFOGgers met at Mile End for a visit to Tower Hamlets Cemetery.

The tour started at lunch-o’clock, in other words one pm, so most of the group met beforehand for a quick snack at a nearby café. Some of us sat in a row on high stalls, facing others of us on high stalls, and separated by a low divider which was demarcated with charging points, making it feel like we were about to start an office meeting, a nice reminder that most, if not all, of us have dispensed with that annoying ritual.

The cafe was very nice but a little slow – I think the fruit for the juices needed to ripen before being picked and jucified – but the residents of the cemetery very obligingly waited for us, and we made it to the main entrance by one.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is a beautiful green oasis in Mile End, and was opened in 1841, one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries within London. Our tour guide, Ken, who works for the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery, did a truly excellent job of showing us round, giving us a history of the site, telling us about the lives of some of the people buried there, and pointing out a wide variety of plants.

The cemetery was closed in 1966 when the company which owned it ran into financial difficulties, and many of the graves as well as the two chapels were destroyed, before campaigners were able to secure the cemetery as a heritage site and nature reserve in the early 90s.

There are around 47,000 monuments and headstones in the cemetery, most of them crammed in very close rows. Some larger ones mark the graves of ship builders and prominent Victorians; one very grand monument, marking the grave of the director of the cemetery had a brick removed, with the plan being that the light would shine through it forming the shape of a cross on the ground in front of the stone.

A very moving modern sculpture commemorates the many children under the care of the charity Barnado’s who were buried in unmarked graves in the cemetery park; and two of Dr Barnado’s sons are buried there too.

Amongst the plants Ken pointed out were white holly berries; a lily whose leaves smell of roast beef; and a plant that smells of both garlic and onion, yum.

After the tour, it was definitely time for tea, and seven of us went on to Mile End park, where Paul led us along the Regents Canal to the Ragged School café. By this point it was pretty hot, and we were more than happy to sit inside and enjoy some tea and overpriced cakes, before wending our various ways home.

Louise, 23 June 2025

Some of the group had assembled earlier on Sunday 15th June for a pre-walk cafe-stop, but I arrived at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park just before 1pm, to wait for them there.

The cemetery that now comprises Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is one ‘Magnificent Seven’ London cemeteries, established around the mid-1800s to address the problem of overcrowding of burial places in London. One of the most well-known of the seven is Highgate.

As the group of eight arrived at the cemetery gates, we were met by our guide, Ken, one of the ‘Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park’, who told us he had worked as volunteer there for many years. Did he say 20? Although owned by Tower Hamlets Council, the day to day business of managing this 27 acre site is performed by a large group of volunteers. As well as being a space open to the public 24 hours a day, the park is also designated as a nature reserve.
Ken provided us with a lot of history of the site, present management, information about the ’Friends’ group, and what wildlife is present or may be found there, before beginning the tour. Various gravestones and monuments of particular interest were pointed out, as were numerous species of plants that exist or are encouraged to grow there. There wasn’t a lot of bird-life in evidence, and most of that by way of sounds rather than sightings, but some of us were aware of Jays, Magpies, Coal Tits, Wren – and a wonderful (what sounded like) song competition between a Blackbird and a Blackcap.

The guided walk took about 2 hours, after which we walked to nearby Mile End Park, a 29 acre linear park which stretches from near Limehouse to Victoria Park adjacent to the Regents Canal. We cut through the park to the canal and walked the relatively short distance southwards to the Ragged School Cafe, located in the basement of the Ragged School Museum. The cafe has some seating outside by the canal, but these were busy and anyway we were happy to get out of the sun and have our teas, coffees and cakes inside – nine of us seated around Table Nine.

As we prepared to return, two greyhounds decided to pay us some sight-hound attention. I like these sighthound breeds, so was pleased to exchange greetings. One greyhound was wet, the other dry. It was explained that the wet one had fallen in the canal. Considering the heat of the day, or the exuberance of the dog, it was not possible to say why this had happened. Nevertheless, the dog leaned up against my leg, as affectionate, tired, or upset greyhounds are prone to do. Some of the canal was passed between us, but it didn't really matter. Some of us walked back to Mile End Station afterwards, although some had already departed and a couple decided to walk on down the canal towards Limehouse Basin. At the station the rest went different ways and just Louise and I travelled back to Stratford Station together.

Thanks to Louise for arranging the guided tour.

Paul Ferris, 22 June 2025

Epping Forest Walk

I was due to lead the walk on the Saturday 7th June, but with Thursday’s adverse weather forecast from the BBC (which did not materialise in the area until heavy rain late Saturday) I moved it to Sunday 8th to be safe.  5 members met at Loughton Station for a linear walk in Epping Forest, and Trevor caught up with us at the end of Smarts Lane cleverly knowing which path we were taking.  So, 6 of us joined the forest from The Stubbles with our first stop at the Strawberry Hill Pond to see the many ducks and ducklings (Mallards, Mandarins & Moorhens) and luckily for them and us, Dave had brought along some proper duck food which they greatly enjoyed.  On leaving the pond we walked through the forest, crossing the Epping New Road to join up with Green Ride, taking a right at Three Bridges, we took this path all the way through to the ‘ups and downs’ which are always good for the cardio workout.   At High Beech we had stopped for lunch on a picnic table near the Visitors centre. It is such a shame to have lost the cycling hut cafe, and unfortunately the queue at the other café was very long, so it was a good thing we all prepared and had all brought lunch with us.  

After lunch, we continued onto the General’s & Verderer’s rides stopping to admire the ‘Big View’.  Crossing Woodridden Hill and following on the track we came across a few Rhododendron bushes out in bloom.  We continued and crossed over the Epping Road to pick up the Green Path again and then a left onto Genesis Slade and on down to Theydon Plain which was quite a picture with all the buttercups in flower.  Arriving in Theydon Bois we had a stop at The Bull for liquid refreshment before getting our trains back home.  By my step counter - a route of 7m (others had 7.5m) - it was an enjoyable walk either distance, the weather was lovely, and it was nice to be out in the forest. 

 Sue S.   8th June 2025

Themed Music Evening

On Thursday 29th May, we held another Themed Music Evening for our weekly get-together at the Scout Hall.  This was our fifth such evening and the subject, this time, was TV & Film Themes.  I had received 20 suggestions to play but, rather than the group members sitting in a semi-circle looking at me / me staring at my laptop and trying not to feel too self-conscious, Brian had suggested we try something to make it more interactive. 

Once everyone had got tea / coffee and biscuits and I'd checked that I had sound coming from the speakers, we got started.  We'd placed the chairs such that everyone sat in groups of four or five and, as each track was played, the groups conferred to discuss which show or film they thought it had been the theme tune for. The consensus was that the person who'd chosen the track wouldn't contribute to the discussion, to be fair.  Once the track was finished (or I'd cut it short if it was longer than a couple of minutes), I asked each team, at random, what they'd concluded and noted who was right. The person who'd originally chosen the track then told everyone what it had been the theme for / explained why they'd chosen it.  Seemingly 'Running Scared', a children's TV series from the late 1980s was set in Forest Gate and parts of it were filmed nearby; Trevor had been working as a groundman at a sports club at the time that the studio filmed on the grounds and, for 2 days, had been unable to do any work to ensure equipment was out of the way of filming.  When it actually went on air, about 30 seconds of footage appeared on the TV.   

Some tracks were easily identified, some were a toss-up between two or three programmes, some were correctly guessed by some teams but not all and one track (sung in Arabic, for a French film) flummoxed everyone.  One person couldn't remember the name of the film, that the track they'd chosen, had come from and, to much hilarity, another didn't even recognise their choice, participated in the group discussion and their team had no idea what it had been the theme to. To be fair, apparently the important bit is towards the end of the track and I was cutting everything short at 2 minutes.  

Our mixed bag managed to cover children's TV shows, regular TV shows and films.  It was a fun evening and was definitely made more interesting by finding a way to actually get the group to socialise and interact whilst the music was played.  Our playlist consisted of the following:

The Persuaders by John Barry

Captain Pugwash theme

The IT Crowd theme

Midsomer Murders theme

This Wheel's On Fire by Julie Driscoll & Adrian Edmondson (Absolutely Fabulous)

Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush (Running Scared TV series)

Ya Sidi by Orange Blossom (film 'Marseille' theme song)

Theme from The Onedin Line

The Chain by Fleetwood Mac (Theme to F1 on TV)

Theme from Jaws by David Williams

Theme from Space: 1999

Love Me Tender sung by Nicholas Cage (from David Lynch's Wild At Heart film)

The theme from Bod

Miami Vice by Jan Hammer

Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers (film Ghost)

Theme from the original Halloween film by John Carpenter

Theme from Schindler's List

Gabriel's Oboe by Ennio Morricone (The Mission theme)

Theme to Camberwick Green

Roobarb (and Custard) theme 

Assuming we add another music evening when we plan the next programme, we'll definitely come up with something that people can discuss / guess whilst each track is playing.  

Jill S, 31st May 2025

Stanmore to Harrow Weald Walk

Saturday 24th May, and it’s another of the hilly London walks, this one starting at Stanmore, at the far end of the Jubilee Line. Boarding the tube at Bond Street, there were lots of football fans wearing red and white striped shirts, heading to the Premier League play off final between Sheffield United and Sunderland at Wembley. Claire, Madeleine, Lynne and I were all on the same tube train, so arriving at Stanmore we then met up with Louise, who had arrived earlier, and set off.

Exiting the station, we headed uphill passing some smart houses to enter Stanmore Country Park and continued climbing gradually uphill thorough woods and open grasslands to reach the summit of the common where there is a fabulous viewpoint with an information board identifying various landmarks in the distance and the Wembley Arch being very prominent.

We then continued, passing a rugby club, a small hamlet with village green, a couple of ponds which date back to Roman times and a cricket ground where a game was about to get underway. Crossing the road we continued through woodland to a small car park before entering a private road lined with some very posh houses before entering Bentley Priory Open Space/Nature Reserve, where long horn cattle were grazing.

We passed the cattle and soon came to a fenced compound on our left where we spotted some deer in the compound. However, having done the walk previously, I realised we had gone wrong and missed a turn. Still good job we did or we wouldn’t have seen the deer. Re-tracing our steps to the cattle, we rejoined the walk and soon stopped in front of Bentley Priory, which was a World War 2 RAF Command Centre, for lunch and saw a red kite being mobbed by 2 crows.

After lunch we continued through woods to the Grim’s Dyke House/Hotel, which was once owned by W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, who sadly died there in a tragic accident. We made our way through the surrounding woods with colourful rhododendrons making the woods feel like a fairy-tale enchanted forest, to a tranquil pond.

Retracing our steps through the “Enchanted Forest” we reached a final viewpoint with good views over Harrow and west London, before calling at a pleasant pub for some refreshment. After that it was a short walk to a bus stop and a short ride back to the Jubilee line to return home. The walk had been about 6 miles (I got that right for once) and the weather had been comfortable, cool but dry, all in all a good walk.

Trev Eley,  27th May 2025

Photos by Madeleine