Our second walk around the area we are photographing for Islington Museum took place on 16th August. Despite the holidays, 18 photographers attended. Detailed and well-researched presentations were made by photographers about the sections of Clerkenwell they are covering. We were joined by Neil Bright who is the project's special Blitz advisor. Neil has just posted up some new Blitz walks here. Mark Aston, of Islington Local History Centre, is pictured here with the ancient Clerk's Well, which he specially opened for us.

A determined group made it across the Angel Islington and down City Road for a well-earned drink in The Eagle.

Up and down the City Road, 
In and out the Eagle, 
That’s the way the money goes, 
Pop! goes the weasel.

A "weasel and stoat" is Cockney rhyming slang for a coat, which was "popped" (pawned) after the man of the house had spent all his wages in The Eagle. The Eagle once housed the Grecian Theatre, which is included in our coverage of the area we are photographing. View 1836 playbill.

Also many thanks to Mark Aston who hosted our group at Finsbury Library on 11th Aug and to Neil Bright who gave as such an informative talk on the Blitz.

Coldbath Fields Prison was once on the site of Mount Pleasant Sorting Office. As part of their investigations for our "Shooting Cripplegate" project with Islington Museum, club members, Kerr Hodge, Natalie Robinson and Roy Wenborne visited the British Postal Museum Store at Debden on 4th July 2011.

Above is a shot of just a few of the enormous collection of post boxes at the store. Kerr became expert how to spot the difference between an A a B or a C.

Natalie said, "The Store holds all kinds of superceded PO equipment from telephone kiosks, post boxes, vans, motorbikes etc. We asked if they had a mailbag sewn by a prisoner - the link between Coldbath Fields Prison and Mount Pleasant - but were advised that prisons were only one of a number of sources of mailbags and their output was not distinguishable from the others. The letter segregator (below) reminds me of the prison treadmill. We did find some mailbag hanging frames labelled for local destinations around Bunhill Row".

Photos Natalie Robinson.

Photographer Polly Braden has been documenting the square mile, and her approach may be of interest to the "Cripplegate Shooters".

This coverage of a tiny boathouse opposite the Olympic Park brings it to life very well.

Seventeen explorers attended our walk around the Cripplegate area on 31st May.

The walk started at where the Fortune Theatre once stood and finished at the site of the original Cripplegate. At each of the ten points of interest different club members made well researched presentations on their chosen topic. Another walk is scheduled for 16th August to cover Smithfield, Clerkenwell and the Angel.

Shooting Cripplegate - documenting Cripplegate, Clerkenwell and Finsbury.

The work in progress meeting, on 26th May, hosted by Mark Aston at Islington Museum was attended by 17 photographers. David Southcott has got deeply into covering Whitecross Street and had made a Powerpoint presentation to show it all. Jean Jameson has been exploring Bunhill Fields and has taken the angle of photographing and interviewing the visitors to William Blake's grave. Natalie Robinson used her designer's training to produce idea boards and gave the group an insight into how to creatively get from A -B. This was a productive meeting which clearly showed the enthusiasm of the photographers involved.