Walk 1: Exploring informal education. The development of thinking and practice through a walk in central London
The next guided walk is to be arranged. The walk is free and takes about two and a half hours. The walk will be led by Mark K. Smith. We start at the bandstand in Victoria Embankment Gardens (very close to Embankment Station).
While walking through the streets and squares of central London we can find many places associated with key figures and moments in the making of play, youth work, community work, adult education and popular education.
Our walk begins on the Embankment. It then winds its way through Covent Garden, Soho and Bloomsbury. As well as taking in some of the key buildings and places associated with the development of informal education – the full walk takes in Covent Garden Market, Chinatown, The British Library and the elegant Georgian Squares of Bloomsbury. We see:
- the site of some early street work.
- the first purpose built play centre
- a pioneering club and hostel for girls.
- one of the first working men’s clubs.
- early examples of schools, settlements and colleges.
- examples of early popular education – libraries, coffee houses, and bookshops.
We learn about some of the key figures – Maud Stanley and girls work; Baden Powell and Scouting; Hannah More and Robert Raikes and Sunday schooling; Albert Mansbridge and George Birkbeck and adult education; Mary Ward and playwork; Lily Montagu and Jewish youth work; and George Williams and the YMCA.
Walk 2: Exploring social action. A walk exploring the nature of social action – and the role of settlements, missions and community organizations
The next guided walk is to be arranged. If you want to join us please e-mail us and let us know. The walk is free and takes about two hours.
We usually start at 10.30 am and the walk will be led by Mark K. Smith.
To take the walk yourself print off our guide and download a map.
Our starting point is the entry to Potters Fields (park) on Tooley Street. It lies behind City Hall on the south bank of the Thames.
The nearest mainline and tube station is London Bridge. To get to Potters Fields exit the station by the Tooley Street entrance and turn right (east) down Tooley Street. Potters Fields is about five minutes walk. To get to it you walk past Hays Galleria, the More London development, and the Unicorn Children’s theatre.
Potters Fields is also close to several bus routes: RV1 eastbound, 47 and 381 on Tooley Street, and RV1 westbound, 42 and 78 on Tower Bridge Road.
Acknowledgements: Picture: Covent Garden by J. D. Mack. Sourced from Flickr and reproduced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0 Licence. 29108968@N06/2995836769/
Last Updated on July 16, 2018 by infed.org