The switch-on took place on 13 December - St Lucy’s Day - which is celebrated as the Festival of Lights in Scandinavia. It’s meant to bring hope and light during the darkest time of the year, and we thought that it was a really appropriate day to do the switch-on of the illumination of these two lovely figurines. So these two very special Blue Coat figurines on the Old School House in the historic St Mary’s conservation area in Rotherhithe are now illuminated every evening from dusk until 11pm, for everyone to enjoy and admire. Come and take a look one evening if you are nearby! As you can imagine it is hugely exciting for us to actually have this standalone element of the overall Rotherhithe Illuminated! legacy lighting scheme installed at long last, after more than 5 years of planning, fundraising and many pandemic-associated obstacles. Now we are working flat out in the hope that we will be able to deliver Phase 2 of the Rotherhithe Illuminated! legacy lighting project - St Mary’s spire+clock faces and Master Christopher Jones’ memorial - before 5th March 2022, the 400th anniversary of Master Jones’ burial in the churchyard in 1622. We have approximately 40% pledged so far of the £36k needed to deliver this key element of the wider RI! project, and the spire and clock faces are of course regarded as the centrepiece of the scheme, as they can be seen clearly at night from the river, from Tower Bridge and from London Bridge. Renewed thanks to all our generous supporters for helping us get this far with the project, despite all the many unexpected setbacks along the way. Best wishes from us to you for the festive season and for a happy and healthy 2022. Clare and the Rotherhithe Illuminated! project team se16.ri@gmail.com

After a very long wait we finally have some exciting news! Now that the Licence Agreement with the Amicable Society, the owner of the Old School House, has been signed off we are in a position to go ahead and organise the formal switch-on of the illumination of the two Blue Coat figurines on the Old School House. This will take place in mid-December and invitations will be sent out to everyone who has generously supported this standalone element of the wider Rotherhithe Illuminated! legacy lighting scheme. It will be hugely exciting for us to actually have one element of the project installed at long last for everyone to enjoy every evening after dusk, after more than five years of planning, fundraising and many pandemic-associated obstacles. In the meantime we are making one final push over the next couple of months, in the hope that we will be in a position to install the lighting of the church spire + clock faces and the Christopher Jones memorial in time for the 400th commemoration of Christopher Jones’ burial, which falls on Saturday 5 March 2022. The US Embassy has kindly extended the date by which we are able to draw down their grant, and this obviously makes our ambition more achievable. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were able to organise a very special switch-on event on the actual date of the anniversary of Master Jones’ burial in St Mary’s churchyard in 1622??! THANK YOU to all our generous supporters for helping us get this far with the project, despite all the many unexpected setbacks along the way. Clare and the Rotherhithe Illuminated! project team se16.ri@gmail.com

Take a look at page 3.. http://tidalthames.co.uk/27-May-2021-Port-of-London-Authority-Tidal-Thames-News/

Our separate "Rotherhithe Blue Coats Illuminated!" campaign to illuminate the two much-loved and recently-restored figurines on the Old School House hit its funding target 4 days before the 11 May deadline, thanks to some extremely generous individual local supporters. This means that we are now in a position to go ahead and plan next steps. Our aim is to deliver this standalone element of the wider "Rotherhithe Illuminated!" legacy lighting project by the end of this year if possible, in the hope that by delivering something tangible and joyful we will find it easier to raise the remainder of what is needed to fund the installation of the remainder of the wider project – at the very least the illumination of St Mary’s church spire+clocks and the Christopher Jones memorial. Watch this space! In the meantime huge thanks and sincere appreciation to all our supporters during these very difficult days we are all having to live through. Clare and the project team.

Life has changed dramatically for all of us since my last post on 1st March, and I hope you are keeping well and safe. This is an end-of-year update for you and all the other 250+ people who have so generously supported the Rotherhithe Illuminated! legacy lighting scheme. When the first lockdown was announced in March we realised that we had no option but to delay the plans to install and launch the project until next summer – 2021 - so that it is ‘ready to go’ in time to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the safe return of the Mayflower to Rotherhithe in early summer 1621. We are working with our colleagues at Thames Alive on that basis, in the hope that by the time of the proposed celebration - and in conjunction with the proposed flotilla/procession from Rotherhithe to the Palace of Westminster, probably in mid-June - the social distancing requirements will have been significantly eased and we can organise a joyful commemorative event for everyone to enjoy. Applications we had submitted to other funders are all on hold for the time being, as everyone is of course focussing on Covid-related priorities. However we learned in May that our funding application to the US Embassy had been successful. This was wonderful news to receive during lockdown! The Grants Committee was very impressed with our proposal and they are looking forward to working with us. In agreement with the Embassy we will be using their grant for the installation of the lighting which will illuminate the spire and clocks of St Mary’s church and the Christopher Jones memorial. Taking account of pandemic-related considerations, they have kindly given us a window of one year from 1st September 2020 to spend the funds they have awarded us. The feasibility study which we crowdfunded for in 2018 has continued to progress very slowly since March, despite the constraints of lockdown, and it is now complete. All the necessary listed building consents have been obtained, so we are all set to go ahead with the installation, funding permitting. We are looking at only installing specific elements of the scheme, as it is likely to prove difficult to raise the approximately £70K still needed to deliver the entire project. Finally, we have been urged by the GLA and Spacehive to pitch to the Mayor of London again for a small amount of funding via the Mayor’s new Make London programme, which aims to support communities to come together and create new and impactful projects that help their neighbourhoods recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The criteria include improving public spaces, such as installing locally distinctive lighting, furniture, greening, or public art. They are encouraging projects which celebrate and strengthen the special character of an area, which make everyone in the community feel welcome and involved, and which are environmentally sustainable. We will find out by 15 March whether or not we have been successful. I will be in touch again when there is further news to report. In the meantime all good wishes to you for the festive season and for New Year 2021, and stay well! Clare and the project team SE16.RI@gmail.com

Following on from my last update, a few of us met recently with the editor of the River Thames Society’s magazine – the Thames Guardian - to talk through what is being planned in Rotherhithe during 2020. Please take a moment to copy and paste this link into your web browser and take a look at the final version of the article! https://bit.ly/2Thc3ui (sorry –clickable links aren’t possible on Spacehive). As you can see the editor has done a pretty good job. She has asked me to keep her posted on other developments being planned in Rotherhithe over the coming months so that she can flag them up in their news pages in the next issue. This article will appear in the March edition of the magazine, which went to press last Monday 24 February. The print run of the Thames Guardian is 7800, of which 5800 go to the estate agents Waterview – the magazine sponsors - for mailing to riverside properties along the length of the Thames. 2000 copies are sent to River Thames Society members who are based all along the river from the source to the sea, as well as to riparian MPs, to relevant Ministers, to various river bodies, and for distribution at events along the river. So this article represents really excellent coverage of what we are trying to achieve! Huge thanks for your continued support for this exciting legacy lighting project – more news very soon! Clare and the project team

first page of press release now attached...