Following on from my last message, the presentation event on the Rotherhithe Illuminated! legacy lighting project will take place on Tuesday 29th October at 6:30pm in Brunel’s Grand Entrance Hall, Railway Avenue, SE16 4LF. The session will be introduced by the Chair of the What’s on Rotherhithe / Our Rotherhithe community group, Richard Kalmar. This will be followed by a briefing from Sarah Khan, the conservation architect who is project managing the feasibility study for us. Then there will be a 30-minute presentation by Ryan Slessenger, our lighting engineer/designer, followed by a short presentation by Sarah Yates, the Independent Researcher and Curator who is advising us on the educational aspects and interpretation of the scheme. The session will conclude with Q&A which will be facilitated by Sarah Khan, and we will finish up with drinks and networking. If you are able to join us please RSVP to se16.ri@gmail.com if you haven’t already, so that we can make sure there is enough seating, glasses etc. Btw like all old buildings it is sometimes a bit chilly down in Brunel’s Shaft on a winter’s night, so if you are coming along please remember to wrap up warm! We really hope that you can make it and we are looking forward to seeing you on 29th October. Clare and the project team

Yesterday evening - Tuesday 24 September - the project team got together after dark for the lighting demo on each of the buildings. It was really exciting to see the project begin to come alive at long last, and the internal illumination of the St Mary's church rotunda, and the soft illumination of the spire rising above it, really did have the “wow” factor. We could actually see the internal architectural decoration inside the rotunda, which is not normally visible. We have now organised the presentation and briefing on this lighting project, to which all our 200+ supporters are invited. It will take place on Tuesday 29th October at 6:30pm in Brunel's Grand Entrance Hall, Railway Avenue, SE16 4LF. We do hope that you will be able to join us! If you have any questions just email us on SE16.RI@gmail.com And if you or anyone you know would like to help us turn this lovely vision into reality, we have set up a justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rotherhithe-illuminated. Every single £ will help us reach our target and ensure that this legacy lighting scheme is installed and ready to go by July 2020, when the key commemorations to mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Rotherhithe will take place. Hope to see you on 29th October! Clare and the project team

First of all, we have just learned that a private individual has very generously donated £10K towards the installation of the lighting scheme next year, on the strict condition that they remain anonymous. This is brilliant news! As per my last post the feasibility study continues to go really well, and now that the holiday season is over we have a project team meeting with our professional partners scheduled for 13 September. Further meetings are planned with the reps of all the historic buildings over the next few weeks, and at our September meeting we will be agreeing a date for the public presentation of the lighting scheme in late October. I will of course let you know as soon as the date and the venue for this presentation have been confirmed. We are now working with a new professional partner who provides fundraising support for community projects. They are currently researching the most likely realistic sources of funding for this legacy lighting scheme and they will help us prepare tailored letters of application. We will pay them 5% commission on any grants they secure for us, but there is zero cost to us if they fail to secure us any funding. Finally, don't forget that if you have any questions, or if anyone you know would like to pledge support for this exciting community-led lighting scheme, you / they can email us on SE16.RI@gmail.com. Every single £ will help us reach our target and ensure that this exciting community-led scheme is installed and ready to go by July 2020! Clare and the campaign team

The feasibility study is going really well and our professional partners continue to work hard in the background on our behalf. There are further meetings planned with the reps of all the buildings over the next couple of months, and we will soon be in a position to confirm a date in October for the public presentation of the lighting scheme. In the meantime the Port of London Authority (PLA) has made a very generous pledge of support for our project, which is wonderful news! They say that they recognise the importance of highlighting these local landmarks in preparation for the Mayflower celebrations next year and as a legacy of this event. There are several other potential new backers in the pipeline, so please keep your fingers crossed for us. And don't forget that if you have any questions, or if anyone you know would like to pledge support for this exciting community-led lighting scheme, you / they can email us on SE16.RI@gmail.com. Every single £ will help us reach our target and ensure that the scheme is installed and ready to go by July 2020! More news soon.... Clare and the campaign team.

It's ages since I posted an update but there has been lots going on in the background! We now have the very comprehensive 25-page report which has been prepared for us by the independent researcher/curator I mentioned in my last post. This document focuses on the scoping for the historic interpretation/interactive elements of the lighting scheme, and based on this report I am meeting with the team this coming Friday for a brainstorm to agree on what we want the educational elements of the scheme to incorporate. Once we have agreed the way forward we will be meeting again with our professional partners in early July to discuss next steps. We are in serious fundraising mode now and have started pitching to key individuals, corporates and philanthropic donors. Please let us know if any of your contacts or associates might be willing to help us turn this vision into reality by donating towards the cost of the installation of the lighting project next spring. They can contact us on SE16.RI@gmail.com. As you know every single pledge of support, however small, will help us reach our target by 30 March next year in time to coincide with the Mayflower 400 celebrations/commemorations which will be going on in Rotherhithe in July 2020! Thank you once again for your support so far - onwards and upwards! Clare

There has been a great deal of progress since my last post! In early April we reviewed the lighting designers’ presentation of the concept and feasibility design, which was hugely inspiring and exciting. Our vision really is beginning to come to life now….. A few days later we had a meeting and a walkabout an independent researcher and curator who has come highly recommended. She inspired us with new ideas and ways in which we would be able to incorporate educational and fun elements into this lighting scheme. She is very keen to help us with this, and we have commissioned her to prepare an interpretation strategy / scoping document for us. This will include project description, potential audience segments, key messages and themes, and potential content and outputs. We will receive this document by the end of April. After Easter the lighting designer and the conservation architect will meet again with each building owner/representative to discuss the development of the concept as it relates to their building. And this week I had a really constructive meeting with our key City-based supporter, to discuss the wider programme for Mayflower 400 in London as well as the fundraising strategy for the installation of the lighting project next spring. A number of extremely helpful ideas and suggestions were floated which I will be feeding back to the campaign team in a few days’ time. In the meantime we have already received several generous offers of financial support from various organisations and individuals. Let us know if any of your contacts or associates might be willing to help us raise the funds we need to turn this vision into reality. Donations of any size will be hugely welcomed – every single pledge of support, however small, will help us reach our target by the 30 March 2020 deadline! Thank YOU once again for your generous support – as you know, without your help we couldn’t have got this far. More soon. Till then, Happy Easter! Clare

Work on the feasibility study is now well underway! The initial meetings with the owners/representatives of the six historic buildings have all been arranged and will take place during the next few days, along with a site survey of each building, so that the lighting designer can develop detailed drawings of each site. We have now started fundraising for the cost of the installation of the lighting scheme. In the last couple of weeks we have had three really useful walkabouts and conversations, one with the representative of a transatlantic law firm, one with the Head of Thames Vision Delivery at the Port of London Authority, and one with the Culture Team at the US Embassy in London. We are hopeful that we will be able to secure the funds needed to ensure that this community-led legacy lighting scheme is installed and ready to go before July 2020, when the key celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Rotherhithe will take place. Huge thanks again to you for your support and for your generosity in helping us get this far! Clare and the campaign team

Lots of exciting news! We've received a very generous pledge of £500 from City Cruises, which was made after pledging via Spacehive was closed. This will be held in reserve to put towards the cost of the installation of the lighting scheme, after the technical feasibility study has been completed. On Tuesday next week we have a meeting at City Hall with the Mayor's Regeneration & Economic Development team. We will sign off on the contract with the GLA and meet our Regeneration Project Manager, who will work with the campaign team to help deliver the project. Once the contract has been signed your generous pledge will be collected - probably next week (w/b 4 February). Finally, on Thursday next week a senior person from a transatlantic law firm is coming to meet us in Rotherhithe for a walkabout and a chat. They have expressed keen interest in providing financial support for the installation of the lighting scheme later on, so we are really thrilled that they want to come and meet us and see at firsthand what we are trying to achieve and why the idea has generated so much enthusiasm and so much generosity! Thank you once again very much indeed for your support - watch this space! Clare and the campaign team