Updates
Local people creating projects that make Southwark fantastic place to live, work and relax.
We’re thrilled to share the exciting news that St Mary’s church spire+clock faces and the Christopher Jones memorial will be illuminated before Easter this year! After 6+ years and a huge number of Covid-related delays and other unexpected difficulties, the Diocese of Southwark and the US Embassy agreed to extend their respective deadlines, and our lighting designer kindly redesigned the original lighting plan at no cost to us. So a less expensive scheme now allows us to deliver this key element of the original Rotherhithe Illuminated! legacy lighting project. This historic church was always the centrepiece of the original project, as the illuminated spire will then be seen clearly at night from the river, from Tower Bridge and from London Bridge. As you know we were able to successfully deliver the illumination of another element of the scheme - the two figurines on the Old School House - in December 2021. The $10K grant from the US Embassy will cover the cost of the luminaires and other fittings. These have now been ordered but may not arrive before late March, so it’s not yet clear when the work to install the lighting at the church will begin. We hope that it will be possible to organise a celebration – including formal switch-on by the American Ambassador or one of her senior officials – soon after Easter. The long delays and negotiations have incurred unanticipated additional expenses. We therefore need to raise a further £5K to cover these unbudgeted costs, so we are hoping that some of our many enthusiastic supporters will be able to help us cover this shortfall. Contributions would be hugely welcome – as Tesco says, every little helps! I’m including the link to our JustGiving page below, as well as the details of the Rotherhithe Illuminated! bank account, in case you are able to help us. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rotherhithe-illuminated HSBC : What’s On Rotherhithe : 40-06-41 20254584 When we started work on this unique legacy lighting project in 2017 to celebrate Rotherhithe’s maritime heritage, we never dreamed that it would take us more than 6 long years to achieve our vision of illuminating the spire+clock faces of this beautiful and famous old church and the Christopher Jones memorial. So we are obviously overjoyed that from late spring this year, this aesthetic and subtle lighting of the church will enhance nighttime views of Rotherhithe for everyone to enjoy. Thank you so much for your support. Clare and the Rotherhithe Illuminated! project team. [email protected]
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 [email protected]
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 [email protected]
Brilliant news, thanks everyone!
