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28 South Woodford Village Gazette<br />
In the second of two articles, local photographer<br />
Geoff Wilkinson discusses his new exhibition – entitled ‘Quick!<br />
Before it goes’ – depicting London’s East End, an area<br />
which resonates with many residents here<br />
The old<br />
A<br />
walk around London’s<br />
East End is now a<br />
fascinating experience.<br />
The changes are enormous, as<br />
I have discovered on this latest<br />
photographic odyssey for my<br />
current exhibition. Buildings<br />
and whole streets have<br />
disappeared, often replaced<br />
with modern glass and steel<br />
structures our parents and<br />
grandparents would never<br />
recognise.<br />
Visitors to my photography<br />
gallery in Wanstead had talked<br />
about their parents’ lives and<br />
childhood memories of playing<br />
on the streets of Bethnal Green,<br />
Bow, Mile End and other parts of<br />
the East End.<br />
Geoffrey Wilkinson<br />
Photography at<br />
Eightyfour<br />
East End<br />
It was the night I got off the<br />
DLR at Canning Town station to<br />
take some more photographs<br />
that it suddenly became a<br />
more personal journey. My<br />
grandfather’s house, now long<br />
gone, on Bidder Street was next<br />
to the railway line and what was<br />
known at that time as ‘Peggy<br />
Leggy Steps’, the pedestrian<br />
footbridge over the railway.<br />
This was part of my East End<br />
playground when we visited<br />
him and my grandmother. The<br />
‘Steps’ have been replaced by<br />
Star Lane DLR station. When lit<br />
at night, it acts as a beacon for<br />
shift workers finishing in the<br />
darkness. The Woolwich ferry,<br />
connecting the north and south<br />
of the River Thames, was always<br />
a Sunday morning treat with my<br />
grandfather. Being on the boat as<br />
it moved through the river those<br />
few hundred yards was a real<br />
adventure. It was that memory<br />
which led me to take the<br />
photograph on this page of the<br />
ferry named the Dame Vera Lynn.<br />
This photograph, although not<br />
what you might think of as a<br />
typical east London scene, sums<br />
up everything for me, with the<br />
new East End (Canary Wharf)<br />
behind the ferry and the old dock<br />
cranes on the right symbolising<br />
the past.<br />
Geoff’s exhibition of East End photographs runs until 1 March<br />
at Gallery 84 on Nightingale Lane, Wanstead, E11 2EZ. For more<br />
information, call 020 8530 1244 or visit swvg.co.uk/gw<br />
interested in photography…<br />
we run workshops for all levels from<br />
beginner upwards…<br />
1-to-1 tuition, studio workshops, location<br />
workshops, food photography,<br />
quality ebay photography,<br />
photopgraphy walks, night workshops<br />
we can tailor a workshop to fit your needs…<br />
pop in and have a chat.<br />
84 Nightingale Lane, Wanstead, E11 2EZ<br />
t: 0208 530 1244 m: 07974 662881<br />
www.geoffwilkinsonphotography.co.uk<br />
e: gtw@dircon.co.uk
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