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December was a month in which local businesses celebrated and donated in equal measure.
As well as the Frost Fair – mentioned elsewhere – the Business Club organised two events.
The annual Christmas service took place at the Cathedral on 6th December – St
Nicholas Day - and included the lighting of the Cathedral's own tree (pictured above). Attended by at least 200 people, the event was memorable for the
quality of the singing, the well-known humour of the Dean, and the warmth of
the social event that followed, which saw all the mulled wine and mince pies
consumed!
Later in the same week the Business Club celebrated its annual Christmas lunch at Balls
Brothers’ Hop Cellars in Southwark
Street. Participants enjoyed both an excellent
meal and an address by Fergus Lowe, Managing Director of More London Estates.
Better
Bankside’s Christmas appeal ‘Bring and Buy a Better Christmas’ continued to go
from strength to strength. Over 800 items were donated for parcels which went
to residents and users of Broadway’s Manor
Place hostel, the Manna Centre, Age Concern
Southwark, Lucy Brown House and Hopton’s Almshouses. Staff from several local
businesses – including Forster’s, Waterman Group and Lloyds TSB – assisted with
the wrapping on 14th December.
For the first
time the appeal was launched by a celebrity – Location, Location, Location presenter Phil Spencer. Phil kindly
took time out of a busy Christmas schedule to be photographed in the drivers
seat of Better Bankside’s ‘pink’ cleaning vehicle.
An
innovation for 2006 was the Better Bankside Christmas card. The card featured a
design by 10 year-old Ronni Duffett of
Cathedral
School
– the winner of a competition for children from local primary schools. Runners
up included Orla McGroarty, also of
Cathedral
School, Joelle Logan and Emily Allen,
both of
Friars
School.
For each £5
pack sold, a donation of £1 was made to Broadway. More than 3,000 cards were
sold – a creditable first effort upon which the organisers hope to build in
2007.
The prize
for the competition was a print workshop by artist Frank Kiely, offered by
Better Bankside in association with Bankside Gallery. The workshop took place
soon after the start of the spring term, with Ronni Duffett’s year 6 class
producing prints of local landmarks.
For
Christmas 2007 Better Bankside is exploring how to create a ‘Christmasy’
landscape in the area without undue expense or the destruction of trees! Ideas
are invited for the use of projections or other interventions in the landscape…
Please contact Chris Bateman on 020 7928 3998, cb@betterbankside.co.uk.
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