London Bridge 2017

October 2017

Celebration of the re-opening of London Bridge Station

London Bridge Live 5th – 18th October

The Orwell Society was there

The Orwell Society has been happy to work with Network Rail; John McKiernan; Pianos, Pies and Pirouettes from Wigan; The Orwell Foundation; Penguin Books, and many more to celebrate the historic role that London Bridge Station has played in city life and the life of the many individuals who passed through.

George Orwell lived in the area, on Tooley Street, in the life later described in Down and Out in Paris and London. It was the station to which he returned after his season in the hop-fields of Kent, described in his essay “Hop-Picking”.

At the end of the ten-day London Bridge Live a last event took place. Patrick Hoelscher was there to record it.

Richard Blair, Mark Carne of Network Rail, Quentin Kopp and John McKiernan.

Mark Carne is holding a Barnhill Slate, awarded by the Society as a mark of its thanks.

From left to right: George Orwell, Quentin Kopp, Richard Blair

At Quentin Kopp’s feet a Penguin paperback copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Centre three: Quentin Kopp, Richard Blair, ‘Jazzman’ John Clarke

Some of our readers from the event

We thank everyone who has helped.

Read about London Bridge Live.

Photographs by Patrick Hoelscher

Photographs (c) 2017 Patrick Hoelscher 

Uploaded October 2017