Yesterday afternoon we whiled away a few hours on the Isle of Dogs, heading along the river from Mudchute to West India Quay. Along the way we encountered many of the interesting sculptures and installations that seem to appear about every 100 yards on the island, and which have been springing up for about the last 20 years. Check out the sculpture of the looped bends in the river which was unveiled (I hope she didn’t get her feet wet) by Princess Margaret on 8th July 1987, and the impressive objects found in Columbus Courtyard, including a huge bronze head and a beautiful glass wall. By the way, if you want to look at the full-size pictures, you can click on the colourwheel in the bottom right of the frame to go to my online picture album…
We ended up at the Museum in Docklands. It appears quite small from the outside, but appearances can be deceiving, as we were inside for over an hour and a half and skipped through quite a few of the exhibits. It tracks the history of the docks from the time of the Romans to the present day, with interesting features on subjects such as the Second World War (despite being repeatedly firebombed, the dock workers soldiered bravely on) and the protests that accompanied the initial plans for the redevelopment of the docks in the 1980s (the black-draped coffin the protesters wheeled through the streets is on show on the second floor).
It was really interesting to visit the museum, which also has seasonal exhibitions. At the moment a large part of the museum is given over to “London, Sugar and Slavery” but this will be replaced by an exhibition on “Jack the Ripper‘s London” later in the Spring. I can’t wait!
Oh, a tip for the misers amongst you – presenting a valid oystercard gets two adults in for the price of one, and if you go soon, your entry ticket entitles you to enter the museum for the next twelve months free of charge if you present it when you return. Can’t be bad!
About Pete Stean
