Day Of Reckoning For Norton Folgate
UPDATE: Proceedings are now concluded and the verdict will come next week
Readers are encouraged to attend the Judicial Review happening at 10:30am in Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand today which will decide the future of Norton Folgate.
If the Spitalfields Trust win their case and Boris Johnson is judged to have erred in law to the degree that his decision granting British Land permission to obliterate Norton Folgate is invalidated, then the door is open for this historic district to be saved. If, on the contrary, British Land and the Greater London Authority win their case and Boris Johnson is judged to have acted within his powers as Mayor of London, then we can all wave goodbye to the neighbourhood. Click here to read the terms of the Judicial Review.
To commemorate today’s historic watershed, Adam Dant has produced a Limited Edition of 100 signed and numbered Irish linen tea towels of The Curse of Norton Folgate, illustrating the mystic retribution invited by anyone who chooses to despoil this cherished spot.
If Norton Folgate is saved, the tea towel will become a trophy you can frame and, if the outcome is otherwise, you can use it to dry your dishes – or wipe your tears. The tea towels are hand-printed in black and eau-de-nil by Brian Gurtler in Spitalfields.
TEA TOWELS ARE SOLD OUT!
To all those who seek to despoil Norton Folgate, the Beasts of Bishopsgate hearby curse you!
After more than a year, the long campaign to #SaveNortonFolgate reached its culmination last week in a triumphant concert for a packed audience at Shoreditch Church, and Photographer Sarah Ainslie and Artist Ken Sequin were there to capture the highlights.
Produce Frances Mayhew consults with Griff Rhys Jones
Tom Carradine
Griff Rhys Jones introduces the evening
Suggs reads from ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’
Debbie Chazen read from Pickwick Papers
Oliver Leigh-Wood of the Spitalfields Trust waves a big stick and talks about British Land
Katherine Rhodes performed magic
Jonathan Pryce gave his rendition of ‘If it wasn’t for the ‘ouses in between’
Drew Worthley sang his ‘Ode to Stepney’
Stick In The Wheel sang ‘Tom O’Bedlam’
Griff Rhys Jones wraps up the proceedings
Photographs copyright © Sarah Ainslie
Drawings copyright © Ken Sequin
It looks like a wonderful evening, and I wish you good luck today at the hearing. May the judges reach the right decision for Spitalfields and all who live there. Love the photos and line drawings, very effective. Valerie
good luck, good luck, good luck
An important day for Spitalfields and for conservation areas across this British land. Irony fully intended. Let’s hope for the best.
Letters written, emails sent now fingers very firmly crossed!
Good luck.
Cheering you on from the Hudson River Valley in New York State. (and admiring that
stunning commemorative tea towel! — Gives me ideas for a local fund-raiser here-abouts).
Great photographs & drawings. Must have been a wonderful evening. Down with Boris!
My Heart is with you today ! Too late for the Tea Towel Sold Out! 🙁
Waiting for news on the outcome of the judicial review–can’t seem to find it online anywhere, including on the Save NF Facebook page.
Less importantly, other than on an entirely personal level, wishing for a second edition of the ‘sold out’ tea towel, one that could be mailed across the Pond.
Hoping so much for a positive outcome.
Everything crossed for the verdict next week!
Hope they’ll be a re-run of the teatowels too, if further funds needed.
Fingers crossed for a good outcome.