Comments on: The Bethnal Green Mulberry Saga https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/02/08/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-saga/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Mon, 16 Mar 2020 04:00:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Carolyn Hooper https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/02/08/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-saga/#comment-1332605 Mon, 16 Mar 2020 04:00:33 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=179592#comment-1332605 Lovely shots, gentle author.

If anyone dares to take that tree down, I think Boris himself needs to be made responsible. Sorry…..that’s abit of coronavirus black humour.

Plus, I believe that Mile End Mulberry (should I say its shape, to me, is like a big gorilla?) should go get anyone who begins to destroy those wonderful pieces of British history. Just as important as any gargoyle or stained window.

Many thanks from Australia but forebears link to Haggerston, the Little Dorritt church, Blackfriars Road, Marylebone Road and so much more.

]]> By: Gregory Rose https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/02/08/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-saga/#comment-1329614 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 13:03:10 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=179592#comment-1329614 Sadly I will be in France next weekend. I hope you get plenty of support. Very best wishes, Greg

]]> By: Jane kilbey https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/02/08/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-saga/#comment-1329392 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 17:23:45 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=179592#comment-1329392 My Nan (born 1888) climbed the Bethnal green mulberry tree as a teenager and when newly married she thought she got pregnant as a result of climbing it. Age 100 and 14 pregnancies later she saw the funny side . Best of luck saving this tree.

]]> By: paul loften https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/02/08/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-saga/#comment-1329383 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 12:49:41 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=179592#comment-1329383 I am an old friend of this Mulberry tree. I went to Parmiter’s school over the road in the ’60s and a few times sat in front of it on a bench the large grounds of the Chest Hospital eating a sandwich sometimes with friends just fooling around I am not even sure if we were supposed to be there but you can’t stop boys exploring any open space in their free time Later In the ’70s, I traveled abroad for a year and I took a stopgap temporary job for a few months so as to build up some funds for my travels. It so happened the job that the agency sent me was in the records department of the Chest Hospital. It was in the dusty depths of the basement where they kept the old Xrays and files of past patients of the hospital. It was my job to find the files and Xrays hidden amongst the vast archive and bring them to the department that requested them. I worked with a team of four lovely older ladies that doted on me, then a young lad, down there in the basement. Once again I sat on the bench in front of this old tree eating sandwich in my lunchtime.
This hospital has been closed for many years. However I am a living witness as to how many lives in London this hospital has saved when TB was a scourge and took so many. I am also a witness to how this mulberry tree stood there for so long and accompanied the patients who sat there so ill in the grounds and offered its comfort to the very ill and dying. The mulberry’s own suffering which was clear to see must have been an inspiration to many of the patients and helped them get through their illness. “If this tree can do it I can” would have been the thought that went through their minds.
This is how we treat a hospital that saved so many lives and had such a big part in London’s history. This is how we treat a tree that saved so many lives!
Shameful!

]]> By: Geoffrey Bolland https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/02/08/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-saga/#comment-1329376 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 09:58:56 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=179592#comment-1329376 Never forgetting the mulberries in Fountain Court, Inner Temple. An oasis of calm for a quiet coffee (except at lunchtime and rush hours).
Then there’s Wilkins Mulberry Jelly, rich and unctuous!

]]> By: Jill Wilson https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/02/08/the-bethnal-green-mulberry-saga/#comment-1329368 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 08:59:27 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=179592#comment-1329368 I’ll be there – hopefully with my mulberry tree…

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