THE LEANING WOMAN NEEDS YOU! 📢

Update 16.10.23: Great news - the crowd funder has hit its fundraising target!

We’ve launched a crowdfunder to restore the amazing Leaning Woman Statue in Hammersmith, alongside local residents and Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

The statue faces the Great West Road and is a fantastic piece of post-War sculpture in London, created in 1959 by Czech sculptor Dr Karel Vogel.

The concrete has cracked and the internal structure is rusting. The project will include repairing all damage and stopping the corrosion, as well as improving its setting so it gets the widest possible audience! The statue has been on the Heritage at Risk Register since 2017 and has been wrapped to protect it from further damage.

Sixty local young people have visited the statue over the last 6 months as part of our Proud Places programme. They were inspired by the statue and the history of the sculptor Dr Karel Vogel, and created their own sculptures in response.

Find out more about here and please donate if you can: https://www.spacehive.com/help-us-save-the-karel-vogel-statue-w6

Cabmen’s Shelter Chelsea

We had a fantastic morning celebrating the restoration of the Cabmen’s Shelter in Chelsea, next to Albert Bridge which is enjoying a new lease of life as a public café. HOLT Patron, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, has attended the launches of many of the other surviving shelters restored over the last 40 years and was pleased to continue the tradition for the launch of ‘Café Pier.’ (It is named as it is close to Cadogan Pier)

His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester cut the ribbon and made a speech, alongside local pupils from Christchurch & Holy Trinity CofE Primary School who read out poems that they had written about the project. As part of HOLT’s Places programme several local schools had visited the works in progress to learn about the history of Victorian cab drivers.

Whitechapel Drinking Fountain

The Whitechapel fountain restoration has been completed thanks to grants from Heritage of London Trust (HOLT) and Tower Hamlets council. An unveiling took place today and over 50 pupils from London Enterprise Academy, Swanlea School and Buttercup Primary School were in attendance as part of HOLT’s youth engagement programme Proud Places. Heritage of London Trust Director Dr Nicola Stacey gave a speech and the ribbon was cut by a student from London Enterprise Academy. Amira Rehman and Hamzah Ibrahim from Buttercup Primary School read out their poems inspired by the fountain’s history.