Vestry House Museum — Attraction in London

Starting from here on Sunday 6 January 2019, I went on an extremely enjoyable wassail event, which is repeated annually and which I saw advertised in the Metro, the free London newspaper. After singing practice at the Museum, we blessed the apple tree and proceeded through the town singing the wassail song. Outside a cheese shop, we sang a [ mock ] insulting poem, to which the owner and his assistant replied in similar vein with a composition of their own. We then went on to the Nag's Head, where a room had been hired so that we could do more practice, chat, eat pizza and drink beer. The landlord, Roger, had died two days before but his wife wanted the event to go ahead. We sang a song in his praise in the bar, which his wife much appreciated. We then sang around a bonfire at a house, whose owners kindly supplied us with mulled wine and beer. After more singing in a pub, we blessed and sang for the lime trees in the local open space. They are threatened with felling, but I very much hope to see them still standing next year [ that's if I am still standing next year! ]. Many thanks to Ms,...

Vestry House museum is Walthamstow's local museum tucked away in the historic heart of the borough next to St Mary's church. Outsiders maybe consider E17 just another rather scruffy London suburb, but if you take the trouble to look you'll discover that it actually has a lot of interesting history. Vestry House aims to give an overview of this. The museum itself is housed in the old workhouse (hence the name!) where the local vestry (forerunner of the local council) also met. It has a collection of local artefacts - its pride is the Bremer car, claimed to be one first automobiles, that was built by a local engineer. (E17 was once an important manufacturing centre.) It also mounts several temporary exhibitions - when I went it was an interesting display of artists' reactions to the Suffragette movement (2019 being the centenary of the Act that gave women the vote - you knew that of course,...

A charming and welcoming museum, hidden near Walthamstow central, covering 2 floors of an old building, it's a time capsule back to the early 1900s. You can see how local people lived; interestingly, you can compare it to how we Live Today. The accompanying gardens are lovely and very peaceful. Sitting in a particular corner of the garden you will find tranquilly. The staff are accommodating, and if you read the stories accompanying each item in the museum, it's a fascinating contrast of how people who lived in Walthamstow lived throughout the ages. I especially liked the pirate radio section of the museum showing how the local community used music to bring people together. There's also a DJ set up which allows you to hear the music and have the opportunity to listen to hip-hop tunes of the 80s that played in the local dance clubs—overall a wonderful place to visit with or...