Here we have an overview of a number of Talks from 2019, before the expression Covid-19 had even been heard of! If you have any queries regarding previous Talks, please contact The Charlton Society here

Greenwich Peninsula Gasometer by Dr Mary Mills, Saturday February 16th, 2019

The East Greenwich Gas holder was the largest built in Europe, to revolutionary technical standards. Modern Movement design, an icon for the area and a landmark. It is going to be demolished because that is what the builders of the Silvertown tunnel want. The talk will cover the backgrounds of the South Metropolitan Gas Company and its charismatic chairman, and how the building of East Greenwich Gas Works in the 1880s was an expression of his ideas of both industrial management and how society should be organized. I will also talk about the structure of the holder and the other holder which once stood beside it, explosions and accidents and about the current campaign which has tried to save the holder against all the odds. Mary Mills is a local historian and long-term Greenwich activist. She runs the Greenwich Industrial History Society and is a frequent speaker to the Charlton Society.

Woolwich Garrison Church by Tim Barnes and Clive Lambert. Saturday 19th January 2019

Tim Barnes and Clive Lambert of the Woolwich Garrison Church Trust will give a talk this coming Saturday on the history and current efforts of the Trust to restore the Church to its former glory. The original church was built in the mid 1800s amid a public outcry  following the Crimean War (1853-6) about the living conditions for soldiers- as a result, hospitals, new barracks, and garrison churches were built. In 1944 the church was hit by a flying bomb and irrevocably damaged.

From 1952 various schemes have been discussed as to how to repair the church. Then in 2008 further discussions led to a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to undertake further repairs. These continue today. The church remains consecrated and holds four services in each year.

Please join us for a fascinating story about its history and restoration and a glimpse of the beautifully restored mosaics.