E17 Saturday

I've been enjoying being at home. My mum and I went to the Jubilee church prayer meeting this morning, which is always brilliant. I went to a craft fair at St Mary's and then wandered down the market, looking for (and failing to find) some material from which to make pyjamas. It was cold! I love the fact you can buy almost anything on Walthamstow market - fruit, veg, clothes, toys, pots and pans, tvs, dog leads, jewellery, you name it, it's there somewhere. Except, apparently, interestingly striped cotton suitable for Bekki pyjamas. Ah well.

This afternoon I've been knitting and watching Henry V (the Branagh version). If you're interested, there's an old post of mine about the Branagh and Olivier films of Henry V. I'd like to finish the jumper I'm knitting so I can show it off at church tomorrow, but I doubt it's going to happen.

Back to Cambridge tomorrow afternoon, but I'm enjoying this E17* interlude.

*E17 is the postcode for Walthamstow. As made famous (for good or ill) by East17.

Save the William Morris Gallery

Jonathan Glancey's article in today's Guardian reminded me. The William Morris Gallery, which is very near my parents' house in Walthamstow, is under threat of drastically cut funding, which would see its opening hours cut to weekend and bank holidays and a huge reduction in its education work. Glancey says of visiting school children "Most have experienced nothing like it; a world of beautifully crafted romance. The rest of Walthamstow is virtually bereft of such special moments." I might beg to differ a little on the last point, Walthamstow's not quite the artistic desert he describes, but the overall point that the gallery is an important resource for the borough and a unique place which many people should have the chance to experience is one I whole-heartedly agree with.

If you agree too, there's more information about how to get involved in the campaign, including a link to the online petition on the Keep our museums open site. Vestry House Museum (the location of the column above) is also at risk.