Learn Something on your Lunch Break
Have lunch at the Rambulance, our on-site cafe, while enjoying this free series of lunchtime talks. Just show up – no registration required.
Wednesday 15 June, 1pm-1:45pm
John Constable of Southwark Mysteries on The Liberty
The medieval Liberty of the Clink lay outside the law of the City of London, in what is now The Borough and Bankside. Shakespeare’s plays were first performed in this waterfront strip of theatres, prisons, bear-pits, taverns and brothels or “stews”. Here the world’s oldest profession was licensed by the Bishop of Winchester. Yet the women of the stews, known as Winchester Geese, were allegedly buried in a nearby, unconsecrated graveyard. An entertaining historical talk by the author of The Southwark Mysteries and Secret Bankside – Walks In The Outlaw Borough. www.southwarkmysteries.co.uk/
Wednesday 22 June, 1pm-1:45pm
Jarred Henderson of London Harvest on Urban Agriculture
A talk with Jarred Henderson of London Harvest (Planting Lead for the Urban Physic Garden) on the Designer’s Role in Urban Agriculture. He’ll be discussing energy consumption in food production, an awareness of the origins of different foods and insights into the available alternatives of food production.
Jarred Henderson of London Harvest offers a unique way of introducing and explaining the issues. With a background in urban design and a passion for all things food, his mission is to enlighten people of all ages about the origins of their food, the complexity of the business and its direct and indirect effect on our lives.
Tuesday 5 July, 1pm-1:45pm
Richard Reynolds on Guerrilla Gardening
London-based Richard Reynolds is the unofficial spokesperson for a worldwide movement of cultivating plants in public places without permission. From pimping pavement to throwing seedbombs, Reynolds’ book On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening Without Boundaries, contains tactics and inspiration for gardeners seeking to beautify their urban communities and to bust apathy about public spaces, at any risk. In his talk, Reynolds surveys the breadth of community-based gardening from artists and activists to foodies and florists who are using horticulture to combat litter and pollution everywhere from Botswana to Canada. Book signing follows. www.guerrillagardening.org
Wednesday 6 July, 1pm-1:45pm
Kathryn Lwin of River of Flowers on Urban Wildflowers
The ‘river’ in River of Flowers is an evocative way of describing the planting of urban meadows in ‘pollination streams’ or ‘green corridors’ in order to help our pollinators, bees, butterflies and hoverflies, find forage in the city. It describes the flight path of the pollinators as much as it does the flow of wildflowers. www.riverofflowers.org/
Friday 8 July, 1-2 pm
Kevin Flude of the Old Operating Theatre
Old Operating Theatre Museum Director Kevin Flude takes a walk through the history of Southwark’s medical and public health past. The tour will include a tour of remains of Old St Thomas Hospital, Guys Hospital, Guys Chapel, Southwark Cathedral and Victorian social housing schemes. Meeting at 1 pm in the garden, to depart at ten past the hour. The tour will end near Guys Hospital, around 2 pm.
Tuesday July 12, 1-2 pm
Loowatt is a revolutionary waterless toilet system that creates local economies around waste treatment. Our system converts human waste into energy and fertilizer, using anaerobic digestion. At the Urban Physic Garden, we have installed a small-scale anaerobic digester which converts human and food waste into clean-burning natural gas. Nearby, the original Loowatt prototype, which was made out of royal horse poop from the Queen’s cavalry, will be available for use. The gas will be hooked up to a stove for cooking demonstrations.
Wednesday 13 July, 1pm-1:45pm
Plants for a Future
Plants For A Future (PFAF) is a charitable company, originally set up to support the work of Ken and Addy Fern on their experimental site in Cornwall, where they carried out research and provided information on edible and otherwise useful plants suitable for growing outdoors in a temperate climate. Over time they planted 1500 species of edible plants on ‘The Field’ in Cornwall, which was their base since 1989. Over ten years ago, Ken began compiling a database, which currently consists of approximately 7000 species of plants. Throughout the Urban Physic Garden are QR codes on the plant tags, that you can click from your smart phone to get more information on the PFAF web site – learn more about their database and medical ratings of plants.
www.pfaf.org/
Tuesday 19 July, 1-1.45 pm
Stefan Chmelik of Chinese Herbal Medicine and New Medicine Group
Stefan Chmelik discusses the unrivaled Chinese tradition of herbal tonics for every body-type which have been used for thousands of years to prevent illness and restore health. Modern research is proving the benefits of many of these tonics now, and thankfully they also lend themselves to being used in traditional cooking recipes, such as stocks, soups and stews. Herbs discussed will include ginseng, goji berry, Chinese angelica, reishi mushroom and others, with a few practical suggestions for incorporating them into your diet. There will be a basic talk about understanding whether its a tonic you need, or just the opposite! Stefan is a past President of the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine and Founder of New Medicine Group, as well as a passionate tonic cook.
Wednesday 20 July, 1pm-1:45pm
Miss Nightingale’s Medicine Chest
Natasha McEnroe, Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum, will explain how the Victorians used traditional plant medicines to dose themselves and their families. By examining the contents of Florence Nightingale’s personal medicine chest, we will learn how nurses in the 19th century applied herbal cures in addition to other remedies that we would consider dangerous or even poisonous today. www.florence-nightingale.co.uk
Tuesday 26 July, 1pm-1:45pm
London Street Food – An urban approach to foraging with Invisible Food
Do you know what mallow looks like? Or sow thistle? Or yarrow? Do you know when the first blackberries (also the sweetest) are ripe for picking in London? Do you know where the elder trees are and how to make elderflower fritters? Discover the wild food potential of Union Street with this talk by artist Ceri Buck. http://twitter.com/invisiblefood
www.lambethbandofsolidarity.wordpress.com
Wednesday 27 July, 1pm-1:45pm
Dr. Henry Oakeley on 3000 Years of Medicinal Plants
The medicinal garden of the Royal College of Physicians contains nearly 1,000 different plants that are used, or have been used, in medicine during the past two millennia, and ones that commemorate physicians. Join Dr Henry Oakeley, Garden Fellow at the Royal College of Physicians and Advisor to the Chelsea Physic Garden, for a talk about why/how plants were/are used in medicine from 1000 BC to today.
Friday 29 July, 1.15-2 pm
Selina Shaikh on Gardening with Vulnerable Groups
Selina Shaikh has been working in the health and social care sector for many years, particularly in the voluntary sector. Having worked with a number of different vulnerable client groups, Selina will be drawing on her experiences and talking about the benefits of gardening and growing projects. Selina currently works for a charity working with women and children who are affected by domestic violence, where she has set up a gardening project at the women’s refuge. She will be talking about the reasons for setting up the project, the process, practicalities and realities of running such a project.
Wednesday 10th August, 1-1.45pm
A prose and poetry sandwich of urban nature writing, celebrating the glory of growing things, wild London and herbal medicine. Author Helen Babbs will read from her just published first book, My Garden, the City and Me: Rooftop Adventures in the Wilds of London. Poets James Wilkes, Chris McCabe, Isobel Dixon and Sarah Kelly will read from the newly published poetry anthology, Herbarium. Books and zines will be on sale in the garden (cash only). See you there!
