Berlin Lamp in Furnivall Gardens to Be Re-dedicated

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Ceremony on Thursday will re-assert twinning of Neukoelln and Hammersmith

An unusual re-dedication ceremony is set to take place in Hammersmith's Furnivall Gardens tomorrow, Thursday 12 September, organised by the Friends of the riverside park.

The Mayor of Hammersmith Daryl Brown, the Cultural Attache from the German Embassy in London and representatives from The Friends of Furnivall Gardens will be re-dedicating the Berlin Lamp, which was presented on 1 June 1963 to the people of Hammersmith by the Mayor of Neukoelln, on behalf of Herr Willi Brandt, who was then the Mayor of West Berlin (West Germany).

The Friends say it will be a brief ceremony, re-asserting the friendship ("twinning" or "jumelage") which exists between the municipality of Neukoelln and the borough of Hammersmith. At the original ceremony there were four municipalities being "twinned" with Hammersmith: one from Paris, from Brussels, from Amsterdam and from (West) Germany.

The present from Germany is the focus of the event. The lamp is attached to the side of Westcott Lodge, at the western end of the gardens where they join Lower Mall, a Grade II listed house built in 1746 which was originally St Paul's Vicarage.

Both the Lamp and the plaque below have been painstakingly rerefurbished and put back into position.

The Friends say they want to celebrate the reinstatement of this beautiful, working lamp, with drinks and canapes on offer at the reception following the ceremony.

You can find out more about the Berlin Lamp at London Remembers and a history of Furnivall Gardens at London Gardens Online.

September 11, 2019