2025 was a major year for A Space for us as we launched two public realm artworks in Somers Town.
Poetry in Lights
We ended the year on high launching Poetry in Lights with artist Robert Montgomery. Here is a short film of the launch party with a walk in Chalton Street led by Robert and party at the museum.
Art in everyday life
September saw the long-awaited launch of our ‘Art in Everyday Life’ heritage trail exploring Gilbert Bayes’ sculptures across St Pancras Housing’s Somers Town estates. As part of the heritage trail we also unveiled three new artworks in the public realm by sculptor Camilla Bliss.
Visitors explored the trail through guided walks, a panel discussion with the architects, designers and artists involved and a pottery workshop with artist Camilla Bliss.
The artworks in the public realm are a contemporary reimagining of missing unique working class heritage, giving prominence to unheard stories of diverse working class people in an area facing destabilising change.
Youth Work experience
We continued our education programme with two work experiences: in July students screen printed t shirts and bags to sell at the Somers Town Festival; while our October group created their own radical zine. The short video explains with some of the young participants testimonies.
Health in Somers Town
In 2025 one of our aims was to explore health and its history in Somers Town. We kicked off the year with an event celebrating the history of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (EGA) Hospital, and in particular the successful Save EGA campaign of the 1970s.
Linda Clarke and Lynn MacRitchie shared their memories of the campaign, along with attendees, and we screened ‘EGA Stays OK’ by Chris Thomas.
Professor Esther Leslie also led a community research group which explored the topic of health through a series of workshops this spring tackling past, present and future.
Their work culminated in an exhibition, displayed at the museum and St Mary’s Church.
St Anthony Restoration
A few years ago, we were saddened to find one more of the surviving statues by Gilbert Bayes, a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua, had been lost. It was found broken into pieces in what was believed to be an act of vandalism. These pieces were collected and set aside, and over the past few years we have been working closely with Origin Housing to arrange for the reconstruction and restoration of Saint Anthony’s Statue. It all came together in May when the newly restored Saint Anthony Statue was unveiled and blessed by Father Paschal Worton from St Mary’s.
Pearly Sari!
One of the highlights of the year was our summer exhibition Pearly Sari! Threads Connecting Us. The exhibition shone a spotlight on the rich and often overlooked histories of Bangladeshi diaspora in London through women’s embroidery, bedspreads, collages, and folk-art inspired needlework.
The centrepiece of the exhibition was the Pearly Sari – a textile work inspired by the Pearly Burqa made by artist Saif Osmani, which reimagined the East End Pearly Kings/Queen traditions through a South Asian Lens.
The Sari and other artefacts of the exhibition were created and curated by the Lotus Group, a Sylheti women’s group based at A Space for Us People’s Museum, along with Bangladeshi British textile artist Joy Nehar and Amrit Jangra.
VE Day
We celebrated VE Day in Somers Town style with a 40s singalong with Kate Garner, a visit from our Pearly Patron Diane and some festive food for all.
History Talks
We continued to host talks about Somers Town’s history this year, including two exploring family histories. Sue Dilworth did a talk on her book Somers Town Girl, exploring her mother’s family, and Professor Esther Leslie shared her family’s anarchist roots in Somers Town.
Night at the Museum
Night at the Museum continued this year with art workshops, karaoke, vinyl nights and more. Check out our new series of art workshops in 2026…
London Festival of Architecture
In June we held a workshop for London Festival of Architecture, where attendees learnt about our case for a conservation area on the basis of social housing in Somers Town. They then took a guided walk around the area where they recorded the housing through photography and sketching.
All in all it’s been a busy year. Keep up with A Space for Us in 2026 for more local history, art and community…