‘How can I ever describe the exuberant richness and multiplicity of culture in this place? This is both my task and my delight.’
Ten years ago this week I promised to publish a story every day here in the pages of Spitalfields Life. When I began, I had no idea of where it might lead and I certainly did not expect to be here ten years later, typing with a single finger of my left hand after breaking my writing arm by falling from a Mulberry tree.
Yet I have no regret because this whole endeavour has enriched my life immeasurably. The hundreds of interviews I have undertaken and published have been an education for me in the nature of humanity. I have learnt that there is no such thing as an ordinary person. But, more importantly, I like people more. The city has become a more human place for me. The privilege of my work is that it has given me the opportunity to meet so many inspiring individuals. I cannot walk down the street now in Spitalfields without someone greeting me.
People sometimes address communications to the ‘Spitalfields Life team’ yet it is only me that puts the stories together and publishes them. Nevertheless I could not do this without a great many talented and magnanimous collaborators. There are so many I cannot name them all here lest I risk missing someone, but you will find their names everywhere in these pages.
Quite soon after I started, I realised that I needed help with photographs and I have been blessed to work with an astonishing team of distinguished photographers, who in turn have taught me to take my own photographs.
It was never my expectation to publish books, yet the success of virtual publishing has led to publishing nineteen volumes. I shall never forget the launch of my first book, Spitalfields Life, in March 2012 when more than three thousand readers stormed Christ Church and, for the first time, I came face to face with those I write to every day.
In my own career, I have known both success and disappointment. Consequently, it has been a great delight to be able to publish the work of writers, photographers and artists whom I admire, bringing sometimes neglected images and texts to the wider audience that they deserve. This whole process has been uplifted by the involvement of the top book designers working in this country.
I always seek the stories that no-one else is writing, but I never anticipated that by telling these stories I would become part of the story myself.
In these ten years Spitalfields has changed greatly. Through hundreds of interviews with shopkeepers, I learnt how many were struggling and, in 2012, two hundred met in Christ Church to form The East End Trades Guild of which I am proud to be one of the founders, advocating the interests of local small businesses.
The successful campaign led by Spitalfields Life saved the 1838 pub The Marquis of Lansdowne in Dalston from demolition in 2013. Out of this came The East End Preservation Society of which I am again proud to be one of the founders, campaigning to protect heritage and challenge exploitative development in the East End. Currently there are campaigns to Save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and Save the Bethnal Green Mulberry.
When you begin to write a story you never know where it will lead. When I interviewed the master bell founder at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 201o, I did expect to become involved in the story of the foundry myself. When I was taken to see the oldest tree in the East End in 2015, the Bethnal Green Mulberry, I did not know that it would lead to me falling out of a Mulberry tree and breaking my arm, years later….
When I started, I was drawn by the freedom of publishing online and having a direct relationship with my readers, without any of the intermediaries that exist in other media. Over the years a significant readership has accumulated and these loyal readers have encouraged and inspired me in my work, sustaining me through the years in this curious quest.
So I conclude my tenth Annual Report with a thankyou to you, the readers, because without you none of this would have been possible.
Thus another year passes in the pages of Spitalfields Life.
I am your loyal servant
The Gentle Author
Spitalfields, 24th August 2019
Over the next week or so, I will be publishing favourite stories from the last ten years while I enjoy a short holiday.
IN CELEBRATION OF TEN YEARS OF SPITALFIELDS LIFE, WE ARE OFFERING READERS 50% DISCOUNT ON ALL TITLES IN OUR ONLINE BOOKSHOP UNTIL MIDNIGHT ON MONDAY. SIMPLY ENTER DISCOUNT CODE ‘SPITALFIELDS’ AT CHECKOUT.
IF YOU HAVE NOT YET DONE SO, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE RESIDENTS OF TOWER HAMLETS PETITION TO MAKE IT COUNCIL POLICY TO SAVE THE WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY
You may like to read my earlier Annual Reports
First Annual Report 2010
Second Annual Report 2011
Third Annual Report 2012
Fourth Annual Report 2013
Fifth Annual Report 2014
Sixth Annual Report 2015
Seventh Annual Report 2016
Eight Annual Report 2017
Ninth Annual Report 2018
This post first appeared on Spitalfields Life | In The Midst Of Life I Woke To, please read the originial post: here
