Dear Club Member,

Date: Wednesday 20 September 2023
Time: 6.00pm
Place: St. Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames Street, London. EC3R 6DN
Cost: £10.00

“In the late 1960’s London was swinging but London Bridge was falling down – what happened next?”

Bridge Ward Club are delighted to present a talk by Club Member, Chris Towndrow.

There has been a ‘London Bridge’ made of stone across the River Thames since the 12th Century, with many wooden structures reported before that, dating back to Roman times. Just like London, the bridge has reinvented itself many times – so what happened this time around?

Chris will describe how the bridge came to be sold to the highest bidder (to help fund the building of the replacement) and why an American tycoon wanted to buy it in the first place.  Who was it that thought a lake in Arizona needed this historic part of London, with a small scale model of Windsor Castle thrown in?  And how much did he pay for it?

We will see how the bridge was taken apart, each block numbered, transported and re-assembled in the desert, like a giant Lego set.

And we will finally get the answer to – ‘Did the Americans really think they were buying the iconic Tower Bridge?’

Chris Towndrow has worked in the City of London for 35 years, as a Banking IT specialist.  His clients have included all the great UK Financial institutions, plus most of the large American Banks.  He has walked across London Bridge thousands of times between meetings, and has been a frequent flyer across the Atlantic on business.  Like most City workers, the bridge has been an integral part of daily life. 

His grandfather Harold Towndrow was the Managing Director of granite and marble specialists Anselm Odling who were engaged by the City of London Corporation to dismantle the bridge and prepare it for reassembly in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

The presentation will be followed by a small drinks reception in St. Magnus.

If you would like to attend what promises to be a very interesting and ward relevant talk, please email your name and the name of any guests to Bridgewardevents@gmail.com

The payment of £10 per person should be made by BACS to Bridge Ward Club, Sort Code: 40-15-05, Account No: 61267027.

Any questions you may have should also be sent to the above email address.

Thank you for supporting this Bridge Ward Club event.

Background

For 2,000 years London Bridge has been fundamental to the development of London. The capital’s location was defined because the Roman invading force in 43 AD chose to cross the Thames at this point.

The London Bridge Museum & Educational Trust came into being to meet the clear need to record the history of the various bridges that have succeeded one another at this crossing point, and to tell how London Bridge made London a World City.

Initially, we hoped to establish a physical museum but this proved not to be possible, and in light of the volume of global interest online a virtual online museum has been established.

The future

We believe that now we should:

• develop and enhance the virtual museum, to meet both educational needs and the  passing interest of students and tourists, 
• and explore better links with Lake Havasu City – the American home of John Rennie’s London Bridge. 

The need

We want to strengthen our team with some new and younger people who can bring the creativity and energy needed

• to develop the Trustees’ thinking into an action plan,
• to talk to people who might help us, and
• to consider ways to finance these activities.

Trustees are unpaid and act on a purely voluntary basis.

If you are interested and would like to know more, please contact Andrew Dyke, ideally by email at andrew@andrewdyke.london.