Friday, 12 February 2010
Saturday, 13 February 2010
TO START WITH ...
The Dissenters’ Chapel
Friday, February 12 at 16:00 and 19:30
Saturday, February 13 at 14:30 and 19:30
Entry £5 on the door
A play by the Pretending People Theatre Company, inspired by Jim Cartwright’s ‘Two’. The performance considers where it all began, looking deep into Cartwright’s beautifully written relationships, the characters and their past. For more information, or advance booking, please call 07765 703292 or 07954 344605, or e-mail pretendingpeopletheatre @ hotmail.com, with your name and contact details.

Friday 26 - Sunday 28 February 2010
Who Do You Think You Are? Live
National Hall, Olympia, London
The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery and The Friends of Highgate Cemetery will be sharing exhibition stand No. 35 during this popular family history show.

Saturday 27 February 2010
BLONDIN's BIRTHDAY
14:00 at the Blondin memorial, Square 140 (Centre Avenue, just west of the Anglican Chapel)
Toasts, short readings and fond words to celebrate the great funambulist (born 28 February 1824), with members of the Blondin Society -- all welcome!

Saturday, 20 March 2010
MUSICAL EVENING: KATE PELEN
Dissenters' Chapel

Saturday, 10 April 2010
REDEDICATION OF THE RESTORED BRUNEL MONUMENT
11:00, Brunel Monument, Square 41 (just south of Centre Avenue, east of the junctions with North and South Branch Avenues)
Followed by a short reception in the Dissenters' Chapel, and events at the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe in the afternoon.

Thursday, 22 April 2010
John McDouall Stuart Commemoration
11:00, Stuart Monument, Square 15
A ceremony in the presence of the Australian High Commissioner to commemorate the remarkable explorer John McDouall Stuart (1815-66), on the 150th anniversay of his reaching the centre of Australia on his Great Northern Exploring Expedition, through which he became the first colonist to traverse the continent from south to north; followed by a reception in the Dissenters' Chapel.

Saturday, 1 May 2010
UNVEILING: PLAQUE ON THE GRAVE OF PHOTOGRAPHER FREDERICK ARCHER
10:30, Square 120, by the canal
Reception in the Dissenters' Chapel

Saturday, 1 May to Saturday, 8 May 2010
EXHIBITION: WET PLATE COLLODIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Dissenters' Chapel

Saturday, 12 June 2010
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
14:00 in the Dissenters’ Chapel
AGM, followed by wine and nibbles

Saturday 12 - Sunday 13 June 2010
Open Garden Squares Weekend
Kensal Green Cemetery welcomes visitors to this festival of urban gardens and landscapes, organized by the London Parks and Gardens Trust.

Thursday, 17 June - Sunday, 20 June 2010
Inside memory
The Dissenters’ Chapel
Daily 11:00 to 18:00
Private View, Thursday, 17 June 2010, 18:30 to 21:00
An exhibition, installation, soundscape on the themes of Memory and Space by Beatriz Rinaldi.

Friday, 18 June 2010
Launch of The Intervention Gallery
Anglican Chapel, Kensal Green Cemetery
Launch party 18:00 to 21:00
With Regiment, a sculptural installation by Benedict Youngman outside; video work Sons of Belgeddes & Subplot, by Jon Sack, inside; as well as Conversation Piece by Leah Lovett (with Sandy Grierson and Tessa Parr), Sonic Performance by Sam Sally, sound by Oscillatorial Binnage and the launch of the Straight Line Press.

Wednesday, 23 June - Sunday, 27 June 2010
Ephemeral/Eternal
The Dissenters’ Chapel
Daily, 14:00 to 21:00
Private View, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 17:00 to 21:00
An exhibition of sculpture from waste and found objects by Irem Atalay.

Friday, 2 July - Sunday, 11 July 2010
The Sympathetic Nerve
The Dissenters’ Chapel & Gallery(Friday, 2 July - Sunday, 4 July 2010)
The Dissenters' Gallery(Tuesday, 6 July - Sunday, 11 July 2010)
Daily 11:00 to 20:00
Private View, Thursday 1 July 2010, 18:00 to 21:00
An exhibition by Elizabeth Osborne encompassing a variety of media including painting, sculptures and video, as well as a site-specific installation with a series of material gestures focusing on the ritualistic aspects of boxing and the fetishistic qualities of the materials.

Friday, 2 July 2010
Service of remembrance, followed by UNVEILING & Dedication of a plaque to Major Herbert James VC MC
15:00, East Chapel, The Crematorium, Kensal Green Cemetery
The Service of Remembrance will be led by the Rev. John Duncan, padre of Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters Regiment, and the plaque unveiled by Private Alex Kennedy MC. Reception to follow in the Atrium of the Crematorium.
This event has been generously supported by The Victoria Cross & George Cross Association, The Gallipoli Association, The Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum of Queensland, Australia.

Saturday, 3 July 2010
OPEN DAY 2010
11.00 to 17.00
Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery Open Day 2010
Introductory and themed tours of the cemetery, catacomb tours throughout the day, children's Mutes and Mourners dress-up, displays and stalls from other cemetery societies, local history groups and specialists in items and services of particular interest to the Friends of historical cemeteries, including jewellery, photographs, and original and reproduction Victorian mourning dress.

Saturday, 10 July 2010
UNVEILING: RESTORED GRAVEs OF Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel & Admiral Sir Robert Waller Otway
Square 77, Inner Ring (Bladen Capel) and Square 90, roadside (Otway)
This event has been generously supported by The 1805 Club.

Thursday, 15 July 2010 -- St. Swithin's Day
UNVEILING: Plaque on the RESTORED GRAVE OF Meteorologist George Symons FRS
13:30 at the graveside, Square 130
This event has been generously supported by Royal Meteorological Society.

EVENTS OF INTEREST ELSEWHERE

Friends of Highate Cemetery
Friday, 19 February 2010
Lecture: The History of Cemetery Memorials, by Dr. Brent Elliott
19:00 for 19:30 in Highgate Cemetery Chapel
£7, advance booking only, via info @ highgate-cemetery.org

Friday, 12 March 2010
Lecture: The English Way of Death, by Dr. Julian Litten FSA
18:30 for 19:00 in Highgate Cemetery Chapel
£7, advance booking only, via info @ highgate-cemetery.org

The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery's lectures are held in the Dissenters' Chapel on the east end of the cemetery, which has a discrete entrance on Ladbroke Grove, just north of the Grand Union Canal. For lectures, we ask for a donation of £3.00 from visitors, or £2.00 from Friends, on the door; light refreshments are offered before and after the lecture, when the Friends' bookstall will also be open.

Ladbroke Grove entrance

Entrance to the Dissenters' Chapel

Past lectures

1991
To Paradise by Way of Kensal Green (Julian Litten)

1992
Embalming and Presentation (Mark Bowis)

1993
The Architecture of Kensal Green Cemetery (Jennifer Freeman)
Transport of the Dead 1450-1900 (Julian Litten)
Methods of Disposal of the Dead (David Pescod)

1994
Italian Cemeteries: Florence, Genoa and Venice (John Ashby)
Cremation: A Hundred Years of Burning the Dead (David Pescod)
Embalming (David Pescod)
Church Monuments: From Coffin Lids to Weeping Widows (Isobel Sinden)

1995
The Butterflies of Kensal Green Cemetery (Tim Freed)
Gone but Not Forgotten: Famous People of the Past (June Firkins)
Extraordinary Epitaphs (Nigel Rees)
Prehistoric Burial Sites (Robert Stephenson)
Post-Mortem Movements and the Rise of the Vampire (David Pescod)
The Treatment of Post-Industrial Corpses (David Pescod)

1996
The Notorious Earl of Mornington and his Wanstead Connections (Peter Lawrence)
Brookwood Cemetery and Its Railway (John Clarke)
Church Monuments and the Gothic Revival (Dr. Thomas Cocke)
Frogmore Mausoleum and Royal Burials at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor (Leslie Grout)
Preserved Corpses (David Pescod)

1997
Vampires (David Pescod)
The Monuments of Kensal Green Cemetery and their Stylistic Development (Dr. Roger Bowdler)
Mount Auburn Cemetery: America’s First Garden Cemetery (Dr. Stephen Jerome)
Eric Gill’s Monuments at Kensal Green and Elsewhere (Dr. David Peace)
The Prehistoric Iceman (David Pescod)
The Life, Death, Burial and Resurrection Company (Dr. Ruth Richardson)

1998
Frederick Salmon and St. Mark's Hospital (James Thomson)
The 5th Duke of Portland and his Burrowing Career (Roger Morgan)
Death and the Victorians (Robert Stephenson)
Burial Vaults of the Aristocracy (Dr. Julian Litten)
Spontaneous Human Combustion (David Pescod)

1999
Excavating the Crypt of Christ Church, Spitalfields (Jez Reeve)
The Cult of the Ruin (Christopher Woodward)
The Surgeon, Cadaver and the Resurrectionist (Karen Howell)
The Landscape of Kensal Green Cemetery, Its Inspiration and Planting (Dr. Brent Elliott)
From Victoria to Diana: Changing Attitudes to Death (Dr. Tony Walter)
Well Hung in London: The City’s Execution Sites (Robert Stephenson)

2000
West Norwood Cemetery (Bob Flanagan)
A History of the Mausoleum (Robert Stephenson)
Thackeray: The Road to Vanity Fair (David J Taylor)
The Royal Mausolea at Frogmore (Hermione Hobhouse)
Tombstones (Dr. John Physick)
Funerary Symbolism (Don Bianco)

2001
Disposal of the Dead in the Hindu Kush (David Pescod)
Music Hall Artistes Buried at Kensal Green and Other London Cemeteries (Terry Lomas)
The Work of the Friends of War Memorials (Maggie Goodall)
Burial Before Undertakers: Death in Early Modern England (Clare Gittings)
The Bravo Murder Mystery (Nicholas Reed)
Sir Marc Brunel: The Forgotten Genius (Michael Bennett)

2002
The Growth of Cremation 1820-2000 (Rev. Peter C. Jupp)
Edward Young, Night Thoughts and the Genesis of the Garden Cemetery (Prof. James Stevens Curl)
Funerals and Funeral Directing in London: A Look at the Last 100 Years (Brian Parsons)
Cadavers in the Cloisters: Death in Medieval England (Robert Stephenson)
The Work of Memorials by Artists (Harriet Frazer)

2003
Preservation of the Dead (Andrea Britton)
The Heraldic Funeral (Dr. Julian Litten)
Blondin: The Man Who Walked Over Niagara (George Speaight)
Highgate Cemetery -- Past, Present and Future (Jean Pateman)

2004
The Work of the Natural Death Centre (Stephanie Wienrich)
Abney Park Cemetery (David Solman)
The Railway of the Great Northern Cemetery (Martin Dawes)
The Story of Andrew Pears and his Transparent Soap (Andrea Cameron)

2005
A Walk in the Paradise Garden: 19th Century London Cemeteries (Ken Worple)
Don’t Drop the Coffin (Barry Albin)
The Medieval Churchyards of the City of London (Val Pretlove)
Twenty Years in a Doleful Profession (Celia Smith)

2006
From Welbeck via Woking to Kensal Green -- The Early History of Cremation (Brian Parsons)
Sir Edwin Chadwick and the London Dead (Ruth Richardson)