#LondonPics 48 I know it's another ceiling, but it's magnificent! Saucer-dome plaster with fan tracery by Henry Doogood in St Mary Aldermary. Worth a visit for 1 of the finest Gothic towers in the country on the outside, & the decorative features, great coffee shop & oasis of calm in the city inside

EXCITING NEWS! This is a major step towards improving effectiveness of funding through more open, informed & strategic funder collaboration. We aim to drive change through shared knowledge & learning, research & data-informed insights, influencing policy & practice, & effective collaborative action

#LondonPics 47 A "money box" at the BT Tower - a phone box covered in thousands of penny coins

#LondonPics 46 View of City of London from Stave Hill Ecological Park, Surrey Docks

#LondonPics 45 Often claimed to be the oldest bollard in the City, this is a recycled 17th or 18th century french cannon, buried upright. It's outside St Helen's Bishopsgate. Check it out if you are in the area or on your way to St Mary Axe

#LondonPics 44 I LOVE all the micro community libraries that now exist all over London - but this one on Upper Street in Islington is one of my favourites. It only has children's books and it is really well lit, maintained and heavily used - sometimes it has queues!

#LondonPics 43 Yeah. I know I'm obsessed by ceilings, but here is another good one you might not have seen - inside of the dome of the Old Bailey

#LondonPics 42 Peaceful Guildhall Yard on Christmas day 15th century building with an 18th century Hindoostani Gothic grand entrance

#LondonPics 41 Beautiful early 19th century cast iron water pump on the south side of Gray's Inn Square. Octagonal Gothic style with ogee, cusped panels with crockets on the ribs. Amazing what is all around us in London!

#LondonPics 40 Paternoster Square and St Paul's Cathedral dome on the first sunrise of 2026. Happy New Year! #NoFilter

#LondonPics 39 Filming Slow Horses on Aldersgate Street a few weeks ago. Over the last 5 years having to go "a long way round" at weekends has become a typical occurrence in Barbican or Smithfield as roads are blocked. Worth watching - though locals will recognise creative edits between locations

#LondonPics 38 Southbank and the Thames from the City at dusk #NoFilter

#LondonPics 37 When I was a child, this was our football goal in the garden at the back of my grandmother's flat. It was unmarked and dirty. 50 years on, I've found out that it was part of the Old London Bridge from 1776 - a part of history. In 2025 it was restored and a sign added. We had no idea!

#LondonPics 36 Staying with the bird theme, here is an early morning shopper in Chapel Market last week. As well as snacks on the stall it also got away with a fish too large to fly with so it dragged it down the road for a Xmas feast

#LondonPics 35 Bright (and noisy!) parakeets in a very grey Clerkenwell. Photo doesn't do them justice

#LondonPics 34 Festive pic of St Paul's from One New Change a couple of days ago #NoFilter or effects

My team have done an amazing job rewriting & restructuring the guidance for publishing grants data - including adding new content and helpful resources. I haven't been involved & am so impressed with the results. It's easier to publish your grants data than ever before - what are you waiting for??

Check out my thoughts on data and power in the latest @ukdsimpact.bsky.social blog 👇

#LondonPics 33 Another ceiling - but what an awesome ceiling it is! The Banqueting House on Whitehall - the only large surviving component of the Palace of Whitehall. The photo doesn't do justice to the amazing Rubens panels. Worth a visit.

Amazing news. Well done to all who contributed to this important change 🎉

WE DID IT! That’s the two-child benefit cap lifted! This will lift over 350,000 children out of poverty. It has been the single biggest driver of child poverty! Massive shoutout to the @endchildpoverty.bsky.social for all their hard work!

#LondonPics 32 Inside the Grade II listed tower of St Mary Islington - on the way up the tower to the viewing platform nearer the top. Well worth the tour and visit if you can

Civil society is one of the UK’s greatest assets, but it needs a Civil Society Evidence Organisation (CSEVO): a hub to access evidence, cut duplication & support smarter decisions. We have a plan. £2.5m over 5 yrs, co-funded by government and the sector. Read the report to find out more ⬇️

#LondonPics 31 In the churchyard of St Magnus the Martyr there are some stones from the medieval London Bridge - and incredibly this chunk of wood is thought to be a pile from the original Roman bridge. You can touch it. The tree it came from lived over 2,000 years ago!

#LondonPics 30 And the official end of my September challenge - but I will still try to post regularly. This is a fire projected on the dome of St Paul's in 2016 as part of a series of events to mark the 350th anniversary of the great fire of London. It was a video projection and very moving.

#LondonPics 29 Ceramic poppies pouring out of Traitors' Gate in to the Tower of London moat as part of an installation to commemorate the end of World War II

#LondonPics 28 Sheep crossing Southwark Bridge today in the annual sheep drive celebrating a Freeman's ancient "right" to bring sheep to market over the Thames, toll free. I didn't manage to get a ticket this year but will try again next year!

#LondonPics 27 Almost 2000 year old underfloor heating system at the Billingsgate Roman House and Baths. I was blown away by these Roman remains from around 150 AD in the basement of an office block on Lower Thames Street. Worth a visit.

📢 In the 1st of 3 new blogs on UKGrantmaking, read about the evolution, growth & impact of People's Postcode Lottery on grantmaking. Raising over £1.5bn for communities & good causes, awarding a transformative amount of support through its 20 Postcode Trusts www.ukgrantmaking.org/blog/celebra...

#LondonPics 26 This is Gog. The west gallery of Guildhall is guarded at both ends by the statues of Gog and Magog, the giants who represent the legendary pre-Christian foundation myth of London. This was crafted in 1953 to replace the originals which dated from 1709

#LondonPics 25 The old King's Cross station building on the right and the new ceiling.

#LondonPics 24 Whitehall from St James's Park on a rainy day. Yes. I know I have a thing about water or ceilings which form a high proportion of the photos on my phone...

📢 In the 1st of 3 new blogs on UKGrantmaking, read about the evolution, growth & impact of People's Postcode Lottery on grantmaking. Raising over £1.5bn for communities & good causes, awarding a transformative amount of support through its 20 Postcode Trusts www.ukgrantmaking.org/blog/celebra...

#LondonPics 23 I was lucky enough to spend a day at Guildhall while volunteering for Open House London & got to look inside the magnificent Great Hall up close. This is an unusual view of the hall & may not look like much, however, it's actually a very rare 15th century window made from cow horn! 🐄

#LondonPics 22 Rare photo outside zone 1 - sunset at Mill Hill Broadway station

#LondonPics 21 I've visited lots of old buildings with heraldic shields in stained glass. I often wondered if they replaced whole windows to add new coats of arms. Here at Barnard's Inn Hall you can see the blank shields that were built in but never used. First blank ones I've seen.

#LondonPics 20 Mansion House ceiling. Photo doesn't do it justice. Much more impressive in real life

Tell me it's @opencity-uk.bsky.social Open House London week without telling me it's Open House London week.... Walked 100km on walks and visits so far, before my volunteering shifts today and tomorrow. Still lots of places you can visit this weekend without a booking programme.openhouse.org.uk

#LondonPics 19 We are lucky to have a range of historic architecture in London in civic and religious buildings that still exist today, but I'm always in awe of this Tudor house in Smithfield which survived the Great Fire of London and much more over the last 400+ years.

#LondonPics 18 Fitzrovia Chapel. A hidden gem - took me ages to find it in a square surrounded by new buildings. Unimposing Victorian red brick on the outside, but gothic revival with golden mosaics on the inside. Worth a visit

#LondonPics 17 Pigeons in Oxford Street preparing for their uprising. Weirdly still and silent

#LondonPics 16 After the rain. Tranquility of the Regent's Canal on a Sunday morning in the middle of the bustling town

#LondonPics 15 WWII stretcher built into a wall as a trellis on a 1950s housing estate in Bethnal Green - although the plants have died on this side of the wall. Shadows of the war are seen all over London in the damage, architecture and features, but sometimes hidden unless you take time to look

#LondonPics 14 Bluebell Wood, Epping Forest Love that there are things like this in London

#LondonPics 13 Pixie House on a tree stump in Goswell Road a few years ago. I often say people should look up to see London's hidden gems and quirks, but in this case it was looking down that brightened my day!

#LondonPics 12 Roosevelt and Churchill on Bond Street not keeping required distancing during the pandemic lockdowns

#LondonPics 11 First sunrise of the new year over the Thames - with the shadows of the Shard, London Bridge and Tower Bridge

#LondonPics 10 Italian fete and celebrations in Clerkenwell after the Festa Della Madonna del Carmine (Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) - a historic procession which dates back to the 1880s

#LondonPics 9 Another Boxing Day picture with Lime bikes and Christmas trees strewn on roads and pavements

#LondonPics 8 Barbican at sunset on Boxing Day. I love the Barbican - an oasis in the city. #NoFilter