This very GLC Festival appears in the story Adrian Duncan & I wrote for @scratchbooks.bsky.social's "Duets" collection - lovely to see the posters here from @michael954.bsky.social and @lccmunicipal.bsky.social :

This was the poster for the second Jobs For A Change festival - here is the poster for the first one.

GLC “jobs for a change” festival poster for the event held at Battersea Park:

GLC flood risk materials were plentiful in the 1970s given the Authority’s responsibilities in this regard. However, the volume of public facing communications reduced somewhat when the Thames Barrier - that great GLC project - became operational in the 1980s. Two examples here:

Municipal guide cover(s) of the day: brutalist public buildings special edition. Featuring Preston Guild Hall and Slough’s Fulcrum Centre.

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social One for you, just off Praed Street, a fine Metropolitan Borough of St. Marylebone crest inset into the wall of an apartment block currently undergoing renovation work.

Central Bradford and Church Bank in 1966 with the HQ of the once mighty Bradford Dyers Association amidst a changing landscape that's changed again. Lots of street lighting & road sign action. @showmeasign.online @sabre-roads.org.uk @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @roads.org.uk (found photo: likey T&A)

I had never noticed this before, but Cheam station still boasts an original BSB “squarial”. I felt the need to share this important discovery.

Municipal guide cover of the day: no nonsense from the London Borough of Brent, c.1969

Municipal guide cover of the day (possibly an all time great!): Croydon, 1971. Countdown typeface klaxon!

Junction 10 of the M1 has the plaque that was unveiled at the motorway’s inauguration in 1958. It was relocated in the late noughties when the junction was rebuilt and the first photo is from Google Street View in 2010 - the second is more recent. I’m surprised it hasn’t been better cared for…

I was sorting through some old posters yesterday and came across this one, which I had forgotten all about. It’s from the GLC’s final year and its Farewell Festival which incorporated the annual Easter Parade in Battersea Park. Excuse the coins - they were holding down the poster!

“Don’t litter London’s parks”. One of the GLC’s anti-nuclear posters featuring the iconic imagery of Peter Kennard that was commissioned by the Council.

This photo of the Enterprise PH on Milligan Street in London has just appeared on my internet feed. Not one, but two cast-iron Poplar Metropolitan Borough boundary marks in view on the walls of the Pub. I think that there is at least still one of these marks surviving. @lccmunicipal.bsky.social

The CTA issuing retro tickets had me wondering how many of these designs were out there. I have had standard modern blue Ventra ones all week and then these beauties turned up on our last full day here - what a great idea:

I love a translucent suspended ceiling!

Not municipal lighting, but I rather like these variations on a theme at Chicago’s Aon Centre. The Aon Centre itself is by Edward Durell Stone, in association with Perkins & Will and dates from 1973. It was re-faced in white granite from N Carolina after the original Italian Carrara marble failed.

Asking for a friend, does anyone have or know of a collection of images of council estate signage (such as the one below from the Pepys Estate in Lewisham)? Thanks for any thoughts.

An unexpected find in Ballsbridge, Dublin. Glimpsed off the DART & worth a walk back - a c1950s Stanton 7B with ladder arms & bracket. Dublin has some amazing street furniture & was a big user of Stanton concrete products. #Dublin @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @showmeasign.online ↘️ flic.kr/p/2rfP6mF

One for @lccmunicipal.bsky.social Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. A less common view of one of Birmingham's iconic Revo "Precinct" as a screenshot from a documenary on redevelopment of Ladywood in the 1960s.

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Two lanterns here from Indal, the Spanish firm taken over by Philips in 2011. The common theme is Surrey County Council, which replaced all of its street lighting in around 2012-14 under a Private Finance Initiative - they favoured these…

Signage of the day: Hillingdon

I was up at Crich yesterday. Some Glasgow and Sheffield operating action, plus Liverpool and Chesterfield tramcars in the workshop. LCC 1 “Bluebird” is currently depot-bound.

From a 1965 news report on the comprehensive redevelopment of the Birmingham inner city suburb of Ladywood - one of the city's smart & simple standard district name signs. I often wish I could have 'acquired' one of these! An Atkinson's boozer as well. @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @showmeasign.online

The New Towns were a major part of post-WW2 reconstruction and a showcase for town planning. Alongside was the LCC's (and then GLC's) own efforts to relocate people and industry. Here's a 🧵to give a flavour of the opportunities, starting with this LCC "Offices of the Move" leaflet from the late '50s

A thread of London documentaries currently on BBC iPlayer from the 1950s to 1990s. Well worth a look... (1/18) 🧵

Dulwich Baths - converted as wards for wounded soldiers, 1914 Later used by Belgium Refugees WW1 @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @history.dulwichsociety.com

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the ELECO Silver Ray Junior HW918, a sleek, space age design from the late 1950s intended for use on residential side streets. It would have had a mercury bulb, giving off a bright white light. A relative of last week’s example.

For future expansion. But the future never came. historicengland.org.uk/images-books...

Car park, Tower Hill. I am intrigued by the stubby bits sticking out at the top…

London Borough of Hounslow signage in Chiswick, with a County of Middlesex addition! One for the traditionalists, even if not legally accurate from an administrative county perspective…

This was on eBay and marketed as a GLC badge, which it isn’t…. But I am intrigued as to what it does represent. Any thoughts? Apologies if it is obvious - if so, I’ll end up deleting this 🤣

Municipal guide of the day: the London Borough of Lewisham as it geared up for the new millennium. A late example here, as this is from a time when the internet was starting to render paper guides obsolete. There is something about the design that screams late 1990s desktop publishing software.

A spot of baking with the boy this afternoon - banana bread with the best political pedigree: the 1985 ILEA cookbook, an incredible compendium of multicultural recipes from school dining halls and home economics departments across London (submitted for the approval of @lccmunicipal.bsky.social)

Municipal treasure: a tin commemorating the granting of the Charter of Incorporation to the Borough of Wood Green on 20 September 1933.

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the Eleco HW11600 “Silver Ray Junior”. Quite a futuristic design given that the first ones date back to the late 1950s. A rarity now, but I did spot one in Hay on Wye back in 2021 - I wonder if it is still there?

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social There hasn’t been cattle on Wanstead Flats for close to 30 years but this sign is still up on a nearby block of flats.

The Borough of Hornsey lives on! This is a reproduction sign that serves as a reminder of the pre-Haringey era.

Mildura Court, Hornsey, featuring the coats of arms of both Hornsey Borough Council and Middlesex County Council.

Lost logos of the London Boroughs: the reworked Haringey electric flash logo can still be seen here and there.

Sir John Brown, A E Henson and Partners‘ Haringey Civic Centre (opened as the Civic Offices of the Borough of Wood Green in 1958) currently under renovation…

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social - have you been to this: looks good! www.thelondonarchives.org/visit-us/exh...

It’s Saturday Morning Municipal Street Lighting Nerd Club. Here is the Eleco Silver Ray SR305. Known as a “turtle”, it was a style of lantern that was also popular with other manufacturers, particularly GEC.

long been a fan - couple of interior photos for you (the second being the members' robing room)

Ah - now that's what I call a station sign! Silkstone Common with the BR symbol and the old South Yorkshire PTE symbol of blessed memory - a screenshot from a 1984 film by D Copley on YouTube via Peak Rail. @doublearrow64.bsky.social @lccmunicipal.bsky.social @markonthemaps.bsky.social

Enfield Civic Centre photographed this evening (after a trip along the Tottenham High Road earlier in the afternoon…). Designed by Eric G Broughton & Associates, the main tower dates from the mid-70s.

Timely to post this - Paxton Road in the London Borough of Haringey. The road disappeared with the construction of the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

A surprisingly accurate representation of Greater London on this unofficial badge!

A little tribute to Go-Ahead London’s DOE class of bus. Most of them spent the majority their c.16 years’ service working out of Sutton garage. There were 54 in total: DOE 54 spent the start of its life at Merton, but soon joined the rest at Sutton. Some had a spell at Peckham. Farewell DOEs!

🚨 EXCITING NEWS KLAXON 🚨 My first book THE BOROUGHS OF LONDON, based on my London Borough maps series and co-written with the amazing @mattfromlondon.bsky.social, is published by @batsfordbooks.bsky.social in October! 🥳 🛒 UK customers can preorder from: www.batsfordbooks.com/book/the-bor... 1/5 🧵⬇️