Everyday Heroes

Postman's Park was opened in the City of London in 1880. It's one of those little green oases that you stumble upon when you wander off the beaten track. It was sunny and people were quietly sitting on the grass and benches relaxing. It gets it name because it used to be a popular lunch spot with the employees of the old General Post Office nearby.

Off to one side is a shelter with the back wall lined with glazed Doulton plaques commemorating everyday heroic acts of bravery and sacrifice which would otherwise have faded from memory. The scheme was the brainchild of the artist G F Watts [he of the Watts Memorial Chapel http://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/2014/11/hidden-surrey-gem.html] and his ceramicist wife Mary. Watt was a well known socialist and a champion of the ordinary person. In his lifetime 13 memorials were put up and his widow added a further 34. There was a hiatus until 2009 when one dedicated to the selfless Leigh Pitt who saved a drowning boy, but tragically lost his own life on 7th June 2007 joined them. 

The whole gallery of tablets makes for sobering reading, but its very understated nature adds to the dignity of recording the actions of these incredible people.

Arilx