Let there be light! New illumination for Christ Church Garden

Last summer the garden was plunged into darkness when the previous lighting, which was supplied from a nearby office building, was disconnected in preparation for demolition.

The path through the garden provides a popular shortcut between Blackfriars Road and Stamford Street, but with council funds scarce there seemed to be little immediate prospect of restoring the night-time illumination.

Cathedrals ward councillor David Noakes (Lib Dem) worked with Bankside Open Spaces Trust and Revd Tim Scott, rector of Christ Church Southwark, on plans to draw up an application to Borough & Bankside Community Council's Cleaner Greener Safer fund for the installation of new lighting.

Thanks to lobbying from BOST and Cllr Noakes, when Southwark Council received an unexpected rebate from its electricity supplier, the authority decided to spend the windfall on new lamp posts for Christ Church Garden.

This week Cllr Noakes joined members of the Christ Church Garden steering group to inspect the new light columns.

• Bankside Open Spaces Trust organises a weekly gardening session at Christ Church Garden on Tuesday morning; email [email protected] to find out how to get involved.