The Tree Legacy of Ada Salter in Bermondsey

Event Information

In 1922 Ada Salter became mayor of Bermondsey and Alfred Salter was elected MP. Ada in particular, through her ‘Beautification Committee’ transformed a deprived inner city area into a green oasis.

Paul Wood, London’s best known tree expert, will lead a walk through Bermondsey looking at the achievements of the Salters, and particularly Ada’s arboreal legacy. In his book, London is a Forest, Paul wrote about the transformation of Bermondsey:

‘Ada Salter became Mayor of Bermondsey in 1922, an important and powerful position back then. She was one of the first female mayors in the country, and was the first ever female Labour mayor. From this platform, she and her fellow councillors were able to set in motion a whole host of radical policies and reforms. Great strides in public health were made decades before the NHS existed, a programme of slum clearance alongside the erection of new homes, vastly improved sanitation, and public washing and laundry facilities were completed.

But perhaps Salter’s most long-lasting and far-reaching achievements were those of the ‘Beautification Committee’ she chaired from 1919. This innocuous sounding task force was driven by the compulsion that improving the environment was part and parcel of improving people’s lives, and that by raising aesthetic appreciation of their neighbourhoods, a sense of personal wellbeing and civic pride would be engendered. Salter’s ambition with the Beautification Committee was to turn Bermondsey into nothing less than a garden city.’

This is bound to be popular, so please book soon, as places are limited!

Read more about Ada Salter and Bermondsey on Paul’s website thestreettree.com.

Contributors

Paul Wood

Paul Wood is the author of London’s Street Trees, London is a Forest, London Tree Walks and is the editor of the Great Trees of London Map. He has had a lifelong passion for nature, especially trees, and was formerly a trustee of the London Wildlife Trust.