Raising fun and funds for our Children's Future
Pearlies at the Family fun day on Blackheath
Pearlies at the Family fun day on Blackheath
Pearlies at the Family fun day on Blackheath
Pearlies of St Pancras attracting the crowds at the Family fun day on Blackheath
Little Pearlies of St Pancras and Kings Cross
There was great music and good weather at Blackheath for the Festival we were there raising fun and funds.
Pearlies with Tommy Wisbey one of the Great Train robbers
We met Tommy Wisbey one of the Great Train robbers we bumped into him on top of an open double decker bus.
With one of our lovely Pink ladies helping raise funds for Breast Cancer.
June started off with the Pearlies meeting our friend Eddie Kidd, Eddie is such a great character and still has an eye for the ladies.
The next event for us was a gig put together by our friends Jenny and Viva from The Gig company.
We met an assortment of celebrities all there for a great fundraising cause.
Pearlies of St Pancras with Russell Brand
Pearlies and Madness
Van Morrison
Pearlies of St Pancras backstage
Pearly Prince of St Pancras
Madness on stage with the Pearlies of St Pancras
Madness on stage with the Pearlies of St Pancras
Madness on stage with the Pearlies of St Pancras
The Pearlies
We had a lovely day out at Fratton Park, Portsmouth on June 6th. Our next generation of Pearlies (aged 3-10) took centre stage with Madness on a lovely Summer evening. Thank you to Devon, Lillie Bliss, and Cain for joining in the fun.
It was a great pleasure to join my Pearly brother Jimmy Jukes and Pearly sister Michelle Thorpe in Pimlico at the Greyhound public house Family fun Day in aid oftheir charity UKHomes 4 Heroes Pride and Passion www.ukhomes4heroes.com The day started off with the weather being slightly overcast but that did not stop a large amount of people turning out to enjoy the day. There was Face painting, Bouncy Castle, Hog roast and a great live band also Michelle and I got on stage and had a bit of a singsong the audience were very kind to us and joined in.
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The Pearlies of St Pancras welcomed Cain and Trinity (who are Sheri's children) into our Pearly family they both looked fantastic and were absolute stars at collecting bees and honey for the charity thank you to everyone involved.
Pearlies of St Pancras on stage with Madness at Butlins Minehead
Donna our Pearly Pride and myself attended The Madness weekender at Butlins Minehead. A good time was had by all and the band as usual were amazing I presented the band with a copy of dad's book.
Di and Donne with The Madness
I Met up again with the lovely Viva Mcpherson details of the great company Viva and Jenny run are here.
The Gig Company are an independent boutique events company. With a wealth of experience, the dynamic duo Jenny Johnson and Viva Mcpherson can fashion any mode of fundraiser, corporate event or pop up. With our creativity and unlimited contacts anything is possible. We work on instinct, based on our extensive experience, laugh every day and love what we do.
Jenny and Viva
Di with Prince Joseph and Princess Daisy at Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary
The Pearlies of St Pancras attended the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary Open day http://www.iwdonkey-sanctuary.comDonkeys played a very big part in the Coster Mongers daily life and were treated as one of the family Donkeys were also referred to as Jerusalem Ponies. We were proud to welcome two new young Pearlies into our family their names are Prince Joseph and Princess Daisy they are family members who live on the Isle of Wight. The Donkey sanctuary open day was a perfect time for their first outing helping raise fun and funds for the Sanctuary. Joseph and Daisy were stars and were natural Pearlies and fundraisers a lovely day was had by all. We look forward to more fundraising outings with Prince Joseph and princess Daisy.
Pearly Princess Daisy at Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary
Pearly Prince Joseph at Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary
Di with Prince Joseph at Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary
Di at the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary
in the collection bucket
Pearly Queen Diane with Pearly Prince Joseph, Princess Daisy and pearly cab!
Pearly Prince Joseph
Di with the pearly prince and princess
Pearly Prince and Princess
The Pearlies of St Pancras were made very welcome by the team and customers from Arments Pie and mash shop. The pie and mash is fantastic it brought back fond memories for me when I was a child living in the area and mum gave me 2 shillings and sixpence on a Saturday to go to Arments for pie and mash. I set up a stall outside the shop along with my pearly cab and there was a constant stream of customers queuing up outside - most of them joined me for a knees up and kindly donated for our charity Great Ormond Street. Cheryl from Arment organised a raffle and we sold a number of dad's books.
At the end of the day Arments generously donated £100 so the total amount which was raised on the day for G.O.S.H was £425.56 and many smiles from the generous staff and customers an amazing total Many thanks.
Diane was invited to talk at The King's Cross Visitor Centre it was standing room only. Diane chatted - and sang - to a large and jolly crowd at The King's Cross Visitor Centre on the 6th August 2014. She explained how the London - wide Pearly tradition started in Somerstown, moving on to talk about the life and times of her father, Alf Dole - in particular his early years living and growing up in Somerstown during the 30s and 40s, how the wartime years affected the families living in the area and how they made it through the rough times. Diane - and the audience finished with a great rendition of all three verses of 'My Old Man' (A song which also tells the story of some of the Londoners' plight).
http://www.kingscross.co.uk/the-pearly-prince-of-st-pancras
My visit to The Kings Cross visitor centre was full to standing - all attended enjoyed the jaunt through some of the old times of Kings Cross / St Pancras and we finished with a good old sing song.
Queen Mary Our lovely Queen Mary has sadly recently passed away. Mary and Alf were a formidable Pearly duo – raising fun and funds together for over 30 years. Like Alf, Mary was a Londoner through and through, experiencing great changes in the City during her 95 years. In the wartime years she worked in the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. Along with many other ladies at that time she took on the hard and dangerous work of producing munitions for the British military. So she and Alf are now together again, as they were for so much of their life.
As is the Pearly tradition, Princess Diane is now Queen Diane.
Queen Mary
Di with Chas and Dave
Di with Chas and Dave
Vicki Michelle w&p
The Pearlies of St Pancras had Five days of fun and book signing at W&P also catching up with friends. Allo allo our china plate Vickie Michelle.
On Thursday 19th June 2014 dads book was published, I was in London being interviewed on B.B.C Radio London by Robert Elms. Robert and me had a great banter about Pearlies, Hopping and old London - thanks Robert interesting to hear about your family being Costers and your London roots.
A couple of months before Dad passed away in 2013 he gave the biographer Jeff Hudson a marathon ride through the old, and largely forgotten, times of life on the streets of Somerstown and St.Pancras during the late 1930s and wartime years - here's the fun filled result for everyone to enjoy.
Alf Dole, Pearly King of St Pancras
It is with great sadness to say that Alf Dole, Pearly King of St Pancras, passed away on Monday 13th May 2013. In recent years Alf became an icon in Greenwich every Sunday with his Pearly cab, raising fun and funds for his charity great Ormond Street Childrens hospital. Alf was a people person and cared deeply about those less well off than him. He was at his happiest singing the old songs and playing his spoons (one of his nicknames was 'Alfie Spoon') which certainly raised spirits and put smiles on others faces.
Alf's grandson Lee has taken up his Grandad's mantle, and is now the fifth generation of the family to take the throne - Lee's great great grandad, George Dole, being the first pearly King of St Pancras back in the 1890s.
Lee the new Pearly King of St Pancras
Lee is now taking the tradition into a whole new field - as the only Pearly Pro Golfer on the UK and European professional golf circuit and is looking to link up with some corporate sponsors to help raise fun and funds.
Video of Alf Dole, former Pearly King of St Pancras doing his weekly collecting with the original pearly cab in Greenwich, London.
Alf gets to have a rabbit with his china's, Boris and Dave at Leadenhall Market in London during the 2010 elections. The Mayor of London and our future PM both listened closely to Alf's Pearly wisdom on matters of state. The showing of the three of them on the popular TV show 'Mock the Week' below gives some great one-liners whilst Alf is little disappointed that his advice is given a slightly different spin!
Why not come along to see Alf at Greenwich Market (he's there most Sunday mornings) and he can tell you what really passed between between him and these two wily old Costermongers of State!
For definitions please see the Cockney Rhyming Slang Glossary.
Alf with Boris in Leadenhall Market, City of London
