Guides
Andrew parnell
As well as informing people who come on my walks, I aim to entertain and even move them. There is no shortage of opportunity to do this in the East End – a place which has attracted and fascinated me since my days at school with students who, like me, had family connections to the area.
Tracing its social, industrial and political history, I celebrate the East End’s ability to respond and reinvent itself in the face of continuous change and its people’s capacity to face the upheavals with resilience and characteristic humour.
I am a retired lawyer, a qualified City of London Guide and an Associate of the Institute of Tourist Guiding. I was awarded the Katrine Prince Prize for Best Practical in my City of London guiding examinations. I also completed the Tower Hamlets Walkie Talkie Guide Course.
oonagh gay
After a career as a parliamentary official in Westminster, I retain a keen interest in political history, housing policy and the struggle for women to gain the vote. I really enjoy showing you around the rich history and contemporary developments in the East End, with a great grandfather who worked in the docks.
I am a qualified Islington and Clerkenwell Guide and have been leading walks for a couple of years. I also completed the Tower Hamlets Walkie Talkie Guide Course.
Details of my walks can also be found on the website: capitalwalksinlondon.com
leigh stanford
I have lived in East London most of my life and am a lover of all things London. I completed the Walkie Talkie Tower Hamlets Guide course and fell in love with this Borough in particular. A walk down almost any street there will find me trying to find out more about a certain building, landmark or person. My main interest is architecture and more specifically 20th Century architecture of which there is an abundance in Tower Hamlets. I am passionate about showing people that this part of London is worth exploring and hopefully leave them wanting to find out more.
I am an administrator at SAVE Britain's Heritage and also Events Volunteer for The Twentieth Century Society, a charity that exists to safeguard the heritage and design of architecture in Britain from 1914 onwards.
William sharp
I moved to Tower Hill in 1981 and now live in Bow. During that time I have seen Canary Wharf built, the dock walls torn down and Tower Hamlets transformed into London’s coolest, most vibrant hub. The cultural diversity, proud sense of community and history of radical thought and action in the borough have remained and continue to inspire me. I have a history degree specialising in the inter war years and I teach in a Bethnal Green school.
I am a qualified City of London Guide and have completed the Tower Hamlet’s “Walkie-Talkie” Course. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and enthusiasm with you as we explore this exciting part of our capital city together.
DANIELLA KING
I am qualified as a City of London, Westminster and Clerkenwell & Islington Tour Guide. Indeed, I was awarded the Katrine Prince Prize in 2008 for the highest examination result for the City of London course.
I have a BA from the University of London in History. And indeed history is without doubt my passion and has for many years filled my spare time -- reading books, visiting museums and touring historical places. I love finding out new facts and stories by just wandering around London especially discovering stories about the famous and at time infamous people who have lived behind these doors.
I am known for my enthusiastic and knowledgeable approach, which has lead to the development of over 60 unique walks covering a wide area of London. I have a special interest in East London, as this is where I was born and bred. Indeed my family have lived around Stepney and Whitechapel for over 200 years so it is no wonder that I have such an interest in introducing people to the history and people of East London.
I have guided extensively for private groups, companies and various social organisations, and am a director of the London guiding company Footprints of London.
Details of my walks can also be found on the website: stepsinthecity.squarespace.com
sue mccarthy
After many years working in community organisations in Newham and Tower Hamlets, retirement has given me a wonderful opportunity to explore more fully the rich and diverse history of this fascinating area and to find out more about my own roots in Stepney and Limehouse.
I love researching my walks, uncovering what was there before and sharing the stories behind the buildings and places. I have a particular interest in social history and the contribution of women to London life.
I am a qualified Clerkenwell & Islington and Camden Guide. I also completed the Tower Hamlets Walkie Talkie Course.
Details of my walks can also be found on the website: capitalwalksinlondon.com
sue doe
Born and bred in Hackney (the family have been here approximately 230 years at least) I have a law degree from the LSE and a guiding qualification from the City of London (2008).
My walks have always centred around my interest in the local area and its extraordinary history. I have live in Dalston for nearly 25 years, i.e. before it was fashionable! It has been fascinating to watch it change - like East London is inclined to do - and yet retain its character and community - somehow. And yes, I love the millions of coffee shops.
I also like to think I had a role in the current status of Broadway Market since I told one of the local shopkeepers that his idea of starting a farmers' market would 'definitely work'.
The day job was until recently research and information and now it's compliance and data protection, but I find time to wander the streets and get the stories.
I've guided for the Hackney Society and the City Lit.
SEAN PATTERSON
A Londoner for over 30 years Sean lives in Deptford, a stone’s throw across the water from Tower Hamlets, and frequently rows a Thames Cutter up the River. Sean originally trained as an actor and still treads the boards, but an MA in London Studies at Queen Mary University led him to a love affair with walking in the city. A keen social historian, Sean specialises in walks that explore Charles Booth’s late 19C ‘poverty maps’ as well as walks that use London Literature to explore places and themes. His Charles Booth Whitechapel walk concentrates on the history of immigration in the area.
He is a qualified City Guide, Clerkenwell and Islington Guide, and Westminster Guide, and has studied East End guiding at Birkbeck.
Details of Sean's walks can also be found on the website: charlesboothwalks.com
Joanna Moncreiff
I am a qualified City of Westminster and Clerkenwell & Islington Guide. Back in 2012 I was asked to create some walks in my local areas of Chingford and Walthamstow and since then I have continued to develop these walks as I dig deeper in my research of the area. I love sharing my discoveries with those on my walks and people tell me my passion for London shines through.
All my walks include both the social history of the area and current information such as unusual cafes and hidden gardens giving the participant lots of reasons to return.
Since qualifying in 2009 I have led regular public walks, bespoke walks for businesses and families and have created a number of shorter lunchtime walks too.
Details of my walks can also be found on: westminsterwalks.london
Rob Smith
I've been exploring East London for nearly thirty years and I’m keen to share all the places I’ve been to with people, whether they are new to London or have lived here all their life. My particular interest is industrial history: I’m fascinated by the remains of old factories, gas works, railways and docks. Many of my walks focus on the River Thames in East London and the Thames Estuary in less explored places like Dagenham and Rainham. In addition to guiding in East London I am a qualified Clerkenwell and Islington guide, and also a guide at London Stadium, the home of West Ham. I teach courses in London history at Morley College, South Thames College and Bishopsgate Institute.
ELAINE WEIN
Elaine is a City of Westminster Guide, a City of London Guide, a Freeman of the City of London and a Founder Member and Guide of both Camden Guides Association and Lambeth Tour Guides Association.
Born and bred in London, Elaine left corporate life after 25 years in the IT industry having worked across the world, to concentrate on her love of London. After studying London at the University of London, she has now focused that passion into helping others discover this fascinating city.
With her family originating from Hackney, Elaine continued her connection with the East End working on Sundays in the world-famous Petticoat Lane Street market while at school and has now developed several walks in this fascinating area ranging from Whitechapel to Stepney Green.
Details of my walks can also be found on: www.walklondonwithus.com
Laura Agustín
Laura Agustín has been a writer, researcher and critical historian all her life. She has been a Londoner since the 1960s, although she has lived in other towns and countries.
Author of Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry, she has for many years focused on getting the stories out of women and others marginalised because of being poor, foreign, ‘different’ or doing jobs some folks think are Wrong, in the present and in the past. She spent time with illuminated manuscripts at the British Library looking for clues to how women lived 1000 years ago, and couldn’t stop reading even if she wanted to.
Laura is known as The Naked Anthropologist. She has qualified as a tour guide in order to take this focus to the streets, where guided history walks rarely talk about the poor except as objects of charity.