Ada Salter statue. Photo: Sheila Taylor.
Ada Salter remembered in Bermondsey
The 150th anniversary of Ada Salter's birth was marked in July
More than 400 people gathered in South London over two days in July to mark the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Quaker and social campaigner Ada Salter.
On the evening of Friday 15 July there was a performance of Red Flag over Bermondsey by the Quaker actress and playwright, Lynn Morris.
The following morning an exhibition of more than seventy photos and documents relating to Ada’s life was opened by the mayors of Southwark and Raunds, Northamptonshire, Ada’s home town. They were joined by representatives of several Quaker Meetings in London, members of the Quaker Socialist Society and a delegation from Raunds.
The Rotherhithe and Bermondsey History Society led a tour of the Ada Salter Garden and the Ada Salter cottages. This was followed by a flower-laying ceremony at Ada’s statue on the riverside near Cherry Garden Pier.
Some 100 people attended the ceremony. Britain Yearly Meeting deputy recording clerk Juliet Prager was among the speakers. She spoke of Ada’s Quaker values. Quaker actor Sheila Hancock was among those watching the flower-laying. With fellow actor and Friend Judi Dench, Sheila had campaigned for the erection of the statue of Ada.
Red Flag over Bermondsey was performed for a second time before the celebration, which concluded with a concert by the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Choral Society in St. Peter’s Church. They performed a selection of Ada’s favourite music, from American spirituals to Handel’s Zadok the Priest.
