Erection date: 9/7/2009
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Action for Children. The charity Action for Children was founded as 'The Children's Home' on this site by Revd. Thomas Bowman Stephenson, a Methodist minister, on 9 July 1869.
This plaque was unveiled to mark Action for Children's 140th anniversary.
Plaque unveiled by actress Shirley Anne Field (who spent part of her childhood in a Children's Home), and the then Action for Children chair Pam Chesters.
Site: Astley's first venue and Action for Children (2 memorials)
SE1, Cornwall Road
Video of the plaque unveiling. You can just see one of the horses in our photo, and the gray wigs are on the "cossack" riders. The site of Astley's first performance space, in a field, was just about 50 yards to the east of the plaque. By the next year success meant that the Astleys could set up the more permanent Astley's Amphitheatre, a short distance away. But this plaque marks where "circus" began.
The Action for Children plaque is also on this building (a London Underground electrical substation) around the corner to the right of our photo.
