London’s sewers remain one of the UK’s most incredible feats of engineering and this year celebrates the 200th birthday of the network’s engineer, Sir Joseph Bazalgette. Now, to mark the significant birthday of such a renowned engineer and the contribution he made to London, The Bureau of Silly Ideas will take to the streets of London, sharing stories about the sewers, the great stink of 1858 and the power of water with water cycles, obvious odours and strange smells in the city.
This is a free, family friendly educational event for all and is part of a six month long outdoor arts festival, known as Fantastic Feats: the building of London, hosted by City of London Corporation. Shows will take place between 12-6pm daily from 19-22 September at Aldgate Square EC3N 1AF. For more information about Fantastic Feats visit their website here.
Educating children and families about the history of the sewers and reasons for its creation, Bureau of Silly Ideas will explore the success of the sewers in containing smells, the current issues with fat bergers across London and the UK and the need for the new Tideway tunnel. Showing how the current eco-system works, looking for the ‘fat berger monster’ and the smells causing mischief, Bureau of Silly Ideas will encourage participants to play with water and test their own ‘Odour Dousing Dispensers’ (ODDs).