The Blue Plaque Scheme and Hello Lamp Post Project

Welcome to what is going to be a regular column here at Smitten By Britain called “British Allsorts!” In this column I shall seek to share with you bits that happen in my part of the West Country, with perhaps a few other bits such as random thoughts, historical aspects, book recommendations and anything else that takes my fancy! – all with a British slant of course!

I was born in the best land for pomp and ceremony. I love things that are historical and if ever I see a blue wall plaque in commemoration of something I usually stop and more than often take a quick photograph with my smart phone.

The Blue Plaque Scheme, now operated by English Heritage has been in existence since 1867. The scheme exists to recognise earlier achievers and plaques have been awarded to a whole host of different individuals which includes the famous author, A J P Taylor, Lord Nelson, Benjamin Franklin and Vivien Leigh, just to name a few.

Before long the scheme went pretty much country wide and now these plaques appear in all sorts of locations. Currently there is a backlog of plaque requests, but there is a pledge to issue 12 plaques over the next 2 years. (Update: Unfortunately the Blue Plague scheme has been suspended for at least the next two years.)

English Heritage Blue Plague Scheme

This morning as I was pursuing my tweeter feed I came across something that even I think is wacky!

Here enters “The Hello Lamp Post Project”. I know it is curious isn’t it?

The details are fairly simple. The project will utilise the numbers that Councils award to street furniture – such as lamp posts, telephone boxes and alike. Those numbers enable the council to attend to whatever needs doing when someone reports a problem.

Hello Lamp Post Project

So, you text a special number with the code of, lets say a lamp post, but it could be anything and it will reply with a question. It might respond with the remark about the weather and aren’t we all obsessed with that at the moment, especially as most of the Country is covered in the wonderful white stuff called snow! The more you apparently play the game, the more you will find out about the location.

Hello Lamp Post will be rolled out in Bristol in July and August before heading off on tour internationally. You can read more about the project HERE.

It does sound wacky and I am sure the streets will soon be full of bewildered people following the directions or remarks sent to them from a lamp post by the way of a mobile phone.

Until next time…

Julie Goucher

Julie Goucher is a Surrey girl, transplanted in Devon, where she lives with her husband and Border terrier called Alfie. Julie has a real passion for history and genealogy, antiques and book reading just to name a few. She can be found on her blog Anglers Rest. Read more of her guest posts here.

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Tagged as: blue plague scheme, english hertiage, hello lamp post, west country