COME GONGOOZLING WITH US DONATE FOR YOUR SPOT HERE FOR AN ABSURD JOURNEY OF SURPRISES

EVER BEEN GONGOOZLING*? NOW IS YOUR CHANCE! JOIN US SUNDAY 28th SEPTEMBER at 2.45pm at Paddington Station canal-exit

*Gongoozling: to stare idly at canal life…

We hope you are all having a wonderful summer. To continue the sunny merriment we’re very excited to invite you to Gerry’s Gongoozling* - A Canal Procession on Sunday 28th September 2025 from 3-7pm. Join our very first boat-led parade as we wander along the towpaths together and encounter a series of specially commissioned artists’ performances and interventions along the canal. Please arrive at Paddington Station at 2.45pm (use the canal side exit & then follow the signs to Gongoozling). The adventure will begin at 3pm (sharp, so please be on time or you’ll miss the start!) We’ll parade along for an hour until we reach Gerry’s Pompeii and the procession’s culmination, a Shebeen (an informal Irish/Caribbean celebration) with music and refreshments at Meanwhile Gardens.

Dresscode: ‘leave a little sparkle’ - bonus points if you want to dress up as your favourite historical figure!

Prepare for an absurd journey inspired by Gerry’s spirit of the imagination.

Please reserve your ticket here via donation — as little or as much as you can — even £1 would help and collecting Eventbrite numbers means we can manage towpath numbers safely! All donations are hugely appreciated. Looking forward to seeing you!

WHAT IS GERRY’S POMPEII?

With limited resources and infinite imagination, Gerry Dalton (B. Athlone, Ireland, 1935 - 2019) devoted over thirty years of his life to create what has become known as ‘Gerry’s Pompeii.’ An intensely private person, Gerry worked mostly in secret and often at night, to transform his social housing flat, garden and his neighbours’ canal path into a visionary environment, off the Harrow Road in West London.

WHAT DO WE DO?

• We are a charity dedicated to preserving and promoting Gerry’s artistic legacy. Using Gerry’s story as a catalyst for creative engagement, we work hyper-locally with brilliant community partners to co-deliver inclusive, innovative workshops, events and experiences in his spirit.

• We provide unusual, inclusive opportunities for creativity in an area facing significant inequalities and lacking a dedicated visual arts space.

• We invite emerging and established artists to work with local community groups to make unique creative workshops and public, building skills, confidence and community pride.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Gerry’s canal-side sculpture garden provides the inspiration for our charity, with the mission of preserving the site as a meaningful artistic environment and community landmark. Our mission is to inspire local communities and those beyond through projects that facilitate and celebrate their innate creativity.

There is a vibrant and creative ecosystem within West London. However, wards surrounding Gerry Pompeii are amongst the most disadvantaged in London. There is a limited community visual arts offer and a significant lack of the inter-organisational resources to create one locally. Gerry’s Pompeii is our opportunity to meet this need as well as our chance to champion a cultural heritage that is usually marginalised, destroyed or left to rot.

Gerry’s Pompeii offers an alternatie approach to heritage conservation and arts provision – local, personal and empowering, with a raucous spirit that reflects the idiosyncrasies of this very special neighbourhood. The energy unleashed by Gerry’s Pompeii could not have happened anywhere else – but we believe that other, different reservoirs of creative energy are waiting to be tapped all over the place. In the long-term, we hope that our programme here will serve as a template for creative flowering in neighbourhoods all over the country.



“They’ll be astonished by what they’ll find in my garden in years to come. It’ll be like Pompeii or something… Gerry’s Pompeii.”

GERARD ‘GERRY’ DALTON

Supporters & Partners

“In over 50 years in London, I have never encountered anything so unusual, and so complete... I have seldom been so affected”

RICHARD WENTWORTH CBE, ARTIST