A Thames Tale

Who IS the mysterious Amanda Hinge? Her work is immortalised on the side of Greenwich Power Station but no one seems to know who she is/was.

It's a funny little piece - a sort of ceramic collage on the stock-brick wall along the Thames Path just before Ballast Quay and just after the coal pier. It tells a charming story about a boy who's walking along the Thames picking up flotsam and jetsum - little pottery coke cans, paper bags and footprints - when he meets a strange-looking creature. The story doesn't make total sense if you try to read it as an adult - but who cares? This is a delightful piece of whimsy and yet another reason why Greenwich is more than the sum of its big-hitter tourist attractions. Things like this should be encouraged.

There are so many questions I have about the piece - but no one seems to know anything about it. The website advertised on the plaque next to it seems long-dead and I would have done well in the googlewhack competition by typing the words into my search engine.

When I tried to find a bit more out, the various bodies who paid for it seemed puzzled by my request - the best result I had was when I called Greenwich Council who remembered that it had been commissioned for the Millennium - but nothing else - certainly nothing more about the artist herself.

I'd love to know if Amanda Hinge has made any other art that we could see. Does anyone out there know her - or know of her? Is she local?

I think we should be told.