Have a peak at Gerry’s Gongoozling below!
For a closer look at the beautiful projects the artists devised inspired by Gerry’s see the Gongoozling map below!
Gerry’s Gongoozling Map by Paulina Bastos
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…
Thank you to everyone who came to Gerry’s Gongoozling* - A Canal Procession on Sunday 28th September 2025 from 3-7pm. Our very first boat-led parade took us on a wander along the towpaths to encounter a series of specially commissioned artists’ performances and interventions along the canal.
Dresscode: ‘leave a little sparkle’ - bonus points if you want to dress up as your favourite historical figure!
LEAVE A LITTLE SPARKLE, BEST SHINE GETS A GERRY FERRY RIDE
The most fabulously Gerry inspired costumes will win seats on the Verry Gerry Ferry at the end of the procession for a trip, Beth Kuhepa has made some fabulous suggestions based on Gerry’s statues below… now is your chance to shine!!
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
Patrons & Funders
We are very grateful to the generosity of Tamsin Wimhurst, Tom Rosenthal, Jane Hamlyn & James Lingwood, Tim & Maria Church, the City Living Local Life Fund from Kensington & Chelsea’s Golborne & Colville Wards, the GLA’s North Paddington Creates Fund, the Alexander Pigott Wernher Fund, the Craignish Trust, as well as many wonderfully generous people and Trusts who would prefer to remain anonymous who have and are still supporting us! Without you none of our programme would be possible.
Local Community Collaborators
