I am writing from a new art gallery in Islington called Kunstraum, which is just off Whitecross Street. This Saturday 30th July at 11am we are offering a FREE historical walking tour of Islington, starting at Angel underground station – with a focus on water, rivers and wells – followed by a brief introduction to Kunstraum's current exhibition. The tour will last 2 hours, but we won't go too fast a pace. The tour is completely free but places are limited so please book by sending me an email to thomas@kunstraum.org.uk

The tour is lead by London Blue Badge guide and Clerkenwell and Islington Guides member Colin del Strother. Some of the locations we will visit are New River Head, Spa Fields and Well Court (Clerkenwell) and some other locations on the way to arriving at Kunstraum, 21 Roscoe Street, EC1Y 8PT.

This tour is designed to coincide with Kunstraum's current exhibition at Kunstraum, by Palestinian artist Jumana Emil Abboud – which I will be pleased to give you a brief introduction to. Taking Palestinian folk tales as a starting point, Jumana's work is about physically locating springs and wells which, according to Palestinian tradition, were thought to be haunted or blessed. The relationship of 'spirits' to water is a trope which is common to folk stories across the world, and the stories of different cultures often have shared origins.