March 18, 2022

Around Dulwich Woods with Floella Benjamin

24 minutes

Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE joins Clare for a walk around one of her favourite woodlands in London. Starting in Dulwich College where her mother worked in the laundry and later her son attended, Floella and husband Keith head off into the woods on a rainy March day. Their walk takes them up from the College past the Golf range and into the woods where parakeets dart among the trees shrieking and providing a dash of bright emerald green on a grey day. Along the way Floella talks about her life and all her achievements.

She was born in Trinidad and emigrated with her family in the 1960s settling in London. After leaving school she worked in a bank before becoming an actress and then getting her break into children's television in Play School. The education and wellbeing of children is one of her greatest priorities and she is hugely proud of all that she has achieved in this field.

The walk takes them along routes she has walked for many years from when her own children were small. She and Keith are great walkers and love to hike in the Lake District but when that's not possible, a walk in these woods is a sanctuary in the middle of the city - a place to relax, think and destress.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

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