Roger Lewis

Roger Lewis - Street rep since 2012

Roger Lewis was one of our founding volunteers. "I moved to St John's in 2010. I was driven by Utopian impulses and happy memories to recreate the countryside in Oxfordshire and Bucks where I was brought up. I became aware of the thousands of empty tree-pits below the Lewisham pavements and imagined filling them all up.”

This is a world away from Roger's work. Both his parents were academics. With a palpable sense of stoicism, he has been following in their footsteps. He is working currently on a PhD, teaching humanities in Oxford and Paris, and now spending alternate months in London. He tells me about his book, to be published in 2023 under the name of Oliver Lewis, titled The Orwell Tour - travels through the life and work of George Orwell. The book was inspired by a realisation that his own travels in the Hebrides and Myanmar and to Southwold had been made by Orwell himself! Roger spent five years researching, writing, and editing the book, intended to bring a marvellous writer to the attention of general readers. More info is on Instagram HERE.

Roger’s work as a Street Rep has resulted in the planting of many street trees. Two stand out for him, ornamental pears planted opposite The Brookmill pub in St John's in 2014, in memory of local men who had lost their lives in World War One. He remembers the generosity of large numbers of donors, and the poignancy of the public ceremony accompanying the planting in which primary school children read the long Roll of Honour beside the trees.

Roger’s PhD is an investigation into why UK rail privatisation is failing. He asks me rhetorically, and with exasperation "how on earth can democracy lead to an outcome so destructive of welfare?" STfL is lucky that for over ten years Roger has been volunteering for us and showing clearly that the individual can in fact make a difference.