Our speaker tonight, Stephen Butt, took to the stage in the soon-to-be revamped upstairs function room of the Princess Alice (formerly known as the City Darts) public house. The carpets had been ripped out to reveal an authentic wooden floor and part of the wood panelling to the right of the stage had been removed to reveal two sash windows making the venue more roomier and breathable compared to previous meetings.

Despite the disruption to the centre of London life caused by the 7th July bombings, the committee were half expecting a thin turnout for tonight’s meetings. We were to be proven gloriously wrong. In fact, this would appear to be one of the most well attended meetings ever. New faces were seen - especially Matt (Guildford) and Gary who commandeered a table stage right. Also, Jack the Ripper Forum’s, Tyler Hebblewhite also made a welcome reappearance, as did Alan Hayday. There were many others there too. As the time approached I, yes, I took to the microphone - Andy Aliffe had a sore throat. This gave me the chance to announce our speaker; Alan Sharp and also claim his book; London Correspondence: Jack the Ripper and the Irish Press as one of the top ten books written on the Whitechapel murders. Committee member, Liza Hopkinson would say the same later on as she conducted the question and answers. A blushing Alan did thus take to the stage.

The upstairs bar of the City Darts was assembled to hear, and to an even spectacular degree, see Professor Ifan Shepherd talk about the mapping systems employed by Charles Booth and his team in the late 19th century. Public transport problems had meant that many didn’t arrive until late in the meeting, (Jack The Ripper Forum’s Tyler Hebblewhite made it in the end!), so, essentially the meeting was a very well attended talk. Author Nick Connell, fresh from the success of his new tome; Walter Dew - The Man Who Caught Crippen, made a welcome appearance, as did Ray Luff - again for a second visit this year, and also Clive Bettington who is an authority on the Jewish East-End.

A Little Gruel Morning and Night. Meat Twice a Week, all Seasoned by Hard Work and Prison Discipline. The Workhouses of Whitechapel by Peter Higginbotham

Report by Adrian Morris

Whitechapel Society 1888 master of ceremonies, Andy Aliffe, started proceedings by thus declaring; "This evening’s talk is going to be very interesting because I know that you’re all well-versed in Ripper-lore and you all know that many people within Ripper-lore have at one time found themselves in the workhouse, and it’s perhaps an area that we have only touched on in our studies in Ripperology - and we don’t know in depth. I will introduce a man who has done six years’ research!"

We welcomed back the great Ripper commentator Robin Odell to the Whitechapel Society 1888 meeting on the 5th February to help us celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Cloak & Dagger Club.

It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since Paul Feldman jumped on stage...,or - at least, the staircase, in the Alma Tavern in January 1995. Mark Galloway's vision in the latter part of 1994 had come to fruition that night. Roll on ten years and Mark Galloway was to be further fortified by the sight, tonight, of what was to be a well attended meeting. Further trips down memory lane as we welcomed back one of our previous speakers Ray Luff. We were all glad to see him.