In the first of a series of regular blogs, Geoff Simmons of Summerstown182 tells us all about Planet Tooting! Have you got your ticket?

Tooting, the brightest planet in the Wandsworth Galaxy! Who says so? No lesser authority than Lonely Planet, renowned global guiding gurus who last summer nominated us as one of the top ten coolest destinations in the world!

Would you believe Tooting is right up there alongside Rio, Florence, New York and Copenhagen? How proud does that make you feel? Of course we all know that Tooting is an out of the world kind of place to live – why, there's even a crater on Mars named after it!

But this fantastic accolade made us sit back and think. What's made it so special? What happened to get us noticed? Maybe a lot of things that have taken place in recent times, in which case we need to reboot our historical CV and log some of this knowledge for historians and future generations. We’ve all got a bit of an idea of what went on in this area since the Romans drove the A24 through here about two thousand years ago. Along that came the Vikings, the Norman monks, Elizabeth the First and Charles Dickens. It was all country manors, farms, camomile and daffodil fields until the Edwardians went house-building crazy. Soon we had garden estates, Britain’s loveliest lido and slickest super-cinema.

But who’s making the history today? Do you know what – you are! We’ve all got a story to tell and we want to cover the more recent history of this outstanding corner of London and those who’ve made their home here over the last fifty years. Summerstown182 and Tooting Daily PRSS are now joining forces to provide a platform for those stories and make sure they are preserved. If you’ve got something you want to tell us, contact me to arrange a chat. We’ll write it up and put it out there on the Planet Tooting page of Tooting Daily PRSS. 

We’ll be officially launching very soon, but are very keen to get some stories underway so everyone gets a clear idea about what we’re doing. Let’s hear from you! We want to know how you happen to be here, where you came from, what you’ve been doing, how you feel about living in wonderful SW17. We might even make a little film to help tell your story and if you’ve got any photos you’d like to share, we’d love to include them.

All great stories, but there are so many more to be discovered and we look forward to hearing them and telling the rest of the world. Hold tight, get in touch and join us on a trip to Planet Tooting!

Geoff Simmons is a local historian. Find out more on his website, @summerstown182 on Twitter or Facebook. Email rgbsimmons182@gmail.com