Avril's Walks and Talks

Born in Dominica (not Dominican Republic!), Avril Nanton came to London in 1965 and lived most of her young life in Islington. She went to school in Hackney and as an adult lived a lot of her life in Tottenham. So she’s a north Londoner through and through. She needs a passport to go to south London!

In 1997 she met Robin Walker, author and historian, the man who was to change her life forever. She began attending Robin’s Black History classes in Seven Sisters, Islington, and her life began to change. Her interest in her own people’s history began to flourish and it wasn’t long before she began to work with Robin to learn more and more about African history. Over the decades her knowledge has expanded and she has gone on to learn a lot more about not only her own history but it set her on the road to finding out about her personal family history.

In 2010 she was made redundant. She had worked in charities for almost all her life and wanted to go in a different direction. She chose to go to the University of Westminster to study Tour Guiding in the Architecture and Built Environment department. In 2016 she qualified as a professional Tour Guide and set up Avril’s Walks and Talks.

Since then, she has given many tours and presentations around London. Her biggest and busiest month is October. Avril prides herself on being one of the few Black female Black History Tour Guide specialists in the UK and intends to ensure she inspires as many people as possible in the field of Black History.

Avril is a director of the Jane Duffield Bursary Trust which is a charity that funds those who want to become tour guides but can’t afford the fees. In 2021 she published her first book with co-author Jody Burton called Black London: History, Art & Culture in over 120 Places. The book was a hit and Avril’s Walks and Talks was featured on ITV’s local London news.

She has worked with the Ministry of Defence, the Lord Mayor of London, the City of London Police Museum, Sony Playstation, British Insurance, Department for Media, Culture and Sport, various London Boroughs, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, U3A, various universities from UK and worldwide, Windrush Foundation, Ashmount Primary School and many others.