East End Life 26.09.2010

14th Floor events coming up! Guided walks of housing estates

A key aspect of the 14th Floor project has been to develop two guided walking tours in Tower Hamlets focussing on key sites which figure prominently in the rich history of social housing in the borough. Thanks to the hard work of Nadja, Penny, Shane, Alabama and Malcolm and volunteers who put forward ideas at our open day, we are delighted to be able to announce two walks taking in estates in Poplar and Bethnal Green.

Places are free but booking is essential due to limited numbers. Please email localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 7364 1290 to book.

Poplar
Tuesday 5th October 2010
Starts 3pm
Meeting at Idea Store Chrisp Street
1 Vesey Path,
East India Dock Road,
London E14 6BT
020 7364 4332

Bethnal Green
Saturday 9th October 2010
Starts 1pm
Meeting at Bethnal Green Library
Cambridge Heath Road,
London E2 0HL
020 8980 3902/6274

http://www.ideastore.co.uk/

Booking is essential via localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 7364 1290

14th Floor is also presenting a screening of a new documentary film and panel discussion - see below...

14th Floor events coming up! Film screening and panel debate

14th Floor film screening
Thursday 7th October 2010, 6.30pm
Rochelle School, Arnold Circus

14^th Floor is a documentary film by Shane Davey about the history of social housing in Tower Hamlets. Using rarely seen imagery from the archive collections and interviews with former and current residents, architects, artists and historians, the film charts the development of social housing in the East End.

Shane who lives in Poplar explained: “The unique context provided by the extreme deprivation and slum clearances of the 19th century and the postwar reconstruction of the Blitz-damaged borough provided fertile ground for experimentation in addressing key issues of poverty and regeneration. But how did this affect the lives of local people and families, whose homes were lost, made and re-made?”

Earlier this year Shane won the 28 Day Feature Film Challenge: Best Film Award with The Horror of the Dolls, a chilling movie set in Poplar's Balfron Tower. 14th Floor will have its premiere at Rochelle School (the former school which served the first Old Nichol slum and later the Boundary Estate and is now a converted gallery) at 6.30pm.

Directions: www.afoundation.org.uk/london/visitus.php
Nearest tube: Shoreditch High St

Booking required via localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 7364 1290

Panel discussion and book signing

Monday 4th October, 6.00pm
Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, Mile End

A panel discussion with Lynsey Hanley (author of Estates: an intimate history), Mike Tyrrell, CEO of Tower Hamlets Community Housing and Marcel Baettig, CEO of Bow Arts Trust. Before the talks, project manager Shane Davey with a volunteer will talk briefly about their experience on the 14th Floor project, especially the making of the documentary which premieres on Thursday 7th October at Rochelle School.

Venue: Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, 277 Bancroft Road, London E1 4DQ
Nearest tube: Mile End / Stepney Green

Free but booking required via localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk

or call 020 7364 1290

Call for submissions - Images of the history of social housing in Tower Hamlets

Please click on the images below to find out more about how to get more involved in 14th Floor project by submitting your own archive image/s and/or images of your own artwork/s made in response to social housing across Tower Hamlets...

We are looking forward to receiving your submissions...

Archive Open Day: A volunteer's perspective

In the run up to the Archive Open day I spent a lot of time looking through the collections here at Bancroft Road, trying to select images and newspaper clippings that would provoke discussion amongst our visitors, and encourage strangers to share their memories with each other. By Saturday morning we had stacks of fascinating material for participants to look through and talk about. Several chose to make copies of images, writing down their thoughts to contribute to a growing collection- perhaps some of these will make it into the postcard set. Visitors also heard from borough archivist Malcolm Barr-Hamilton about some of the amazing resources available here in the local history library, and a few even had a go at filming the action.




Participants marked sites that had particular personal significance. We had some great discussions as different people began to map out their own memories of social housing in the borough...

'This is our lovely community garden in Hind Grove. A place where residents come together to grow fruit and veg and make friends.'

'During the latter part of my childhood, living here was very safe and I was very happy'(Lansbury Estate)

'I love Carradale House, especially the Greening Brownfield project on the disused tennis courts'