Vaccine stories: Injecting hope at the Mile End Art Pavilion
Mile End Park’s stunning Art Pavilion has been turned into a vaccination centre to play its part in the fight
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Cultural heritage
From the Suffragettes to Wiley to Cockney Rhyming Slang, Roman Road has an uniquely East End heritage full of pioneers and radicals.
How Queen Matilda’s dip in the Lea created Bow Bridge
The history of Bow Bridge is an invisible but important element of our identity, giving its name to the neighbourhood
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The Suffragette People’s Army of Victoria Park
As the Suffragettes began to use more radical tactics on their quest to change democracy – the West End was sacked in late 1912 – they started to encounter police repression, who saw them as a ‘threat to national security’.
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Captain Dave: All aboard the Floating Church!
Moored up in Hackney Wick is the Floating Church. This barge-come-chapel is run by Reverend Dave Pilkington, a man who
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George Lansbury Labour MP for Bow and Bromley: ‘a great, servant to the people’
George Lansbury, former MP of Bow and Bromley, is remembered by all for his immense devotion to the people of the East End. Unlike many politicians who were born into the life of education and power, George Lansbury was truly a man of the people. Hardships from his early years shaped him to be a compassionate and fervent ally to women and the working class of the East End.
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Sporting Bengal: the FC tackling racism in football
Sporting Bengal United F.C play their football in Mile End Stadium, after being established in 1996 to ‘challenge the underrepresentation of Asians in football’. Team captain Rokib Choudhury and their manager Imrul Gazi speak out about what needs to be done to tackle racism in the game.
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The tragic history of Saint Clements hospital
Saint Clements Hospital, a place known for treating adolescent heroin addicts, has had an unforgettable impact on the history of the East End. The building withstood fires and bomb damage from World War Two, and its walls contain a very chequered past.
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The adventures of Norah Smyth: her life as a suffragette, philanthropist and artist
Following exclusive information shared by Norah Smyth’s great nephew writer Jane McChyrstal reveals fascinating new insights into the adventurous life of the elusive suffragette, philanthropist and photographer who dedicated her personal wealth and artistic talent to social justice.
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George Burchett: the tattoo artist from Bow who drew on Kings
George Burchett, known as the ‘King of Tattooists’, lived in Bow in the 1900s and tattooed Kings. His legacy as one of the forerunners of the tattoo industry as it is today survives him and his ink will go down in history.
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How being an outsider helped Simon Wheatley document grime from the inside
Simon Wheatley is an acclaimed photographer who spent twelve years documenting grime culture. His book Don’t Call Me Urban! spans the years between 1998-2010 and a selection of the photos were displayed recently in Cafe East.
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The story behind the Dogs of Alcibiades statues in Victoria Park
The statues are marble sculptures of Molossian Hounds and were donated to the park by Lady Aignarth, a wealthy and clearly rather generous resident of East London, in 1912. They are rumoured to have been a commemoration of her late husband, Horatio, who passed away that year.
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Reformed criminal Gary Hutton on being a product of a postcode
Gary Hutton, reformed East End criminal from Stepney whose book Product of a Postcode talks of the environmental pressures that can lead to a life of crime, a message he now takes to local schools to help prevent young people from making the same mistakes he did.
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