Our Chief reporter on events that reflect culture, history and heritage in Newham.
By Neandra Etienne
Royal Mail is celebrating the chart-topping hits and iconic live performances of the legendary girl group the Spice Girls with a new set of ten special stamps and collectables.
Included in the stamp collection is the Spice Girls’ performance during the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, held at the London Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Park, Stratford.
Royal Mail previously featured stamps of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The Cart and Horses pub in Stratford is recognised as the birthplace of Iron Maiden. The band also performed their early gigs in the now closed Ruskin Arms.
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Voices of East Bank, an online archive of stories about East London’s communities, heritage and languages, was launched to mark Heritage Treasures Day in January.
The collection, which includes more than 100 audio recordings made in 2023, explores migration, heritage, languages, dialects and stories of East London’s diverse history from the second half of the 20th century to the present day. The project also includes personal childhood memories, culture, food experiences of racism and discrimination.
The project, led by Community History Project Freelancer Lydia Powell, is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Lyn Garner, Chief Executive of LLDC, said: “This is such a wonderful project preserving deeply personal memories to help us to make sense of a rapidly changing world. Whether it’s someone’s memories of working life in Canning Town, finding community in Spitalfields after the partition of India, or celebrating UK Black Pride on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the recordings provide a fascinating insight into East London life from the past to present.” www.eastbankvoices.co.uk
Justine Hounam, Anne Isaksson and Jacqueline Rana are all studying for doctorates in fine art at the University of East London. They will be showing work by a range of UEL PhD and MA students for the In Out exhibition.
The exhibition will examine the interplay between internal contemplation and external manifestation. They are inviting visitors to explore the dual nature of obscured, overlooked, and concealed aspects of the human experience, unearthing narratives often sidelined or buried within conventional historical accounts.
The exhibition is co-curated with Hive Curates as a part of the Alice Billings Connects Cultural Programme. It will be open Friday-Sunday 1-7pm and is free to attend.
The In Out exhibition, Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford from 27 January to 25 February.
Begum-Hossain
Local Crafts Expert and Museum of Happiness Facilitator Momtaz Begum-Hossain hosts monthly Mindful Crafternoons for Adults on the last Sunday of the month.
Tickets are donation-based and all money is donated to mental health charity CALM.
Sunday 25 February, 4-6pm at Well Bean Co café, 1-2 Upper Dock Walk, E16 2GU – https://shorturl.at/ceo05
Eastside Community Heritage has launched their new exhibition A Home Fit to Live In at Custom House and Canning Town Community Neighbourhood Centre and Library.
The exhibition focuses on home and housing in Canning Town during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
Eastside interviewed Canning Town residents about what life was like living in Canning Town using these oral histories to create a pop-up exhibition. A Home Fit to Live In can be lent out to groups, libraries and/or community venues.
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