A feature was published today on the Hackney Post website about my funding application, currently under review, to restore nine historic street signs. The application, submitted on behalf of the Hackney Society, outlines a proposed collaboration with Hackney Council. The council would handle the technical restoration, while the Hackney Society and I would lead the community outreach, aiming to raise awareness, understanding and appreciation of the restored signs and their historical importance.

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The latest issue of Spaces, the Hackney Society’s newsletter, includes a short piece I wrote about two ghost shop signs recently uncovered and saved on Stoke Newington Church Street. These old signs sometimes appear when modern fascias are removed, giving a glimpse of long-gone businesses that have been preserved in an old, hand-painted sign.

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The 26th Stoke Newington History Talks took place on Thursday 30 October 2025 at St Matthias Halls. Nigel Smith gave a fascinating talk based on a trove of archival documents, revealing the day-to-day running, bureaucracy and social history of the Savoy Cinema on Stoke Newington Road. Neil Martinson shared his experiences photographing Stoke Newington since the 1960s, reflecting on how the area has changed and showing recent images alongside those taken over forty years ago. My talk explored old shop signs briefly uncovered when modern signage is removed, revealing personal and family stories behind several such discoveries in the area.

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I’ve been a huge fan of the series Who Do You Think You Are? for many years, so it was a real thrill to be contacted earlier this year by the series’ magazine for an article about my 2021 crowdsourcing project to transcribe the 1886 petition that helped save Clissold Park. Featured in the September edition of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine, the piece highlights the 11,000-signature petition raised by residents of Stoke Newington, Hackney and Islington to stop the sale of the land that would become Clissold Park, and tells the story of how I initiated, organised, coordinated and managed a community-wide effort that brought together 40 volunteers from across the country to digitally transcribe this remarkable document.

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On 15 September, I met with councillors Sarah Young (Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport), Sheila Suso-Runge (Heritage Champion) and Richard Lufkin, together with representatives from Hackney Council’s Streetscene team, to discuss the future of Stoke Newington’s surviving historic street signs. At that meeting it was agreed that applying to the Hackney Community Fund is the only viable way to raise the money needed for their restoration. This has now kicked off the process of preparing a funding application in partnership with The Hackney Society and Streetscene. The application deadline is 6 October.

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Since launching my social media channels in 2012 (Facebook), 2013 (X, formerly Twitter) and 2019 (Instagram), I have mostly focused on sharing photos that explore Stoke Newington’s history. This approach has helped build an engaged and growing audience. However, I’ve recently made a change. After noticing that Instagram and Facebook promote short-form video (Reels) more heavily than still images, especially to people who don’t already follow my accounts, I’ve started creating and sharing short Reels. These clips are usually around 30 to 40 seconds long and allow my content to reach a broader audience. You can browse all the Reels I’ve created so far in this Google Drive folder.

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Just days after my Facebook page had reached 8,000 followers, another exciting milestone has been passed: in August 2025 alone, posts were viewed over 1 million times. It’s incredible to see such widespread interest in Stoke Newington’s rich history. I now share content daily on both Facebook and Instagram, which are the main platforms I use. Activity on X has been significantly reduced. The Instagram account is also seeing strong engagement, now averaging 250,000 views each month. If you’re not already following, please do join the growing community exploring the area’s fascinating and rich past. Thank you to everyone who reads, shares, and engages with the posts.

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Thank you to everyone who came along to Stoke Newington History Talks #25—my latest evening of three talks at St. Matthias Hall was another full house. I opened the event by sharing some early results from my experiments using AI-generated imagery to reimagine aspects of local history. Rachel Kolsky followed with a rich exploration of the Jewish community in Stoke Newington, and we rounded off with Billy Thomas’ fascinating history of local telephone numbers. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and together we raised £626 for St Joseph’s Hospice. The next event will take place on 30th October, with tickets going on sale a month in advance.

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I thoroughly enjoyed giving a talk at the second Hackney History Festival, to a packed Round Chapel on a gorgeous sunny day. Last year, my festival talk focused on Stoke Newington in the 1930s. This year, in Look Up, Look Down: Spotting Local History Everywhere, I explored the area’s history through a variety of antiquated artefacts—some found underfoot, like coalhole covers, and others high above, such as boundary markers on buildings. The 40-minute talk allowed me to touch on a wide range of topics, including trams, Victorian schools, the lost local authority of South Hornsey, and much more.

Continue reading “10.05.2025 – Hackney History Festival 2025” →

This week, my Facebook page, which I started 13 years ago, reached a milestone of 6,000 followers. What’s been particularly notable is that it gained 1,000 new followers in the past six months. The Facebook page was the first social media channel I used to share my interest in local history, back in 2012. It was followed by an account on X in 2013, which currently has 9,100 followers. An Instagram account followed in 2019 and now has over 5,400 followers. It’s great to see such interest in Stoke Newington’s history across the different social media channels, and I’m constantly learning and discovering new things through the comments people post and the messages I receive.

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