The 12th Stoke Newington History event of the year was held on December 3rd in St Matthias Halls, as usual. All 155 Tickets were snatched in 22 hours, which was incredible. Proceeds from this event were donated to Pets Against Loneliness; a group of volunteers bringing together older members of the community with well-behaved dogs …
Continue reading 03.12.2019 – Stoke Newington History Talks #12
Here's a snippet from a Financial Times article about Stoke Newington house prices, which includes a few quotes I provided the journalist who contacted me on Twitter.
I had the pleasure of presenting my talk about the dramatic campaign to save Clissold Park from development in the Drawing Room in Clissold House as part of a festive Sunday celebrating 130 years of Clissold Park, which coincided with the Open House London weekend. Giving this talk in Clissold House always feels special.
Sam Gelder from the Hackney Gazette wrote an article about my recent photo-survey of the 17 surviving street signs that include 'Borough of Stoke Newington', meaning they date back from the the period of 1900-1965 when Stoke Newington was an independent metropolitan borough. I've been fascinated by these old signs for a while and finally …
The 11th Stoke Newington History Talks take place on Sep 10th and was jammed packed with 120 people. The talks by guest speakers Nick Higham and Anne Wilkinson were absolutely fascinating. I'm glad I finally got a chance to share my extensive collection of material about Stoke Newington seven long-lost cinemas. I'm glad that seating capacity …
Continue reading 10.09.2019 – Stoke Newington History Talks #11
I had a great time presenting a Stoke Newington history talk for the 3rd year running as part of the Stoke Newington Literary Festival. This year I presented the story of the campaign to save Clissold Park in the mid 1880s. The Gallery Hall in Edwards Lane was completely packed with 135 people and I'm …
Continue reading 09.06.2019 – Stoke Newington Literary Festival
The 10th Stoke Newington History Talks event was a packed event as always in St Matthias Halls. It was great seeing so many familiar faces from previous events and both Ruth and Laurie captivated the audience with their descriptions of the Willows Estate on Carysfort Road and the Hackney Brook respectively. https://www.slideshare.net/HistoryofStokeNewing/stoke-newington-history-treasure-troves-by-amir-dotan https://www.slideshare.net/HistoryofStokeNewing/the-willows-estate-rural-to-industrial-to-gated-development-in-stoke-newington-by-ruth-swirsky https://www.slideshare.net/HistoryofStokeNewing/this-plashy-stream-memories-of-the-hackney-brook-by-laurie-elks
The 9th Stoke Newington History Event was held on the 25th of February in St Matthias Halls. It was great to see the hall packed and as always, the evening offered an eclectic mix of topics, from Stoke Newington's pub rock venues of the 1970s, to an unseen collection of photos of the area taken …
Continue reading 25.02.2019 – Stoke Newington History Talks #9
I became interested in red pillar postboxes after reading about them in a book about London street furniture. I was intrigued to see how many pillar postboxes in Stoke Newington might be considered rare. More generally, I was also interested to see the number of postboxes by Royal Cypher, which gives a rough indication when …
Continue reading Surveying Stoke Newington’s red pillar postboxes
18 months ago I had an idea to install a plaque on Barton House GP, the site of the home of Clissold Park co-founder Joseph Beck, who led the campaign in the mid 1880s to save the park from development. While there’s a commemorative fountain in the park to honour Joseph Beck and his ‘partner-in-crime’ …
Continue reading 10.11.2018 – Joseph Beck plaque unveiling ceremony
Stoke Newington History 