I was invited to talk to Liam Davis about Stoke Newington’s history on his online radio show on Shoreditch Radio. We touched on a variety of topics during a 30min chat such as municipal boundaries, gentrification and Abney Park. You can listen to it here from 28:34min.
The second Stoke Newington History Pop-Up event was held on November 22nd and it was a pleasure meeting people who came to see Nick Perry, Rachel Tobyn and Richard Young and myself to ask us local history questions. From a couple that moved into the area and wanted to learn about the history of their street to a woman who wanted to know the history of the nursery building where she’s working. It was great fun and hopefully we’ll do it again in a the spring.
I helped the director and researcher of BBC’s Antique Roadshow with their research into the history of Clissold Park as part of the filming of three episodes there, which is taking place on July 10th. The first of three episodes filmed in the park was aired on October 9th. The other two episodes will be aired in 2023.
On Sunday, June 5th I gave a talk as part of the Stoke Newington Literary Festival about some of Stoke Newington’s lost pubs and cinemas. It was great being in front of an audience for the first time since early March 2020 in the historic Mildmay Club in Newington Green. I gave talks in the festival in 2017, 2018 and 2019. It was always great fun and and a thrill to be part of a such a fantastic local event. I enjoyed putting the material together and doing additional research in the process. All 80 tickets sold out in two days and I was glad I was able to get through all 142(!) slides in 45min.
On May 24th I ran the first (and hopefully not the last one) Stoke Newington History Pop-Up event with Nick Perry, Richard Young and Rachel Tobyn where people were invited to come and visit us at Revere the Residence shop in 150 Stoke Newington Church Street and ask us for free local history questions. We had no idea what to expect and after three and half hours I estimate about 30 people walked into the shop and presented us with fascinating questions, which we did our best to answer using old maps, old photos and census records.
Way back in December 2020 I was contacted by a TV producer who was developing an idea for a history programme based around someone who grew up in Stoke Newington in the 1970s & 80s learning about the history of the area.
It’s that time of the year and Here’s my 8th annual photo survey of Stoke Newington Church St. 41 businesses have changed since 2015 (37%). You can view the previous years in the Prints section here. The number of vacant sites hasn’t changed over the years. Full street history here: bit.ly/amirstokey
The 16th Stoke Newington History Talks event was online with talks that about the fascinating history of the Woodberry Down Estate by John Boughton, the story behind the publication of the Stoke Newington Lifestyle Guide in 1987 by Martin Bailey and finally, my talk was about some of the architects that designed Stoke Newington’s public buildings. The event raised £500 for the Literacy Pirates; an educational charity developing literacy, confidence and perseverance in young people.