peter Marshall | >Re-PHOTO

Morning Lane, Paint, Handbags and Printers

Morning Lane, Paint, Handbags and Printers – continuing my walk in October 1988 from where I finished the previous post, Shops, Houses, A Library, Car Sales 1988 on Morning Lane in Hackney.

Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-33-Edit_2400 — *Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-33*

This row of shops is at 163-173 Morning Lane, a few yards west of Ponsford Street, and still looks much the same, although 173 at right, derelict in 1988 and its doors and windows covered with corrugated iron sheeting has been rebuilt with two extra floors, one set back in the roof, and has lost or covered up the rather attractive doorway between it and 171. Surprisingly Sang Kee is still there, with a rather brighter shop front, though the CHINESE FOOD TO TAKE AWAY is no longer advertised as HOT. The bookmakers and Property Consultants have closed, and although there were various fast-food outlets which replaced the Morning Lane Fish Bar I think these properties are now residential.

Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-35-Edit_2400 — *Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-35*

This rather attractive building 1930s building on Morning Lane was demolished in 2008-9 to build the Cardinal Pole Catholic School. The school was named for the last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Reginal Pole, archbishop from 1556 to 1558; the new building brought together the school which was previously on Parin three sites and was a part of the Hackney Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. When I photographed it was in use by Hackney Council and the row of posters outside warned of the dangers to local public services of government rate capping.

Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-21-Edit_2400 — *Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-21*

Bergers came to Hackney from Shadwell in 1780, making dyestuffs and became a major manufacturer of paint and varnish from the 1860s. After various mergers etc they became Berger, Jensen & Nicholson and finally a part of Crown Paints, but they left the area in 1970. Most of their extensive buildings were demolished, but this handsome 1934 laboratory building at 205 Morning Lane survived until 2008, being used as a health centre and later taken over by Hackney Social Services.

Persaud Handbags Ltd, Rosina St, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-24-Edit_2400 — *Persaud Handbags Ltd, Rosina St, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-24*

There is still a carwash on Rosina St, a short cul-de-sac south of Homerton High Street, though it looks rather different, and rather to my surprise the factory building behind is still standing, its front entrance in Shepherd’s Lane, and looking rather more dilapidated. Spitalfields Life ran a story, At Persauds’ Handbag Factory in 2011 showing work continuing in the building still run by the Persaud family under the name J&R Designs. Unfortunately the company was wound up in 2016, though the works appeared to be still in use in 2021.

Sedgwick St, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-11-Edit_2400 — *Sedgwick St, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-11*

Sedgwick St also leads south from Homerton High St, with a footpath at its end leading under the North London Line at Homerton Station. I think everything in this photograph has now been demolished.

St Barnabas Hall, School. Church, High Street, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-13-Edit_2400 — *St Barnabas Hall, School, Church, High Street, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-13*

St Barnabas Church was built on Homerton High St in 1845-7, designed in a late medieval style in Kentish Ragstone by Hackney-born Arthur Ashpitel (1807-69). The adjoining St Barnabas Hall and Schools were added in 1884, also in ragstone but in a Tudor style. According to its Grade II listing, part of the costs were provided by “Joshua Watson (1771-1855), the leader of an influential group of Evangelical churchmen known as the Hackney Phalanx.” The vicarage, forecourt wall and war memorial have separate Grade II listings.

Mackintosh Lane, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-15-Edit_2400 — *Mackintosh Lane, Homerton, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-15*

Mackintosh Lane is a narrow road parallel to Sedgwick Street a few yards to the east, with the two streets joining at the southern end immediately north of Homerton Station on the North London Line, now a part of London’s Overground. The buildings on the left – the east side of the street – which have a hanging sign for a printing works called either MB or M3 Printers have been replaced by flats, though one building just visible at the end of the street remains. Those at the right remain, extensively refurbished around 2013.

In 1940 the east side of Mackintosh Lane as listed on London Wiki was home to the following
1 Apex Insulation Co Ltd, insulating material manufacturers
1 Excelvac Flask Co, vacuum flask makers
1 Gainsborough Sheet Metal Works
3 Rowlands (Homerton) Ltd, leather goods manufacturers
5,5A & 6 Hirst Harold, leather manufacturer
6 Richford & Co Ltd, iron founders
Orcene Co Ltd (The), detergents
7 Parapads Ltd, tailors padding manufacturers
Cornish & Holland, pianoforte key manufacturers (Nestor works)
Marshall F H, cabinet maker.

Now Googling Mackingtosh Lane reveals a non-profit art gallery and “a truly unique wedding venue” in a”1950’s building … once a print factory loading bay”. Times change.

End Indefinite Detention, Don’t Sack Cleaners

End Indefinite Detention, Don’t Sack Cleaners – two protests I photographed on Saturday 7th May 2016, one on the edge of London and the other in the centre.

Detention Centres Shut Them Down – Harmondsworth, Saturday 7th May 2016

Mostly protests begin later than expected and I was surprised when I arrived at Europe’s largest detention centre complex at Heathrow, two Category B prisons, Colnbrook & Harmondsworth, managed by private security company MITIE to find that the action organised by the Anti Raids Network as a part of a day of action at all UK detention centres had already begun.

Most of the protesters had come out to the protest on the west edge of Greater London from the centre and had apparently got there earlier than they expected and had immediately rushed past the few security guards onto the private roadway between the two prisons to communicate with the detainees who had gathered around the windows of the two blocks behind their 20 ft high fences. I’d photographed earlier protests here where the protesters had walked noisily around the Harmondsworth block (strangely on the Colnbrook side of the complex) on the rough track around the fence, but the centre was now under new management and MITIE were determined to keep them further away.

As I arrived and talked with the small group who had remained at the entrance those inside appeared at the far end of the road, being slowly moved out by the police reinforcements who had arrived shortly before me, and I followed protesters down the road to join them.

As well as making a lot of noise with pots and pans, megaphones and kicking the solid metal bottom of the fence, the protesters also held up a large banner with a phone number so that the detainees could contact them and tell them what was happening inside. At first the police made slow progress in moving them along, but soon another police van arrived with more officers and they were able to move them quickly to the front of the complex.

After regrouping there, most decided to walk along to the public footpath that runs along the east edge of the centre. Although bushes and small trees in front of the fence made the centre almost invisible, it was easy to hear the detainees shouting from inside and for them to hear the protest. Soon phone contact was made with some of them and they were able to speak over a megaphone. As I wrote back in 2016:

“Bashir from Lebanon told us he had been held in detention for 18 months and that his wife and children need his help, but he is stuck inside, unable to see them or do anything. Indefinite detention such as this seems a clear breach of so many of the human rights that everyone in the UK should be entitled to under our Human Rights Act 1998. Treating people like our system does is simply shameful.”
Detention Centres Shut Them Down – where there is more about the protest.

Cleaners invade Barbican Centre – Barbican, London, Saturday 7th May 2016

I left to make my way to central London where Cleaners union United Voices of the World were holding a flashmob at the Barbican Centre after cleaning contractor Servest proposed making many of the cleaners redundant or severely cutting their hours and pay. As well as the UVW, the action was supported by activists from the Bakers Union, Class War, SOAS Unison, Unite Hotel workers branch and IWGB Couriers branch.

I met the cleaners close to Moorgate Station and walked with them towards the Barbican, where they burst into a run as they turned a corner and rushed into the main entrance, past a couple of security guards who had no chance of stopping the unexpected arrival. They made there way to the middle of the arts centre, to protest noisily outside the hall where customers were entering a sold-out concert of music by Yann Tiersen.

After a few minutes police arrived and told the protesters they must leave or be arrested, and after some argument they slowly and noisily made their way back towards the main entrance, with police continuing to harass them.

They continued to protest on the street outside the main entrance, and the protest was still continuing there when I left for home.

More on My London Diary at Cleaners invade Barbican Centre.

The Sultan’s Elephant, Buddha’s Birthday & May Queens

The Sultan’s Elephant, Buddha’s Birthday & May Queens – Satiurday May 6th was another varied day for me.

The Sultan’s Elephant – Westminster

“Just why does it take so many people to drive an elephant when one elephant can do it on its own?” was the question that came to me while watching the Sultan’s Elephant making its ponderous way around central London. The 12 metre high mechanical elephant, along with the Little Princess was constructed by French company Royal De Luxe and appeared to have around 20 drivers as well as a cast of under-employed actors.

And, as I commented, “it did occur to me to ask why the Arts Council was spending so much of our money on guys who wanted to play with big toys.” Rather than art it seemed to me to be “more or less a larger version of model railways to me, or perhaps even more a simplistic version of a computer game fantasy made manifiest” and little about art. “More Disneyland.”

Buddha’s 2550th Birthday – Leicester Square

A quarter of a mile to the north, celebrations were taking place in Chinatown of Buddha’s 2,550th birthday, organised by London Fo Guang Temple, one of two UK branches of the Taiwanese Fo Guang Shan Order who have a temple in Margaret St in a rather nice Grade II listed former Parish School and Church House designed by William Butterfield and built in 1868-70.

The festival was continuing over two days, but I only stayed for around an hour, photographing a colourful procession which included two lions and the Mayor of Westminster.

Chislehurst May Queen Ceremonies – Chislehurst

Chislehurst is around ten miles from the centre of London, in Kent until brought into Greater London on the edge of the London Borough of Bromley in 1965. Fortunately trains from Charing Cross go there in around half an hour, which makes it a popular commuter town, and took me there, where I had been invited by the organisers of the Chislehurst May Queen to photograph their May Queen Ceremonies.

Traditionally May had been a time when the New Year and Spring was celebrated, when young men and women danced together and often rather more, and a queen of the may was chosen to lead the event. Oliver Cromwell banned the celebrations as sinful pagan events, and although they came back after the restoration the events slowly died out or became more formal.

As I noted: “There was a revival of interest in old customs in the Victorian era, with various ‘Merrie England’ events being organised. Some schools had maypoles and learnt the dances and many Sunday Schools had their may queens who often took a leading part in Whit Walks.“

I became interested in these continuing events in 2005, going to photograph the Merrie England and London May Queen Festival at Hayes, Kent (also in LB Bromley.) It was the start of a project that led to my self-published book London’s May Queens (ISBN: 978-1-909363-06-9) and almost to a major museum exhibition, plans for which fell through at the last hurdle.

Book Preview

The book preview contains an essay on the history of London’s May Queens and a number of photographs from various May Queen events. Although print copies of the book are expensive you can purchase a reasonably priced PDF version.

But putting the pictures from this first event I photographed in 2005 on-line attracted a great deal of interest, particularly among the families involved, and led to me being invited to other events such as this at Chislehurst, who were particularly keen that I should photograph their proper maypole dancing.

*Last year’s Queen crowns the new May Queen*

As I explain on My London Diary, “Any girl five or over who lives or has grandparents who live in Chislehurst can join the retinue. They then work their way up the ranks, with the oldest girl of the year of joining having the choice of being Queen or Prince. Several months of twice-weekly rehearsals are required, and as well as the festival they also perform at other events.” From the various ‘realms’ such as Chislehurst, the girls then move on to become a part of the London May Queen group. The Chislehurst group is now open to both boys and girls.

Chislehurst first took part in the London May Queen festival in 1923, ten years after it was founded by Dulwich schoolmaster Joseph Deedy in 2013 – there is more of the history in my book. Their festival involved other groups in the area and seemed very much a community festival. It ended with a tea for the May Queen group in the Methodist church hall, and I waited for the May Queen to cut the cake with the help of her ‘Prince’ before leaving to catch the train back home.

I’m pleased to see that the Chislehust May Queen Society is still continuing – and has a Facebook group and a web site. They will be crowning their 99th May Queen tomorrow, as usual on the first Saturday of May.

More on all these events on the May 2006 page of My London Diary.

Manchester Revisited

Manchester Revisited – May 5th & 7th 2017

Pictures here are from walks in Manchester on Friday 5th May 2017 and the following Sunday while passing through the city. It was a short visit to a city I had hardly returned to for around 45 years.

Although I grew up on the western edge of London, I spent most of the years between when I was eighteen and twenty-five in Manchester, at first studying for a degree at Manchester University and later after a short break returning to work for my doctorate at the Institute of Science and Technology.

My school had recommended Manchester for my university course, and I made my first visit there as a day trip for interviews – a very long day as the journey each way took over five hours. I didn’t see a great deal of the city that day, but I was made two unconditional offers of places and my headmaster when told advised me to stop preparing for Oxbridge entrance exams and accept Manchester, which I did. It was a decision that changed my life in various ways.

My course was disappointing – long hours in the lab and largely tedious lectures by staff with no training and little idea of how to teach, keen to get back to their researches. Sitting at a bench with a small plaque informing me that ‘Rutherford first split the atom here’ in 1917 was little compensation for a physics lecturer who seemed unable to explain even the simplest of concepts, though fortunately I’d studied enough of the subject at school to get a decent grade – and the same was true of my other subsidiary, Maths where I passed a rather curious end-of-year exam with 108%.

But my real study was in the University Union and in the city itself, though I did enough work in my final year to get a decent grade – and to turn down offers of employment from big pharma who I found far too interested in profit rather than human good and also from the government’s explosives research lab from where I got a very long handwritten letter from one of the scientists working there about the exciting research they were doing – but I decided I really didn’t want to spend my life making better bombs.

*The old canal dock area became a conservation area in 1980 and an Urban Heritage Park in 1982*

I did get turned down for one job I would really have liked, working in the labs at Kodak in Harrow. I was really not sufficiently middle-class for them – and not interested enough in photography – I’d had an interest but never really been able to afford to pursue it, and dropping my camera in a lake in 1966 hadn’t helped – it never really worked properly again. I ended up getting a job in a lab ten minutes walk from my old home, but it disappointed in almost every way but the salary – at least 50% more than my father had ever earned. It didn’t last, and six months later I was back in Manchester.

Two years later I got married, not in Manchester but in Hull. We were both students still and had little or no money and spent our honeymoon in Manchester, with a day out on the Derbyshire hills and a day coach trip to the Lake District. We lived for the next two years on the two first-floor rooms of a small terraced house in Rusholme, close to Manchester CIty’s Maine Road ground.

*New Quay St Bridge – Salford coat of arms*

We moved away for me to do a course in Leicester. I’d taught for a couple of terms before just to the north of Manchester, and tried at the end of the year to get another teaching job in Manchester, but failed, ending up moving to Bracknell, where I was offered housing in a new flat on one of the new estates.

After we moved away from Manchester I think I went back once for a conference there and a weekend in Didsbury in the 1990s but not really again until 2017. We were on our way to a weekend conference a few miles to the north, and took an early train to have a few hours to look around the city. Our train came into Piccadilly, and we took a walk along the Rochdale canal and the Bridgewater canal before walking back close to the River Irwell to the city centre to catch our bus.

*Doves of Peace sculpture by Michael Lyons, Manchester Civil Justice Centre*

Back in 1970, the canals were still largely working areas, or mainly disused but still largely closed to the public; you could walk along some towpaths, but they were rather lonely and forbidding places. Now things are very different.

*Mechanics Institute – where the TUC, CIS and UMIST began*

We had time for a shorter walk on our way home, but mainly spent that in the People’s History Museum. The following year, 2018 we made a similar journey, but with less time for a walk, and then came back to stay for several days at the start of August as a part of a couple of weeks in various places celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary – including a celebration with family and friends in Hull.

More pictures from Manchester in May 2017.

Occupy Gandhi – Stop Fossil Fuel Criminals

Occupy Ghandi - Stop Fossil Fuel Criminals

Occupy Gandhi – Stop Fossil Fuel Criminals – on Monday 4th May 2015 Occupy Democracy were on the fourth day of their ‘Festival of Democracy’ in Parliament Square “building a movement for real democracy: free from corporate control, working for people and planet!”

Occupy had come to Parliament Square in defiance of the law criminalising the use of tarpaulins, tents and other protection in the square, and were making six key demands:

• reform of party funding so that members of parliament act in the interests of those who elect them rather than the 1% who bankroll them
• major democratic reform of the media to break the stranglehold of vested interests
• a fundamental overhaul of lobbying and the way powerful economic interests inhabit the corridors of power within government
• the introduction of proportional representation so that everyone’s vote counts
• that MPs should not have conflicts of interests from either paid employment or corporate shareholdings
• a citizen-led constitutional convention for real democracy.
Occupy Festival of Democracy

On Monday 4th they began a rally and meditation at the foot of the statue of Gandhi, noted for his direct action civil disobedience, calling for fossil fuel exploration and investment to be made a crime. Donnachadh McCarthy laid out a large blue banner with the message ‘Criminalise Fossil Fuel Exploration‘ and a mock tombstone with the inscription ‘RIP – 300,000 Dying from Climate Crisis Every Year Said Kofi Annan UN Gen Soc‘.

People then brought tarpaulins to sit on around these on the paved area in front of Ghandi’s statue and began a series of short speeches, meditation and songs about climate change and fossil fuel use.

They took a small blue tarp to the statue of Gandhi and wrapped it carefully around him. After a short pause two of the GLC’s private security heritage wardens who had been watching the event with a few police officers came up and removed the blue tarpaulin. A replacement was brought up and carefully held by two of the protesters without touching the statue (much) and the meditation continued.

There was another minor intervention by the heritage wardens who objected to burning incense sticks being placed in the flower beds. The protesters removed them and instead held them.

Donnachadh McCarthy then produced a blue folding tent and erected it, announcing that he was going to defy the ban on tents and inviting others who wished to join him.

People climbed in and after posing for a photograph with the tent the protest continues, with Donnachadh joining them inside as police approached. The police warned those inside the tent they were committing an offence and warned them they could be arrested – and then walked away.

Some minutes later, at exactly 2pm a larger group of police returned and surrounded the tent.

They gave those inside a final chance to leave without being arrested. Three people remained inside the tent, holding each other tight.

Finally they were arrested, handcuffed and taken away to waiting police vans. The whole police operation seemed a massive waste of public money enforcing a ridiculous law. The real criminals are not a few protesters with tents and tarpaulins in public squares, but those who sit in boardrooms and continue promote and produce fossil fuels which are driving us towards extinction, plotting actions to derail attempts to make the changes the planet needs in order to increase their profits.

More pictures at Occupy Gandhi – stop fossil fuel criminals.

Shops, Houses, A Library, Car Sales 1988

Shops, Houses, A Library, Car Sales 1988 – a walk around Lower Clapton, and Hackney which continues from post Jews, a Bishop and the Sally Army.

Gulluoglu, A & A Jewellers, Golden States, Chinese Takeaway, Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 88-10b-11-Edit_2400 — *Gulluoglu Bakery, A & A Jewellers, Golden States, Chinese Takeaway, Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 88-10b-11*

Shops at 63-67 Lower Clapton Rd two of which are still under the same names in 2021. Even the jewellers is still a jewellers though under a different name. Some businesses are more essential than others and family businesses like these often survive longer than some others.

Median Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-13-Edit_2400 — *Median Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-13*

I stood shocked and wondering how these three houses, at 61-65 Median Road had got into the state they are in. I imagine the when built 61 and 63 had similar windows – and what had possessed someone to replace those of 61 something so much plainer. Was it a matter of bomb damage or owner derangement. Equally a sore thumb was the cladding imposed on 61, quite out of character. These houses have changed little since I took the picture, though fortunately the trees in the trangle in front of them have grown considerably and they are rather less visible.

I turned around and walked back into the centre of Hackney, probably mainly to buy a snack to keep me going.

*Hackney Central Library, Mare St, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-01-Edit_2400*

Hackney Central Hall and Library was built in 1907, its architect Henry A Crouch, and was still in use when I made this picture. Hackney now has a new library just across Mare Street, appropriately at 1 Reading Lane. The building was converted into a music venue and community arts centre, the Ocean at a cost of £23m (including a £15m Arts Council grant) and opened in 1999. Music events were supposed to fund the community projects, but failed to do so and Ocean Music Trust and Ocean Music Enterprises ceased trading in 2004. In 2010 it was leased to City Screen who converted it into the Hackney Picturehouse which opened in autumn 2011.

Clarence Rd, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-65-Edit_2400

I’m unsure whether these shops were in the part of Clarence Road (then called Back Street) which were built by 1821 as Down Terrace or were built later in the century. At extreme left is a part of No 22 and at the left is No 42.

Almost all of these except those at the far left have been extensively re-furbished or rebuilt since 1988 and only a couple remain with shop fronts, the rest of the row being simply housing, with an added second floor stepped slightly back.

Sutton House, Homerton High St, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-41-Edit_2400 — Sutton House, Homerton High St, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-41

Sutton House is a Grade II* Tudor manor house owned by the National Trust, built in 1535 for Sir Ralph Sadler who was the Principal Secretary to Henry VIII and an aide to Thomas Cromwell. Although the building was later given a Georgian frontage its interior retains many Tudor features.

Its name is the result of a mistake, named after Thomas Sutton, the founder of Charterhouse School who lived not in this house but next door. His house was demolished in 1806. As the plaque on the wall records, W A Robertson gave money as a bequest in memory of his two brothers killed in the First World War which was used to buy the house. Although it bought the property with his money in 1936, the National Trust appears not to have been very interested in it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/petermarshall/50581050732/in/album-72157715589148871/

Sutton House, Homerton High St, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-42

From the 1930s it was leased to various tenants including the ASTMS trade union. After they left in the 1980s it fell into disrepair and was squatted in the mid-80s as the Blue House, holding parties and music events. After the squatters were evicted it continued to decay until the Save Sutton House Campaign, founded in 1987, campaigned for its renovation and it was first opened to the public in 1991, though only fully in 1994. You can now book guided tours.

Mehetabel Rd., Hackney, 1988 88-10c-43-Edit_2400 — *Mehetabel Rd, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-43*

Mehetabel means ‘how good is God’ and was the name of the wife of Hadar in the biblical book of Genesis and a patriach in Nehemiah. One of John Wesley’s six sisters was the poet Mehetabel Wesley Wright (1697–1750.)

Mehetabel Road is a short street with close to its centre the Chesham Arms pub, declared in 2013 as Hackney’s first Asset of Community Value to protect it when the owner wanted to convert it into flats. The houses at the far left are in Isabella Road.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/petermarshall/50580922666/in/album-72157715589148871/

Morning Car Sales, Off Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-45

Morning Car Sales is in one of the railway arches of the North London Line, I think Arch 200 is just to the left of Link St, where the ‘Hackney Walk’ fashion development opened in 2016 – and is now ‘To Let’.

Car showroom, Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-46-Edit_2400 — *Car showroom, Morning Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10c-46*

Inside the office were a strange selection of pictures, including Maria Whittaker from the Sunday Sport along with a pastoral riverside and a more maritime painting, with a couple of calenders for September 1988 and a table with tea-making facilities. Although pictures such as this half-naked woman might not now be suitable for Parliament, they were common in many workplaces back then.

The walk will be continues shortly. You can see a larger version of any of the pictures by clicking on it to go to my album 1988 London Photos.

Jews, a Bishop and the Sally Army

Jews, a Bishop and the Sally Army: Continuing my walk in October 1988 around Clapton – the previous pos was Hats, Bags, Passports, Mansions, Biocrin & Hollywood.

Jewish Free School, Lea Bridge Road, Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-41-Edit_2400 — *Jewish Free School, Lea Bridge Road, Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-41*

The Jewish presence in Hackney dates back to the late 17th century and grew greatly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and by the 1950s it was said to have the largest and densest Jewish population in the country. Many were supporters of the Labour party and local councillors and leaders, and among former Jewish Free School pupils is Labour life peer Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman. Other well-known Jewish people who grew up in Clapton include Helen Shapiro, Harold Pinter, Lord Levy and Lord Sugar. Since the 1970s the area has been home to a fast growing ultra orthodox community.

The Clapton Jewish Day School was established next to the synagogue in Lea Bridge Road in 1956, though these splendid gates may be older. The school moved to Cazenove Road in 1973 as the voluntary aided Simon Marks Jewish Primary School and is the only remaining mixed Jewish school in inner London.

Clapton Federation Synagogue, Lea Bridge Road, Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-43-Edit_2400 — *Clapton Federation Synagogue, Lea Bridge Road, Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-43*

Clapton Federation Synagogue or Sha’are Shomayim (Gates of Heaven) was founded in 1919 by Elias Ephraim Frumkin (1880-1958) whose family were well-known East End wine merchants Frumkin & Co. In 1932 the synagogue moved into this fine Art Deco new building by architect Marcus Kenneth Glass with a polychrome facade and mosaics at 47 Lea Bridge Rd. In 2005 the congregation moved out to hold its services in the Springfield Synagogue on Upper Clapton Road. Attempts to have the building listed unfortunately failed and it was demolished in 2006, replaced by a rather ugly large block of flats.

The Frumkin family had settled in Whitechapel around 1893, and opened a shop the following year selling Kosher wines on the corner of Commercial Road and Cannon Street Road. Elias, the son of the founder developed the Cherry Brandy for which the company became famous. The firm which supplied wine for many weddings and Bar Mitzvahs later opened branches in Edgware and the West End but finally closed in 1997.

Bishop Wood's Almshouses, Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-44-Edit_2400 — *Bishop Wood’s Almshouses, Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-44*

This is said to be Hackney’s oldest building. These Grade II listed almshouses facing Clapton Pond were opened in 1665 by Dr Thomas Wood, who had been born in Hackney, to provide homes for 10 poor elderly widows over the age of 60 years. In 1671 Wood was made Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, but he preferred to stay living at home in Hackney and was eventually suspended as Bishop in 1684.

A very small chapel, with just 10 seats for the widows was added in 1845, and the almhouses refurbished in 1888, then in 1930 converted by the trustees into five self-contained apartments with separate facilities. After being requisitioned in World War II they reopened in 1948, and were further refurbished in 1985. Around 2010 the trustees decided that they were too expensive to maintain and bring up to modern standards and moved the residents to refurbished almshouses nearby in 2013. The buildings were put up for sale.

Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-46-Edit_2400 — *Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-46*

Pond House at 162 Lower Clapton Rd was clearly not in the best of condition when I photographed it in 1988, despite having been Grade II* listed back in 1951. It has this fine semicircular Doric porch and was built in a Greek Revivial style for City stockbroker Benjamin Walsh between 1802 and 1803. Walsh became an MP in 1808 to escape bankruptcy proceedings but had to sell the house in 1809. He was expelled from the Stock Exchange and convicted of felony after defrauding a fellow MP of £22,000 but was pardoned for dubious reasons.

In 1877 it changed from a family house to a Girl’s school which closed in 1904, and it then became a clothing factory. In 1939 it became a social club for volunteers in the Hackney Rifle Regiment, who made several alterations and repairs causing it to be placed on English Heritage’s At Risk register. The social club sold it for development in 2008.

After a two rejected planning applications it was finally redeveloped by One Housing Group with four homes in the main building and it looks in fine condition as pictures on the The Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action Group web site show.

Former Salvation Army HQ, Congress Hall, Linscott Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 198 88-10b-31-Edit_2400 — *Former Salvation Army HQ, Congress Hall, Linscott Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 198 88-10b-31*

You can still see the shell of the former London Orphan Asylum dating from around 1823 by William Southcote Inman. The orphanage moved to Watford in 1867. In 1882 it became the the Salvation Army’s Congress Hall with a meeting hall built in what had been an open courtyard that could seat 4,700. Until 1929 it also housed the Salvation Army’s training college with accomodation for 150 men and 150 women. Congress Hall closed in 1970 and the building was acquired by Hackney Council, who demolished most of the building in 1976 to build Clapton Girl’s School on the site, leaving only the west portico and its flanking colonnades standing.

Former Salvation Army HQ, Congress Hall, Linscott Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 198 88-10b-34-Edit_2400 — *Former Salvation Army HQ, Congress Hall, Linscott Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 198 88-10b-34*

In 2003 permission was granted for a rear extension and use by The Learning Trust Hackney as the Portico City Learning Centre, with work costing £1.9m supported by a Heritage Lottery Grant which restored the deteriorating structure. You can read a recent detailed heritage statement on the Hackney Council web site.

Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-24-Edit_2400 — *Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-24*

A showroom wall display of spraying equipment somewhere on the Lower Clapton Road, between Linscott Road and Clapton Passage. There seemed to me a certain surreal quality to the display of around seventeen near identical spray guns.

My walk will continue in a later post. You can click on any of the images to go to larger images in my album 1988 London Photos, from where you can browse the album. The images in this post, but not in album, are displayed in the order they were taken on my walk.

May Day – International Workers Day

May Day – International Workers Day – May 1st was chosen as the date for International Workers’ Day in 1889 by the Second International socialists and communists, and adopted by anarchists, labor activists, and leftists in general around the world, to commemorate the 1886 Chicago Haymarket affair and the struggle for an eight-hour working day. It continues to be celebrated in many countries around the world.

Although I tested negative for Covid on Wednesday I’m still short of breath and short of energy, with still a little of a cough and have been strongly advised to take things easy for the next week or two. So I’m not sure if I’ll be out celebrating May Day today, much as I yearn to be.

Before 2000 I was usually unable to celebrate May Day properly as May 1st was usually a normal working day and I went out around 8am and arrived home from work around 5.30pm, usually with more to do at home after an evening meal. Not much time to celebrate International Workers Day!

Of course, May Day sometimes fell at the weekend, so I would have been free to take part in events that were taking place, but even in 1999 when it was a Saturday I think I had other things on.

There were of course May Day related events that I went to most years, but usually these were on the Saturday or Sunday before the early May bank holiday Monday which was introduced by a Labour government in 1978, when they lacked the nerve to make May Day itself a public holiday. We still have that bank holiday despite plans made by Conservative governments under both John Major and David Cameron to replace it by a Trafalgar Day holiday in late October.

By 2003 I was getting rather blasé about the London May Day march, writing “May Day Has perhaps settled into a rather predictable event now. The socialist left – and what is left seems to be a few unions and a number of ethnic communist party groups – march from Clerkenwell to Trafalgar square, while anti-capitalist protesters do not a lot around town“, but that didn’t stop me going again to photograph it that year or in 2004, 2005, 2006, and every year until 2019. Covid put an end to the sequence in 2020, but I came out of seclusion for May Day 2021, though perhaps I’ll miss it again today.

And I will miss it. Miss the sense of solidarity on the streets. And most of my life I’ve been feeling a loss of what might have been had we ever had a socialist government since my first few years growing up in a welfare state. Tory governments largely did what was expected of them but the various Labour administrations largely failed the people. Perhaps the final straw came in 2017, when people inside Labour actively worked against a Labour election victory.

The pictures here come from some of the other May Day events I’ve photographed in the last 20 years or so. You can find other May Day pictures on My London Diary simply by choosing a year at the top of the page and then the month of May at the left of the year page.

Hats, Bags, Passports, Mansions, Biocrin & Hollywood

Hats, Bags, Passports, Mansions, Biocrin & Hollywood: This post continues my 1988 walk South Stokey & Hornsey Detached posted a few days ago.

Marmel & Grossmith, Hat Co Ltd, Boleyn Road, Dalston, Hackney, 1988 88-10a-24 — *Marmel & Grossmith, Hat Co Ltd, 1 & 2 Boleyn Road, Dalston, Hackney, 1988 88-10a-24*

Back Road Kingsland dated from 1839 and was renamed Boleyn Rd in 1877, one of a number of local streets given names associated with Henry VIII who was alleged to have used a hunting lodge on nearby Newington Green. Until 1877 the road like many others in London was divided into a number of blocks or terraces each given its own name by the developers and many streets were renamed around then to end this confusion.

I’m not sure when Marmel & Grossmith set up their hat factory here, but in 1940 they had a hat factory at 159 Commercial St, Whitechapel. I don’t know when hat production ended in Boleyn Road, though the fly-posting suggests the works was no longer in use. The 33 flat Dalston Hat apartments into which the factory was transformed bear little resemblance to it but have an entrance marked by a giant top hat.

*Cambay Ltd, Alpha House, Tyssen St, Dalston, Hackney, 1988 88-10a-25*

Alpha House was on Tyssen St which runs north from Dalston Lane, just to the south of where it bends 90 degrees to the east until 2014, although around 2010 the signs for Cambay Bags Luggage & Travel Goods were replaced by those for Cyclone Design Lab. The new flats have solicitors offices on the ground floor.

I was attracted by the confusion of notices and also by the pictures of a large bag, and on the van, a man perhaps cleaning a car.

Dalston Lane, Dalston, Hackney, 1988 88-10a-12-Edit_2400 — *Dalston Lane, Dalston, Hackney, 1988 88-10a-12*

Back on Dalston Lane there was a photographer’s shop window, something I always stop and have a look in. . The most interesting part to me was a framed selection of 16 passport pictures (with a label stating PASSPORTS in case we were not sure), which I thought gave a good representation of the local community.

Navarino Mansions, Dalston Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10a-15-Edit_2400 — *Navarino Mansions, Dalston Lane, Hackney, 1988 88-10a-15*

Walking towards Hackney I went past Navarino Mansions built in 1885 by the Four Percent Industrial Dwellings Society as 300 flats for Jewish workers from the East End. The architect, Nathan S.Joseph, set new standards for social housing in creating a building that was in finest style of the era as well as providing for the time high standards of provision.

Still owned in 1986-92 by the same organisation, then called simply the Industrial Dwellings Society [IDS] they were treated to a major refurbishment in 1986 to bring them up to modern standards, including the provision of lifts and new gardens in the courtyards and providing more spacious family accommodation.

House, St Mark's, Church, Colvestone Crescent, Dalston, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-61-Edit_2400 — *House, St Mark’s, Church, Colvestone Crescent, Dalston, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-61*

I think I continued my walk back towards Dalston, probably going along Ridley Road – I liked going to the market there, though seldom took photographs – and turning up St Mark’s Rise with the intention of photographing St Mark’s Church which is a prominent local landmark – sometimes called the ‘Cathedral of the East End’, it is one of the largest parish churches in London and used once to have over 2,000 attending its Sunday services.

The church is Grade II* listed, with a nave by Chester Cheston Junior built in 1864-6 and its distinctive tower by Edward Lushington Blackburne added in 1877-80. The area around was developed in the 1860s as housing for the wealthier middle class who worked in the City.

Vine's Biocrin Ltd, Clarence Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-52-Edit_2400

Vine’s Biocrin Ltd, 111, Clarence Rd, Lower Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-52

You can still buy a range of Vine’s Biocrin hand sanitiser, oils and creams although I think the original company, incorporated in 1937 for the “Manufacture of soap and detergents – Manufacture and wholesale of toilet preparations ” was dissolved around 2000.

The products, apparently still largely made for hairdressers, are now made elsewhere as this small factory has been replaced by flats, although the building part shown at the left is still there, now Capital Die-Stamping and The Hill Church at “Holy Anointing Christian Centre Where All Yoke Are Broken By The Anointing.” I don’t know if Vine’s make an anointing oil.

Kenninghall Rd, Hackney Downs, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-54-Edit_2400 — *Kenninghall Rd, Hackney Downs, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-54*

I think this is De Vere Court at 63 Kenninghall Road, but if so the details on the impressive porch have been lost presumably in the conversion to 14 flats. Their are other impressive porches on the street but the brickwork around the first floor windows is unusual.

Hollywood Studios, Upper Clapton Rd, Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-56-Edit_2400 — *Hollywood Studios, Upper Clapton Rd, Clapton, Hackney, 1988 88-10b-56*

The Lea Bridge Tramway Depot at 38-40 Upper Clapton Road was built in the Victorian era for horse-drawn trams, opening in 1873, and remains, its future under much doubt, as one of the few remaining examples of a Victorian horse-drawn tram depot in London.

The existence of the trams, taking people to work in the City and the West End until 1907 drove the development of a thriving suburb in Clapton. Until recently many of the buildings were in use by a range of businesses who were forced to quit after planning permission was given for this locally listed building to be demolished and the site redeveloped in 2011. Statutory listing was refused in 2005, probably because of English Heritage’s snobbish lack of interest in our industrial past. Hollywood Studios was a rehearsal room and recording studio used by groups including Iron Maiden occupied a part of the buildings for a few years from 1983.

My walk around Clapton in 1988 will continue in a later post.

We Need A New Party

We Need A New Party: If you spend any time thinking about politics in the UK you are likely now to be feeling pretty depressed. We don’t really just need a new party, we need a new system and particularly a new system of voting. First past the post is long past its use-by date.

First past the post (FPTP) was designed to give stable government and also to provide a firm bond between the voters in their constituencies and parliament via their MP. But that is a bond which has in many areas been broken by the actions of the two main parties, particularly in the imposition of party candidates against local opinion. But FPTP has also led to the development of a political class whose experience, aims and interests are often very different to those of the people they supposedly represent.

We Need A New Party - Adam Clifford — *Westminster candidate Adam Clifford speaks in front of Buckingham Palace gates*

Our geographical constituencies also lead to inequalities in the representation of voters, some simply a matter of the ways that populations have grown up around centres of employment, but also the party influences on the drawing of boundaries.

We’ve also seen, particularly since the 1970s, a central government that has increasingly hobbled the activities of local government, with some disastrous effects, particularly over the provision of social housing. The abolition of the GLC was perhaps the most public expression of Westminster’s disdain. Devolution in recent years has done something to reverse this, though not in the English regions, and the introduction of directly elected mayors has largely been ineffectual (and sometimes poisonous.)

We Need A New Party - Ian Bone — *Ian Bone of Class War*

Attempts to form new parties to challenge the rule of Conservative and Labour have been largely unsuccessful, as although the Green Party may have achieved 2.7% of the vote in the 2019 it only ended up with one MP, rather than the 17 an equal election system would have given. There have been many proposals for a better voting system and some which better retain the link between the the elected representative and a local area. But perhaps we need to go further, taking steps that remove the idea of a political class. We should get the continuity of government that we need from a professional and non-political civil service, not from representatives who feel they have a right to continue in office year after year until they become senile.

Labour did offer the electorate a choice in both 2017 and 2019 – and came close to winning in 2017, defeated largely by the actions of party officials and right-wing Labour MPs. Since then the party has lost much of its membership income and has moved towards being a party financed by wealthy individuals, losing much of its connections with the grass roots. It seems to be aiming at becoming a Tory clone in order to win back voters who deserted it over Brexit in 2019.

Perhaps a new party will emerge from those Labour grass roots and others on the left for our next election, and there are some areas where it could become popular, particularly if Labour put up candidates in opposition to currently serving left Labour MPs as seems likely. But it seems unlikely to gain the kind of support that would allow it to challenge the system.

Possibly if Labour continue on their current dysfunctional path they will create a new ‘Livingstone moment’ by de-selecting their former leader. It might just shake him out of his life-long dedication to the party enough to stand under a new label, and given his popularity and record as a constituency MP he would almost certainly win. It could be the spark which ignites a new politics nationwide.

A new party won’t of course be Class War, who became a political party for the 2015 general election, standing in seven constituencies. As I wrote, “None expected to get many votes, but it was an opportunity to generate some interest in working class attitudes and issues. And Class War and its candidates and policies certainly attracted far more media attention than the various small left wing groups who stood candidates.”

Class War had a manifesto, with six simple points:

Double Dole,
Double Pension,
Double Other Benefits,
50% Mansion Tax,
Abolish the Monarchy,
Abolish all Public Schools.

UK benefits are mean, and state pensions probably the lowest in Europe, so calling for massive rises makes a lot of sense. And if you want to tackle the class system in the UK then abolishing the monarchy and public schools is certainly a good start. The mansion tax may seem a little excessive, but what we really need is a land tax, though perhaps at a rather lower level. But somehow that didn’t come to mind when the manifesto was being written on the short walk from the pub to a Poor Doors protest.

Class War – and others including the Monster Raving Loony Party, Count Binface and Lord Buckethead – at least make our general elections more interesting, adding a little fun. And I sometimes think they would have made a better job – as Lord Buckethead claimed – at negotiating Brexit than Theresa May and particularly than Boris Johnson.

The manifesto launch took place at Buckingham Palace, where Westminster candidate Adam Clifford was refused entry to canvas the 31 voters registered there, and was filmed by a team from BBC News although I don’t know if any of it was ever broadcast. The event ended when police began to take rather too much interest in what was taking place.

More pictures at Buck Palace Class War Manifesto Launch.