Harry's privy good idea. If you were visiting Exhibition Road in Kensington on Saturday 21st June you would have seen our architect Harry Paticas there. He had designed a very clever and innovative prototype of a sustainable fabric and earth toilet for Peru. There was so much interest that over a thousand people entered the structure and there was a queue waiting all day. For more information see his website www.paticas.co.uk London Marathon 2008. Raju Vaidyanathan ran the London Marathon on 13th April brilliantly and reached our stand at the 22mile point, on the way back, at 3.30pm. After that he mostly jogged the rest of the way and finished in 5.32 hours. The last 3 miles proved the most gruelling so we are very grateful to him for completing the race and send him our congratulations and sincere thanks for such a wonderful effort. I can't imagine how on earth he could fit in all the training, let alone completely the race itself, whilst still working. We are very proud of him and thank him very much. So it was a fantastic effort and we hope lots of people have sponsored him. View more pictures. If you have sponsored Raju (or still want to) please could you hand in your money as soon as possible to: Rev. Green at St. John on Bethnal Green church, or send it to Alf Morris, 56 Grosvenor Drive, Hornchurch, Essex RM11 1PN. Alternatively, please ring Derek Spicer on 07722 162 168 as he will try to meet you to collect the money at a convenient time or place. Our thanks also, to Ben who allowed us the use of the facilities at 46 East Smithfield for our stand and to those of you who made donations in exchange for some shelter from the rain on the day. London Mini-marathon 2008 Jessica Sapiano, aged 13, completed the mini marathon on the same day and came 1st in her age group, running for Tower Hamlets. It was a great effort and we are all very proud of Jessica. So a big thank-you to Jessica. She was sponsored by her friends and family. Well done and congratulations to both our marathon runners. We are very grateful for all their hard work and efforts. Please make it worth their while by sending in your sponsor money soon. Collection at Leyton Orient The collection at Leyton Orient football club on 22nd March went very well. We raised £432 (give or take a few foreign coins!!), so it was well worth braving the snow and cold. Thank you to everyone who helped out, especially Pearly King John Walters and his son Darren and sister Peggy. They made quite a spectacular show and really helped the collection. I understand they were shown on Sky TV yesterday too, so well done to them and thanks very much. Also a special thanks to the Leyton Orient football ground management for allowing us to collect on the day and to print a report in the match programme. Also to Rev. Kevin Scully for talking about the disaster to the supporters during the interval. And of course to all the supporters who contributed to the collection. We are very grateful to everyone for their help. The 65th Anniversary Memorial Service, 2nd March 2008 What a week it has been! The article in the Daily Mail on 28th February kicked things off. After that the phone didn’t stop ringing. Alf Morris, our chairman, was interviewed on TV, radio and in newspapers constantly. The rest of the committee also appeared in print and on radio in the hopes that as many people as possible knew about the upcoming anniversary. The Memorial Service on Sunday 2nd March at St. John on Bethnal Green Church was, I hope those who attended will agree, moving and comforting. There were many tears shed that afternoon, particular as the names of the 173 people were read out. I think that being Mothering Sunday made it all the more poignant. Fr. Alan Green conducted a perfect Service, judging by the reactions and comments of all those I spoke to afterwards. His Address also gave us hope and encouragement to carry on with the work of trying to erect a fitting Memorial over the steps where the tragedy occurred. Following the Service I brought people up-to-date briefly on the latest developments and fund-raising(more later)and introduced the committee members to the audience. Then Bernard Kops read from his autobiography. Bernard is a true East Ender, a prolific author, playwright and poet who has written extensively for radio and TV. He wrote the first TV programme “It’s a lovely Day Tomorrow” about the disaster in the mid 1970’s. His reading was a very moving description of the event from one who was there and felt the pain of the day and the resulting reprisals that followed. It brought spontaneous applause from the congregation. We then all walked across the road (with the traffic held at bay, thanks to the wonderful local police) and crowded around the top of the steps while everyone laid flowers and wreaths on the railings above the stairs where our loved ones died. The Last Post was played, a minute’s silence held, then Reveille - thanks to 444 (Shoreditch) Sqn Air Cadets Band (who also entertained everyone outside the church before the Servcie). Fr. Alan Green gave a blessing and then Laurel Cray let off the white doves, which we all thought was a wonderful finale to the day. The TV and still cameras continued to roll and Alf was interviewed again and photographed with Cllr. Ann Jackson, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Cllr. Joshua Peck and Andrew Rosindell (MP for Romford), who were on hand to offer their help and support (along with Andrew’s mother) and also John Biggs from the GLA. Barbara Windsor was sorry that she could not attend at the last minute as her filming schedule went on into the weekend and Len Goodman, of Strictly Come Dancing, (who lost a cousin in the disaster) had to fly to America that day, but will lend a hand when he returns. George Galloway, the local MP, had planned to attend, but was unwell on the day. However, there was a full compliment of representatives from Tower Hamlets council and Transport for London plus Commander John Ludgate (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London), Pearly Kings & Queens, and the Emergency Services who will be honoured on the memorial due to their invaluable help at the time of the disaster. Thank you all very much for joining us on such an important day for those affected by the disaster. We were particularly pleased to see so many survivors and families of those who died. It was the first time that some had visited the church since that dreadful night, when it was used as a makeshift mortuary. I know just how much courage it had taken for them to come along. I hope I have not left anyone out. Everyone was then invited back to the Church for refreshments - kindly donated by Tesco’s of Bethnal Green Road, to watch the DVD produced by Mauro Galluzzo and his fellow students at St. Mary’s college, plus the exhibitions of photographs and cuttings supplied by Doreen & Diane Kendall and the local historical society. Our thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to the day and especially to everyone who attended the Service as it was wonderful to see the church full to capacity.. We, on the committee, were very thankful for all your support, espeically with the donations given on the day which amounted to just over £1000. We hope that you all felt it was a successful day. Andrew Rosindell's Early Day Motion You may have seen something on the news over Easter about the tube disaster as Andrew Rosindell MP has put down an Early Day Motion (see below) marking and commemorating the 65th anniversary of the disaster and commending the campaign to erect the Stairway to Heaven Memorial. So if you could please phone your MP’s local office (the phone number should appear in your local telephone directory under either Labour, Conservative or Lib Dems, depending on which party your MP is), or e-mail them on their website (just Google their name) or write to them. Please ask them to sign the Early Day Motion number 1238 (for Bethnal Green tube disaster – apparently there are two with the same number !!) as that would really help us. Please do this as quickly as possible as it only lasts until the next Parliamentary recess so time is not on our side and the more signatures we receive the better for us. However if your MP is a cabinet minister they are not allowed to sign EDM’s. EDM 1238 65th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BETHNAL GREEN TUBE SHELTER DISASTER 19.03.2008 Rosindell, Andrew That this House marks and commemorates the 65th anniversary of the Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster; celebrates the 173 lives, including 62 children, that were tragically lost on 3rd March 1943 when a panicked crowd surged into the air raid shelter in the station trapping people on the stairs and causing a fatal crush; recognises and applauds the efforts and bravery of the Civil Defence Force, emergency services and local community in recovering and treating the wounded and retrieving the dead in what was the worst civilian accident of the war accounting for a third of Bethnal Green war-time civilian fatalities; and acknowledges and commends the campaign by the Stairway to Heaven Memorial Trust, notably those involved with the memorial service at St. John on Bethnal Green, in establishing a fitting memorial to commemorate the tragedy and a lasting tribute. REMEMBERANCE BOOK FOR SALE The Civil Defence Association generously produced and presented a beautiful Remembrance Book to St. John on Bethnal Green Church for permanent display there. The hard-backed book contains a description of the tragedy and lists the names, ages and last known addresses of all those who died, along with details of their parents or spouses. Thanks to Tim Essex-Lopresti and Ian Pell, the Association has produce copies of the book for sale, which will be a wonderful memento for families to keep and hand-down to future generations. There are pages at the back to place photographs and other personal details in. We still have some copies left for £30 each (plus p & p if you are too far away to collect a copy from one of the committee members). However if you would prefer to purchase copies online you can do so through Amazon or Nielsen Bookdata for £40. The charity is making a very small profit on this as we feel it is more important for families to have the opportunity to own a copy for their family history records than to raise funds this way. Please phone 07722 162 168 or e-mail info@stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org for more information. FUTURE EVENTS I’m afraid that we have been so busy helping to organise and publicise the 65th Anniversary Memorial Service that we have not had time to arrange any future fund-raising events. We, on the committee, are going to concentrate on contacting businesses, companies and individuals for donations and sponsorship in the next few weeks. If you are able to run a small coffee morning, raffle, sponsorship event, jumble sale or basically anything you can do to raise some money, then please contact me with your ideas. It can just be a one-off event, you don’t have to commit to doing something on a regular basis. I look forward to hearing more from you. MEMORIAL UPDATE We have been told by London Underground that we would not be able to proceed to build the Stairway to Heaven Memorial in the place that we have chosen, due to their health and safety concerns. The committee have therefore taken the decision to move it 3.5 meters to the left and this will hopefully allow permission to be granted at last. Transport for London and Mayor Ken Livingstone have pledged their support and willingness to engage with us to move the project forward and help us with fund-raising if we address these concerns, so hopefully this will now be forthcoming. We have had one meeting at the GLA and are waiting to find out if we have TFL’s support. However, this will mean that we have to submit a full planning application again, but with the backing of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets we hope this will not delay matters too much longer. We would dearly like to be able to tell you this time next year that the Memorial is being built. But to do that we need some more money to move the project forward. So if you can help us in any way, or know of anybody who can, please let me know. Previous fund raising events. CHARITY FUN-QUIZ NIGHT 7th DECEMBER Thank you to everyone who came along to our charity quiz night on 7th December at the Museum of Childhood. The Mayor Tower Hamlets' team won both the highest score and on the snakes & ladders board, which is quite unusual apparently. However they will be donating their prizes to another good cause, so the rest of us did not mind losing. The buffet was enjoyable and there was plenty of left-overs for everyone to take something home. We raised £491 on the evening thanks to the food, prizes and raffle items being donated, so we just had to pay for the hall hire. This was a magnificient effort on everyone's part, so a big thank-you to everyone that helped and supported us. We owe a special thank-you to our quizmaster, Richard Darlington, and his team who made it such an interesting evening and to Ken Demby who organised the raffle tickets. Also to all the helpers who produced the buffet. Thanks again to everyone for their support. ALF'S FUND-RAISING DANCE NIGHT WAS A ROARING SUCCESS Alf Morris dance night on 16th November was a great success and it raised a magnificent £765. This was mainly due to Hornchurch Conservative Club loaning the venue free of charge and Asda Supermarket in Romford for donating most of the food for the buffet. Also, many of the members of Hornchurch Conservative Club donated prizes for the raffle and the entertainer, Peter James, gave the royalties from his CD's sold on the night to the charity too. So a big 'thank you' to everyone who helped and everyone who came along on the night. It is very much appreciated. Well done to Alf and Vera who worked so hard to make it such a successful and enjoyable evening. EAST LONDON PAST FAIR The Charity had a stall at the 'East London Past' history fair on Saturday 17th November at The Shadwell Centre, 455 The Highway, E1. It was a great day and there was lots to do and plenty of people came along to find out more about the Memorial and offer their support. So thank-you to the organisers and also to all the people that stopped by on our stall. We can now accept on-line donations May 2007 Please click on this link to donate on-line John Biggs backs Bethnal Green Memorial Campaign Local Assembly Member John Biggs met and offered support to campaigners pushing for a Memorial at Bethnal Green Station Click here to read full press release. 20 February 2007. features our Memorial Appeal Click here to read the article from 11 January 2007 M.P'S Pledge their support. 11 January 2007 George Galloway M.P (Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow) has signed an Early Day motion: "That this House recalls that the worst civilian disaster in Britain during the Second World War took place on 3 March 1943 when 173 people were killed at Bethnal Green Tube station; notes the campaign by the Stairway to Heaven Memorial Group to establish a fitting memorial to commemorate the tragedy; this House congratulates the Group on its work and joins with it in calling on the Mayor of London, London Underground, Tower Hamlets Council and all relevant bodies to work with the Group to bring that about speedily, given that the station is currently undergoing refurbishment. George Galloway MP Early Day Motion in full. 8th January 2007 Andrew Rosindell MP (Conservative MP for Romford) has also sent his support: "I want to thank you for keeping me updated with this most excellent of causes which I commend you and your colleagues on. I wish you every success in your future campaigning to secure funding for a permanent memorial. Of course I support your campaign fully and would appreciate it if you could keep me updated with any future developments so that I can help, wherever possible." Letter from Andrew Rosindell MP