Stairway to Heaven Memorial Trust
Registered Charity Number 1118618
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Bethnal Green Tube Disaster 1943.
On 3 March 1943 a crowd of people entered Bethnal Green tube station which was used at the time as an air-raid shelter. After the searchlights went on and an anti-aircraft battery a few hundred yards away in Victoria Park launched a salvo of a new type of anti-aircraft rockets the crowd surged forward. Someone tripped on the stairs causing many others to fall. 300 people were crushed into the stairwell within a few seconds, 173 of them died and over 90 were injured. The worst civilian disaster of the 2nd World War. |
| Full planning permission has now been granted by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for the Memorial to be built. Now all we need to do is raise the money.
Details of how to donate to the trust are given at the bottom of this page and on the 'Appeal / Donations' page. If you have any additional fund raising ideas please let us know. |
posted: 11 March 2010
BARBARA WINDSOR LIFTS MORALE AT THE 67TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BETHNAL GREEN TUBE DISASTER
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Barbara Windsor kept up morale for the survivors and relatives of those who died in the worst civilian disaster of the 2nd World War when she joined with the Pearly Kings & Queens in an impromptu knees up and sing-song on the steps of St. John on Bethnal Green church on Sunday 7th March.
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Barbara was there with her husband Scott Mitchell to lay her own wreath to the people of Bethnal Green who suffered so much during the War.
The church was packed with survivors, relatives of those who died and local people who just wanted to know more. They found the Service, conducted by Rector Fr. Alan Green, Rev. Stuart Lee and Rev. Fiona Green, moving and comforting. The names of all 173 victims were read out by some of the trustees of the Stairway to Heaven Memorial Trust in front of the altar where 173 candles shone out as a reminder of their loved ones.
The secretary of the charitable trust, Sandra Scotting, asked the congregation to help them raise the remaining £450,000 to erect the Stairway to Heaven Memorial as quickly as possible, as time is not on the side of the survivors due to their age. She asked if anyone had a few tons of high quality bronze they did not want or if they knew any bankers with bonuses playing on their consciences!! The trustees and supporters have worked tirelessly to raise funds in the last year, especially W. English & Son, funeral directors in Bethnal Green Road, who have raised over £11,000 in the last year. However, it is now accepted that outside help is required from local businesses and various funds and hopes that they will climb on board with sponsorship or donations for the sake of the heritage of East London in time for the Olympics. The charity trustees are now applying for lottery grants to help move the funds closer to their target.
After the Service relatives laid flowers and wreaths on the railings above the staircase leading down to Bethnal Green tube station, where everyone had died. Barbara Windsor laid her lovely arrangement of white roses and other white & green flowers. She signed her card ‘With all my love Barbara Windsor’. Fr. Alan Green then gave the blessing and white doves were released by a little girl who had to persuade them to fly from the white basket. Everyone then returned to the church for an exhibition about the disaster and refreshments provided by the beigel shop in Brick Lane, the local Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s stores.
American historian Sean Dettman, who now lives in Bethnal Green, was on hand to sign copies of his book “The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster – A Stairway to Heaven”. It includes interviews with survivors and relatives and also uncovers many government papers from before, during and after the event. It is available to purchase for £9.99 at W. English & Sons, 464a Bethnal Green Road, E2, and at LXV books, 65 Roman Road, E2, East Side Books, Brick Lane or through the charity’s websitewww.stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org.
That morning there had been considerable coverage about the disaster with interviews from some of the trustees on BBC Radio London’s Leslie Joseph programmer and later in the evening the Service was shown on the BBC’s regional London news at 6pm and 10pm.
Some pictures of the day can be found on the 65th Memorial page
posted: 5 March 2010
Book signing.
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A picture of Sean Dettman signing books at EastSide Books.
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Our thanks to East Side Books in Brick Lane for organising such a great event on Saturday 27th February to launch the book. Sean was able to sign copies and Margaret McKay gave a very emotional account of her mother Ellen Ridgway who died in the disaster, but Margaret, as a 6 months old baby, is a survivor. Margaret has been trying to trace people who might have known her mother, who lived in Bethnal Green at the time, as she knows so little about her.
Babs Clark also spoke about her luck at surviving the tragedy because she just missed a bus and was therefore near the top of the pile. Had she caught the earlier bus she probably would not be here to tell the tale.
Sean's book includes many interviews with surivors and people involved in the accident at the time, as well as relatives of the victims who were able to report the circumstances in which their loved ones died. Sean has also uncovered many government and local authority records to tell the full story of what really happened before, during and after the event. We thank him very much for all his help, patience and hard work in producing the book for us. All profits will go to the charity.
Copies will be on sale for £9.99 at the Memorial Service. You can also e-mail via the website for more details of where and how you can buy a copy. They will still be on sale at East Side Books in Brick Lane and other local shops will follow suit soon. English's will also have a stock from the middle of March at 464a Bethnal Green Road.
posted: 11 March 2010
STATION COLLECTION DAY
On Friday 12th March there will be a collection day at Bethnal Green
underground station. Please pop along and talk to us, put your change in the
buckets, find out more about the disaster or give us a hand. We look forward
to seeing you there.
"A LONG NIGHT IN LONDON"
The play "A long Night in London" by Bernie C. Byrne which is about the
disaster will be performed at 7.30pm on 11th, 12th and 13th March at the Network Theatre, underneath Waterloo station, next to the IMAX. Tickets can be ordered on their website and you can look up details about how to find it on www.networktheatre.org . Alternatively you can turn up on the night to buy tickets on the door. Surprisingly the play starts with a lot of humour and lovely singing. The finale is powerful and thought-provoking and is cleverly crafted. This may be your last chance to see the play performed in London, so don't miss it. Tickets are £10 each and some of the trustees of the charity will be on hand for a question & answer session at the end and with copies of Sean Dettman's book "The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster - a Stairway to Heaven' for £9.99. Snap up a first edition copy before it
goes into reprint and a possible higher price!!.
Other events are being planned in the near future and we will let you have more details as soon as they are finalised.
If you need more information about the disaster, or about any of our
fund-raising events or with fund-raising ideas, please ring Derek Spicer on
07722 162 168 or send an e-mail through this website.
Thanks
Sandra Scotting (Hon. Sec).
posted: 25 February 2010
Gladys celebrates 90th birthday at our Race Night.
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Derek Spicer presenting a bottle of champagne and
basket of flowers to Gladys who was celebrating her 90th birthday at our
race night last Saturday.
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We had a good time on Saturday night for the Race Night and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We catered for all ages from young children right up to Gladys, who was celebrating her 90 th birthday that day.
As well as enjoying ourselves we made £414.30 profit, so that was really good news too. Thank you to everyone who came along and all those who contributed raffle prizes & goods to make the evening such a success.
posted: 22 February 2010
Next English's sales.
We raised £772.36 at English’s sale on 13th Feb thanks to all the wonderful items that had been donated and the help of all the staff and our volunteers.
The next two sales days at W. English & Son, 464 a Bethnal Green Road will take place on Saturday March 20th and Saturday 24th April.
posted: 27 January 2010
Interview with Alf on Youtube.
There is an interview with Alf on Youtube that can be viewed
here.
posted: 27 November 2009
Our Christmas Fair was a great success
Our Christmas Fair on 7th November was a great success, so a big thank-you to everyone who helped out on the day and all those who donated goods and of course everyone who snapped up the bargains and participated in the tombola. Everything had been donated so, as usual, there were no costs to deduct from the money collected on the day and I'm sure you will be delighted to know that we raised a magnificent £1,161.
Our thanks as always go to Terri & Den Fitzpatrick (and their grandchildren) and David & Sue of W. English's, funeral directors, 464a Bethnal Green Road. They all work so hard to organise these sales days on their days off and the Christmas Fair was a particularly long and hard day of being on our feet, putting everything out and then clearing everything up at the end. This now brings the total raised by English's for us in the last 12 months to over £11,017. So we are extremely grateful to them all for such a wonderful effort on our behalf.
Sales days will resume on Saturday 13th February 2010, so think about buying your Valentines Day bargain presents there. In the meantime please don't throw anything away!! If you receive any unwanted Christmas gifts, clothes or other items that we can sell please take them along to English’s in the New Year including Christmassy things for next year's Christmas Fair. Just pop in to English's during the normal working weekday hours with any good quality items you have to sell and leave the rest to us. Thanks again for all your help and support this year.
posted: 27 November 2009
Canary Wharf collection day
The station collection at Canary Wharf station was a long one too from 6.30am until 8pm on Wednesday 18th November, but we had the help of Rhonda and her work colleagues at Canary Wharf who kept us plied with coffee and food, so a big thank-you to them. It was all worth the effort though as we raised £572 (and a few foreign coins) so we were delighted. Our thanks also go to Lynda and Alf who helped on the early shift (Lynda came along before work at 6.30, so that was brilliant) plus Babs, Joan, Tom and Dan. Their help was invaluable as it is a very busy station. Also thank you to all the people who came through the station and put donations into our buckets. It was a super effort all round. Thank you.
posted: 27 November 2009
Alf Morris's dance night
Alf Morris's dance night at the Hornchurch Conservative Club on 20th November was very successful. It was a great evening for those who were there and Alf, Vera and their daughter Linda, worked very hard with the catering and organisation and the event raised £900, which was really brilliant. So well done and thanks to them and to everyone who went along and joined in the singing and dancing. Remember to book your tickets early next year so that you won't be disappointed.
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
If you have any ideas or would like to run something for us please get in touch.
Coffee mornings, raffles, sponsorship events, jumble sales or basically anything you can do to raise some money, then let us know. It can just be a one-off event, you don't have to commit to doing something on a regular basis.
Remember - every little helps!!
posted: 14 August 2007
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has sent a letter of support.
Click here to read it in full.
HOW TO DONATE TO THE MEMORIAL APPEAL.
Now that we have our Registered Charity number we can accept on-line donations.
If you have any queries about fund raising please contact Derek Spicer, Fund-raising co-ordinator, tel: 07722 162 168 or 01277 372 938
info@stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org
Please make your cheques payable to "Stairway To Heaven Memorial Trust" and send them to:
Alf Morris.
56 Grosvenor Drive,
Hornchurch,
RM11 1PN
Telephone 01708 444 154
