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: 14 July 2010
Keith Miller show.
We have now booked medium/clairvoyant Keith Miller for an evening on
Wednesday 28th July at Eastbourne House Social Club, Bullards Place, E2 0PT.
It's just off Morpeth Street (or just behind Green Street market). If you
need directions just let me know. Tickets will be £10 and need to be
reserved or bought in advance so we do not exceed numbers. English's will
have tickets sometime next week or you can book them through me by phone or
e-mail, or Derek will meet you at a convenient place if you prefer. Derek's
phone number is 07722 162 168.
posted: 14 July 2010
Next sale at English's
The next sales days will be on July 24th and August 14th.
posted: 6 June 2010
Cockney Music Hall - 31 July 2010
The next big event that you won’t want to miss will be on Saturday 31st July. John Walters, Pearly King of Finsbury, will be organising a cockney music hall for us in St. John on Bethnal Green Church, next to Bethnal Green tube station, at 7pm, with lots of Pearly Kings & Queens to help us have a really good evening. Artists appearing will include Underbling & Vow (Nanna & Rosie). You will be encouraged to sing along and also dance in the aisles!! There will be a bar for the sale of drinks – proceeds will be shared between us and the Church. Tickets will be £10 each for a great night of fun. Tickets will be limited in number, so it will be on a first come, first served basis. Let us know as soon as possible if you would like to buy tickets and we will be able to give you more info.
Apply either through the website e-mail address or phone Derek Spicer on 07722 162 16 8.
posted: 6 June 2010
Four Corners Gallery exhibition
The exhibition week at Four Corners Gallery was really pleasant and they had produced wonderful displays about the disaster, which they will give us once they are finished with them. The photos of the old East End brought back many wonderful memories and it was lovely to talk to so many people who were interested in what we are doing. We had several visits from schools in the mornings and we were able to talk to them about the disaster and each class said they would try to raise some money for us.
posted: 6 June 2010
Illustrated talk on the history of Bethnal Green
The illustrated talk by Michael Berlin about the history of Bethnal Green was absolutely brilliant. If you were unable to join us for that then you missed a real treat. We are hoping to put on a similar talk again if any of you might be interested.
posted: 6 June 2010
History of the Underground
The illustrated talk on the history of the underground by Christian Wolmar was also enlightening. I hadn’t realised that steam trains pulled underground trains when it was first built, for instance!!
It was so good of both our specialists to come along and give these talks in aid of our charity.
We raised almost £295 during the week (with donations, ticket money and sales of books, etc) including a donation from Four Corners staff as well. So we are very grateful to all their staff, to the wonderful photographers who took part in the exhibition, and to Sarah Ainslie who worked so hard to produce the display and help the photographers. Our thanks to all the volunteers who came along and helped out and participated too. It was a very rewarding week.
posted: 6 June 2010
English’s sale
The sales day at English’s on Saturday raised almost £573, so our thanks as ever to their wonderful staff as it was quite hard work because we were short of helpers on the day. However, they are running out of good quality goods to sell, so if you have anything to give us to sell please take them along to W. English & Sons, funeral directors, 464a Bethnal Green Road, during normal office hours Monday to Friday, or on the next sales day which will be on Saturday 26 th June between 10.30am and 4.30pm. Alternatively, if you need more information of suggestions for donating the goods please contact us through the website e-mail address or phone Derek Spicer on 07722 162 168. We can sell anything – bric-a-brac, good quality clothes, books, Cd’s, DVD’s, records, toys, puzzles, games, videos, pictures, china, ornaments, bags, shoes, furniture, electrical goods, children’s prams, cots, & baby things, etc. If it is in good condition we can sell anything!! Also, if you have any old broken gold or silver chains, single ear rings or broken jewellery please consider giving this to us as we are able to obtain pretty good valuations for these nowadays by putting lots together and obtaining funds based on their total weight – not through these companies that advertise on TV and in the papers, but local experts.
We understand that a play about the disaster was broadcast on Radio 4 on Wednesday 2nd June at 2.15pm.
posted: 14 May 2010
Bank Holiday weekend events report
We certainly did pick the weather for our bank holiday events on 2nd May.
Still despite the cold and the rain it was a very successful day.
We raised £56.10 at Tower Hamlets cemetery in the morning and our thanks go
to everyone there as they worked very hard to make it such a good day out.
They helped us to take photographs of some of the victims graves and if you
would like to see them please e-mail us through our website e-mail address.
Thanks also to our helpers who braved the inclement weather. I understand
that the 'Friends of the Cemetery' will be there on the 2nd Sunday each
month to help relatives find the graves of those who died in the disaster as
they have a record of all of them that are buried there. So if you did not
manage to get along on the Open Day you can go along when the 'Friends' are
there to help. If you need to know if your relative is buried there just
ask via our website's e-mail address as we have the list as well.
posted: 14 May 2010
The Pearly Kings & Queens cockney knees-up
later in the day saw everyone having
a good time in the Carpenters Arms pub, though we did feel sorry for the
Pearly Kings & Queens and their families parading along the road in the wind
and rain. They raised £116.50 in the buckets and tins, walking along the
road, and the entrance tickets for the pub event, plus the auction and
raffle, raised £1003.70. So, the total on the day from both events was
£1176.30, which was fantastic.
Our thanks go to Pearly Queen Lorraine of Tower Hamlets for organising the
pub event and all the Pearly families from north, south, east and west,
including all the young children, who entertained us and walked along
collecting money. And a really special thanks to Tony the manager/landlord
of the Carpenters Arms pub who not only allowed us to take over the pub on
the day, but added quite a bit more money to the total we raised, to round
it up, which was really brilliant of him
posted: 26 April 2010
A list of injured.
There is a new page entitled 'List of the injured' that has been compiled from Police reports of the time.
posted: 18 March 2010
BBC London News coverage.
There is a
video clip on YouTube from BBC London's coverage of the Memorial Service.
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 67th Memorial page
Make a note in your diary for next year’s Memorial Service on Sunday 6th March 2011.
posted: 29 March 2010
Sean Dettman’s book
‘The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster – a Stairway to Heaven’ is still available at £9.99. We have 100 books left to sell, so please buy up copies for your family members. They are available by post from me or from the following venues:
English’s 464a Bethnal Green Road, LXV Books at 65 Roman Road, E2 or East Side Books, Brick Lane. They are also available on Amazon, but we lose some of the profits in commission through them.
T shirt.
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We also have T-shirts for sale at £10 each from Sandra info@stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org They are good quality , pre-shrunk cotton and they help you to open conversations with people about the disaster and what we are trying to do. Click on the iamge for a closer look at the artwork.
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A long night in London
A play about the disaster “A Long Night in London ” by Bernie C. Byrne was performed at the Network Theatre, Waterloo, over a long weekend in March. It was written about the event in which 173 people died (mostly women and children) and over 90 were injured, with verbatim words from survivors. It was a cleverly crafted play and those who saw it and were connected with the tragedy found it so moving, so well acted and so powerful.
The whole evening came alive and brought home to all of us the enormity of what had happened in the disaster better than any text they might have read. The stage looked just like an underground shelter, the cast were in 1940’s costume and you would not have known it was a ‘rehearsed reading’ apart from the fact that the actors had a script sticking out of their pockets!! It was acted so well. The cast were brilliant and they had excellent singing voices too, encouraging the audience to join in with their wartime songs.
At the end of each performance there was a Q & A session and the audience were asked to talk about the disaster to their friends and family to find out if they knew anybody involved in the event. The horror of that night, which had to be hushed up at the time to prevent the enemy gaining propaganda and to keep up morale in London, had remained buried deep in side most people, which meant they could not talk about it, even today. So, many people will not even know that their relatives had been involved. There are still a number of survivors and families of those who died that have not yet come forward.
The cast and playwright have all been very supportive to those involved with the charity and the committee want to thank the Network Theatre, Bernie Byrnes and the cast for all their help, hard work and support in this venture. There was a collection undertaken each evening around the audience and this totalled £105.54, which was an extra boost too. Copies of Sean Dettman’s book about the disaster were sold, which raised further funds for the charity and there will also be some funds from the ticket sales to come. So it has been a success in so many ways.
It would be wonderful if the play could be performed again in the not too distant future so that more people could go to see it. It certainly deserves a much wider audience and recognition so if you are connected to a theatre or drama school please contact Derek Spicer on 07722 162 168 to see if you can help .
On 3rd March 2010 the rehearsed reading performance took place at the Bethnal Green library for many of the survivors and families of those who had died in the disaster. It was an entertaining play in parts and also very moving, powerful and thought-provoking. The hall was packed for the afternoon and evening performances . Following the afternoon session the cast treated us to a wartime sing-song and we discovered that they were not only very talented actors and actresses, but they had beautiful voices too.
Our thanks to everyone at Bethnal Green library for allowing us to use their wonderful upstairs hall, especially as they had to come in on their day off. We really appreciated that. Also, our thanks to the cast and to Bernie C. Byrnes for such a brilliant day.
Book launch
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A picture of Sean Dettman signing books at EastSide Books.
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Copies of “The Bethnal Green Tube Shelter Disaster of 1943 – A Stairway to Heaven” book by Sean Dettman are now on sale for £9.99 at W. English & Sons, 464a Bethnal Green Road during normal office hours (or on Saturday Sales days), at LXV Books, 65 Roman Road, and at East Side Books in Brick Lane. If you are unable to buy the books at any of these locations just send us an e-mail to info@stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org and we 'll let you know how you can obtain copies by post.
American historian Sean Dettman's book about the disaster has finally arrived. 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 survived. 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 with her sister . Had she caught the earlier bus she probably would not be here to tell the tale.
Sean's book includes many interviews with survivors 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 (after the printing costs are covered) will go to the charity.
Sandra (Hon. Sec) info@stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org
Trial Pit digging.
You might have spotted some men digging in Bethnal Green Gardens, behind all the flowers on the railings. This is actually where the Stairway to Heaven Memorial will be sited and they were checking out the soil type and also looking for the exact location of the utility pipes & cables. Their amazing water divining instrument has been far more accurate than some of the utility company drawings!!!
Once these tests have been completed & analysed it means that we will be able to give the go-ahead for the building work to start just as soon as we have enough money to erect the Memorial.
TV appearances
You should be able to watch the BBC TV News report about the Memorial Service through a link on this page of our website to YouTube.
You might also have seen Babs Clark, Derek Spicer and Sandra Scotting on the programme 'Let's Talk' presented by Ajmal Masroor (the Lib Dems prospective Parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green & Bow) on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th March on Bengali TV Channel S, which is available on SKY channel 814. Babs was able to talk about her experience as a survivor and Derek and Sandra were talking about their family members who were survivors and those who died in the disaster and also about the heritage of East London.
If you did not see the BBC1 programme 'The One Show' on Wednesday 3rd March with 3 of our survivors you may still be able to watch it again on BBC iPlayer.
English's Sales Days.
The first English's sale of 2010 went well. Despite a bitterly cold day and not so many people around, we raised £772.36 thanks to all the wonderful items that had been donated. Our thanks also go to English's staff for their hard work and dedication and all the other helpers that came in on their day off.
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: 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
