Somers Town History Club
A workshop held about Somers Town Heritage had a great turnout of over 30 and a clear message – it’s a unique heritage, with not only the oldest local buildings, but also social laboratory of social reformers, radical thinkers and a “patternbook of social housing”. We are looking forward to anther workshop in early 2019 […]
The real meaning and origin of Halloween, ‘Hallow tide’, its pagan origins, links in Day of the dead, funerals and the movement of graves was covered in November’s event. With a quiz, an enlightening talk by warden Racheal from Old St Pancras Church, and a history from Andrew from Levertons, the longstanding family of local undertakers to Princess […]
This week’s talk on housing and squatting in Somers Town was thought-provoking – thanks to Esther Leslie’s meticulous research we had rare archival material, Pathe films of post-war squatting, all of which gave context to what happened here. There were first-hand accounts by those who squatted here – in fact, two ex-squatters were reunited after 30 years. […]
Our event on the rent strike brought stories from those who experienced it first hand – always fascinating but, in this case, spell-binding as we heard about barricades, battles and bottles being thrown, and police with batons attacking protestors. A film was shown for the first time with recordings of the protestors, including Cllr Roger Robinson, […]
Frankenstein, Shelley and Literary friends on the 3rd August was our best attended event and the sun came out! Thanks to the thrilling accounts from tour guide Lester Hillman, social historian Deborah Lanvin, Jaimie Denholm and academic Esther Leslie, we learnt that body snatching, radical thought, women’s rights had their origins right here in Somers Town – and lots about Godwin, Wollstonecraft, […]
Over 20 of us gathered round Basil Jellicoe’s picture for old-school storytelling in a ‘Bring your photo and tell a story’, with Cllr Robinson opening the session Wednesday June 1st. There were some surprises – who knew there’d been a Tory MP in the area? And that most homes had pianos from a local Italian supplier? […]
What a turnout! Nearly 50 people came for the talk by author Malcolm Holmes.
What a great launch with Cllr. Roger Robinson – and we were pleased so many heard about this and came. There were five old Somers Town Pathe newsreel films unearthed by Jaime and shown to a mix of locals, ex-locals and the interested. Storytelling and great cake followed (cheers to local cafe Pinners)! Remember it wil be […]