Race off to Vestry House Museum this weekend, for your last chance to see Katherine Green’s photo exhibition about Walthamstow greyhound stadium. Our much-loved dog track is, like so many local treasures, standing sad and empty now. “Going to the Dogs” is a wonderfully evocative look at the closing days of a venue that defined Walthamstow for more than 70 years.
To find out more, come to a talk by the photographer at 12 noon on Saturday 28 November at Vestry House. Her enthusiasm is enough to inspire even those who never went to the dogs.
The museum itself, in Vestry Road, is a lucky survivor. Located in a former workhouse in the heart of Walthamstow, it tells the story of the borough’s changing times, and is a repository of local history and knowledge. Yet it was one of the sites targeted by the council’s Cultural Cull in 2007, when the arts and leisure budget was drastically cut. A passionate campaign called Antiscrap was launched to save Vestry House and the William Morris Gallery, and managed to prevent some of the major threatened losses.
Walthamstow greyhound stadium was closed when its owners sold it to housing developers. But as with the Granada/EMD cinema, its fate is in the hands of Waltham Forest council. The owners need council permission for change of use. The council could easily refuse this on the very reasonable grounds that an already crowded area needs to keep its employment and leisure facilities.
A consortium has already been formed to reopen the dog track for entertainment. It just needs the council to stand up for the people it represents, and refuse to let this iconic site become a cramped housing development.
Meanwhile, enjoy “Going to the Dogs” – a Walthamstow tradition seen through the sympathetic eye of a local photographer who turns everyday life into art and history.
* “Going to the Dogs” exhibition on till Sunday 29 November at Vestry House Museum, open 10am-5pm. Talk at 12 noon, Saturday 28 November.
* Save Our Stow campaign, http://saveourstow.wordpress.com
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