Residents of all ages have been sharing their memories of Leyton in a new exhibition at Vestry House Museum.
Across the Divide – Voices from the Heart of Leyton has used these recollections to help chart the transition of the area from open fields to the present day urban housing developments, and encourage a better understanding of the area’s history among its inhabitants.
The project was carried out by the housing trust London and Quadrant, and the reminiscence arts charity Age Exchange, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Much of the project focuses on the Beaumont Estate, which was recently redeveloped from 1960s tower blocks to low-rise 21st Century housing.
Madeleine Adams, from Age Exchange, says: “It’s been a dramatic regeneration of one place over a century and a half. The area has been utterly transformed.”
Madeleine adds that the Beaumont Estate had seen crime and anti-social behaviour problems in recent years, as well as deterioration of the buildings.
“Once the maintenance of the buildings broke down the community friendliness broke down,” she says. “There wasn’t a lot of support from the local council.”
However, she adds: “We found there was a sense of loss for the three megalithic blocks. Most people have really good memories of living there.”
Section one of the exhibition deals with the early transition of the area from fields to terraced streets, a period beyond living memory that few people in the area knew about before the project started.
The second section covers the period 1930-1960, and draws on the memories of those who lived in the terraced streets.
Section three covers 1960-2003, from when government slum clearances resulted in the building of the tower blocks.
The fourth section, called Crossing the Divide, looks at the modern housing and its residents’ hopes for the future. It also involved a group of Year Ten students from George Mitchell School, who took part in a theatre production based on the project.
One of the project’s main aims was to build new relationships between people of different generations and cultures within today’s community.
Age Exchange’s artistic director, David Savill, says: “It’s been really exciting. It’s intergenerational, with old people having the opportunity to work with school children.
“We hope it will make people more interested in the community.”
Across the Divide – Voices from the Heart of Leyton runs from January 9 to 31 at Vestry House Museum, Vestry Road, Walthamstow. Tel: 020 8496 4391, www.walthamforest.gov.uk/vestry-house
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