Newham Council has been awarded £83K worth of funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to launch Newham Heritage Month in May 2020, with the theme this year of ‘Making Home in Newham’, to celebrate the diversity of Newham's community through hundreds of years of migration.
Newham Heritage Month will celebrate the culture and heritage of the communities that have moved to the borough over its long and rich history, right up to the present day.
The announcement was made jointly by the Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz with the National Lottery Heritage Fund at a special event at the Old Town Hall Stratford on Thursday 16 January. Attendees at the event included community groups, creative sector organisations including Bow Arts, Eastside Community Heritage and East End Women’s Museum and council and National Lottery Heritage Fund representatives.
The reception celebrated Newham’s heritage, cultural diversity and creativity by featuring live performances from local artists. National Lottery Heritage Fund announced Newham as one of their focus boroughs until 2024.
Deputy Mayor Charlene McLean, welcomed the news of Newham as a borough of focus for National Lottery Heritage funding and shared her ambition for Newham’s culture and heritage.
She said: “This is great news that will help us celebrate our diverse borough more widely. Newham Heritage Month is an opportunity for residents to enjoy where they live with cultural stories, dances, traditions and new ways of communicating. People can visit historic and listed buildings, which will open their doors and welcome visitors. We will also host a range of exhibitions to showcase our rich history.”
The funding will help boost the capacity for bigger and better events in partnership with a range of local organisations, across the month of May.
The Royal Docks Team, a joint initiative between the Mayor of Newham and the Mayor of London, have committed to £25,000 of match funding to the Newham Heritage Month.
Events in May will include exhibitions, heritage bus tours, films, walks and talks, children’s activities and more in venues across the borough. Residents can also attend activities such as reminiscence sessions with elderly residents and dance and spoken word events for young people.
To mark the 75th anniversary of VE day and the end of World War II on May 8th 2020, Newham Heritage Month will, throughout May, host reminiscence sessions with Newham residents who remember the end of WWII and exhibitions to share the memories of this important point in history. The dawning of two World Wars had a particular impact in east London which lost thousands of soldiers and was badly bombed, because of the Docks and transport links which were a major target for aerial bombing.
National Heritage Lottery Fund will now support more Newham organisations with workshops, guidance and special initiatives to access funding and are calling on organisations and interested groups to recognise and celebrate their heritage.
National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Stuart McLeod (Area Director, London and South) said: “Newham is one of the most dynamic and diverse boroughs in London. It has so much important heritage that defines its sense of place and sense of community. Our commitment to working with the borough’s many organisations and groups is all about unlocking the potential that this heritage has to improve opportunities for local people”