Local history group find a novel way to stay in touch in pandemic
19 April 2021
Make it stand out.
Unable to get together in 2020, a community history group in London’s EC1 found a way to connect by making a film capturing pre- and post-WWII testimonies from group members .
The film, After the War; Finsbury Stories, was produced by St Luke’s Community History Group and focuses on the Finsbury area of Islington – the much-loved local area they have lived in for all of their lives.
The film, After the War; Finsbury Stories, was produced by St Luke’s Community History Group and focuses on the Finsbury area of Islington – the much-loved local area they have lived in for all of their lives.
Finsbury was a standalone borough council until 1965 and the group members - now mostly in their 80s - talk about the innovative housing and health projects developed by the go-ahead council during the 1930s and 40s. The film also features their recollections of life in Finsbury during the Blitz including evacuation stories and their experience of hiding in air raid shelters.
Group member, David Hyams, introduces the special place that was Finsbury Borough: “Finsbury was the second most densely populated borough in London. There were 12,000 people living here and only 200 had baths in the 1920s.”
Make it stand out.
Finsbury fan and former MP for the area, Chris Smith, now Lord Smith of Finsbury, is featured in the film talking about the role of Finsbury Council in producing a forward-looking master plan for the borough that included social housing, new libraries, health centres and bathing facilities some of which were built by renowned architect, Berthold Lubetkin.
Lord Smith echoes the views of the history group when he describes the Finsbury Health Centre as a really special place, explaining: “It was the first purpose built health centre in the country. It’s an inspiring piece of architecture where the sense of light and air and spaciousness was deliberately created. The architect, Lubetkin, had this fundamental philosophy about all his work that nothing was too good for ordinary people.”
The post-war stories highlight the jobs and house-building boom which followed quickly after the war, explaining the transition to Islington council and ending with reflections on the area today where the old factories and workshops have been replaced with new businesses and yet another building boom. Now a hugely diverse area and a hipster hotspot, it’s best known for having a concentration of tech businesses leading to a new nickname for the area around Old Street - the Silicon Roundabout.
Towards the end of the film the group members reflect on the huge changes happening once again in the area. Pointing out a tower block being built next door to where he lives, group member Joseph Trotter (whose father was Mayor of the old borough) says: “That block is 42 stories high. The one next door has one and two bed apartments starting at £650,000.The old Soup Kitchen is a hotel, there are any amount of hotels along City Road now, once Moorfield’s Eye Hospital goes, that will be a hotel too. It’s unbelievable and ordinary people can’t afford to live here any more.”
The film will be shown on Together TV on Saturday 8th May at 6.45pm and repeated on Sunday 9th May at 3.00am.
Together TV is available on Freeview 82; Sky 170; Virgin Media 269 or Freesat 164
It’s also available on YouTube here.
The film was produced with kind support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Ends/
2. Photograph above shows the St Luke’s Community History Group outside the old Finsbury Town Hall in Islington. St Luke’s Community History Group was established in 2006 initially as a project to encourage people from groups who have not traditionally visited archives, libraries and museums to get involved.
For further information please contact:
Kitsy Kinane info@kitsykinane.com
Polly Mann polly.mann@wickaward.co.uk