Clapton Pond Blog

Pond Memories

A reader writes:

I went to Millfields [school] back in the '50s and my brother did too during the war years. On their website I also saw your blog, which led me to your Clapton Pond blogsite. It's interesting what you can find on line. We used to live in Powell Road behind what used to be the Ritz cinema. My brother was back in England earlier this year and found the cinema's no longer there. I now live in California and my brother lives in Ottawa, Canada but I remember growing up in Clapton and I remember the Pond. From pictures I've seen it looks like it's been cleaned up. My brother actually fell in the Pond when he was a kid!

Thanks for such a lovely letter. And should you - or anyone else - wish to revive the former Ritz cinema*, you could start by signing here. 

UPDATE: But it wasn't the Ritz, was it, Dave? It was the Kenning Hall. Sign up anyway, though. 

Film Treat: The Big Smoke

If you saw the British Film Institute's compilation of old documentary film footage of London when it was shown in our local St John's Ambulance Hall the other week - part of that Clapton celebration day - you might want to see the full 90 minute version of The Big Smoke at the Rio in Dalston tomorrow afternoon. In fact, come to think of it, you might want to see it even if you didn't see the short version. It's eye-opening stuff, capturing scenes and citizens from the capital between 1896 and VE Day. The longer version, I'm told, contains quite a lot of material from Hackney. Tickets are £5 and £3 (concessions). There will be an introduction by the BFI's James Taylor and a question and answer session. You can book in advance here.  

  

The Future Of Pond House

The Pond House Group writes:

A developer is proposing to convert an important historic heritage building in the Clapton neighbourhood. The late Georgian villa in question (c.1800) is within the Clapton Pond conservation area. Please take a minute to sign the Pond House petition and to complete the survey. Your views will help us to define a community driven vision for this local Grade II* listed villa and adjacent Grade II listed stables at 162 Lower Clapton Road, E5. Your ideas could form a foundation for an alternative future for the Pond House.

We are aiming to collect 1000 signatures before the 5th of May. The petition will be delivered to the Planning and Conservation authorities. There is a link to a page on the Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action Group (CPNAG) site below the petition statement, which describes the proposed development in more detail. Please forward this message onto your neighbours and local friends.

Sign the petition here, take part in the survey here.

The Little Old Gazette

Taken at the London Transport Museum. Those were the days.

Silence In Trafalgar Square

You'll remember why.

Abney Park: Home Of The First School Bus?

Apparently....

"The first school bus was horse-drawn, introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer for a Quaker school at Abney Park in Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom and was designed to carry 25 children."

Now have fun with papercraft. No, really.

The Hackney Society & Pond House

Lisa Rigg is a local resident and Development Officer of the Hackney Society. She's been in touch trying to attract new members, promising "the renaissance, revival, restoration and regeneration of the society, which has been going for 40 years. Click here to find out about upcoming events - including one on Thursday - and here to find out how to join. Lisa also brings to my attention two buildings whose future the Society is concerned about. One is the Lansdowne Club on Mare Street. The other is Pond House, which goes under the hammer on Monday. This morning someone remarked to me that it would be a good idea to ask Strettons to provide a viewing. Any volunteers? And if you take pictures, be sure to send them to me. I'd love my readers to see how it looks inside.

Holocaust Memorial Day

From 24dash.com:

"A ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day has been held at Hackney Town Hall to mark the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945. The ceremony was also aimed at remembering the victims of more recent genocides and discrimination. It was led by the Speaker of Hackney, Councillor Faizullah Khan.

He said: 'Holocaust Memorial Day provides a focus to think about the continuing repercussions of the Holocaust, more recent genocides and the issue of exclusion within our society. It is intended to encourage everyone to remember the victims of the Holocaust, of all Nazi racial and social persecution, more recent genocides, and of discrimination and hate crimes in Britain today.'"

Very moving. Very Hackney. Read more here.

Stalin In Hackney

No, not lately. It was in 1907, apparently.

Hackney Heritage Week

Did you know that Hackney Heritage Week is to be launched at the Museum on Thursday evening at 6.30? Neither did I until this morning. And that's about all I know about it except that it includes a series of historic walks through Lower Clapton. Click here for an excellent audioguide to these. I'll give you more on the Heritage Week if and when I get it.