Story of London at the Docklands Museum

Throughout June the Museum of London Docklands will engage in the Story of London Festival by holding a variet of events that help celebrate the capital's history. Highlights include:-

Saturday 6th June - 10.30am to 12:30pm

Pearly Kings to Kingsley Hall

For those of you prepared to go a bit off the beaten track, discover the under-visited area of Bromley-by-Bow with Blue Badge Guide, Rachel Kolsky. Hear the wonderful variety of history and stories from Suffragettes, almshouses to royal hunting lodges. We end the walk with a visit and tour of Kingsley Hall hearing of its associations with Doris and Muriel Lester, who both worked tirelessly for the community, and Mahatma Ghandi who chose to stay in this area during his visit to London in 1931.

Fee: £8 - advanced booking required.

Thursday 11th June - 1.10pm to 2:10pm

The Blackest Streets: The life and death of a Victorian slum

In her latest book 'The Blackest Streets', Sarah Wise reconstructs how life was really lived in the Old Nichol, a notorious 15-acre slum in London's East End with a reputation for criminality, disease and dilapidation so bad that in 1887 government inspectors were sent in to report. The 'Blackest Streets' received widespread critical acclaim: "A revelatory book... scrupulously researched and eye-opening". - John Carey, Sunday Times "An excellent and intelligent investigation of the realities of urban living that respond to no design or directive. All is chaos, accident and randomness. This is a book about the nature of London itself." - Peter Ackroyd, The Times.

No fee

Saturday 13th June - 10.30am to 5.00pm

Immigrants all - the peopling of London's docklands

A study day exploring the many different communities from the UK and round the world who have lived and worked in and around London's docks.

Fee: £15/£10 concessions - advanced booking required.

In partnership with University of East London

Sunday 21st June - 2.00pm to 4.00pm

London in film

An afternoon of old and new films about London. Includes showing of new film 'A13: Road Movie' and archive film from London's Screen Archives.

No fee

Thursday 25th June - 1:10pm to 2.00pm

Dockers and detectives

In the 1980s social historian Professor Ken Worpole interviewed a number of well known writers and political activists in London's East End, such as Simon Blumenfeld, Alexander Baron, Jack Dash, on how they had mythologised the area in their books and political writings. Here he talks about that making of East End mythology and, for the first time, plays extracts from those recordings. Ken Worpole is the author of many books on architecture and social history, including Dockers & Detectives (2008).

No fee

For more information about these events visit the Museum's website. For more information about the Story of London visit the website (both open in a new window).