Eastside Community Heritage

Event:
Reminiscence session for Sterling Works employees

Venue:
Wantz Library, Rainham Road North, RM10 7DX

A reminiscence session will be held for former employees of the Sterling Works factory in Rainham Road. The factory produced the famous Sterling Telephone in the early 1900s, in WW2 it was turned into an armaments factory and produced the Sterling sub-machine gun, used by the British Army. The factory finally closed down in 1985. In its heyday during the war 1,600 people, both men and women, worked at Sterling.

Do you remember the Wapping Dispute?
We are collecting and recording memories of the 1986 – 87 strike against the sacking of over 5,000 print workers by News International. The strike was pivotal for both the printing industry and the British union movement. Were you a print worker, a News International employee, a trade unionist, a demonstrator or a resident of Wapping?
Do you remember the days of Fortress Wapping if so contact email office@ech.org.uk or will@ech.org.uk

A search is on for former employees of the South Metropolitan Gas Company to help uncover the hidden stories of the people who made the company what it was. Eastside Community Heritage is looking for people who worked at the Company to share their memories at a reunion to take place at Greenwich Heritage Centre on Friday 8th January 2010.

Where: Greenwich Heritage Centre, Artillery Square, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, SE18 4DX
When: 10.30 am, Friday 8th January 2010
Who to contact: Judith Garfield, (office@ech.org.uk, 0208 553 4343) or Claire Days (claire@ech.org.uk, 0208 553 4343)

On 19th March we held a meet-up at Greenwich Heritage Centre for people who have been interviewed during the first year of the Working Lives of the Thames Gateway project.

This was an opportunity for interviewees to meet and share memories with people from different industries. It also gave people a chance to tell us what they think of the project and have their say about what should happen to their interviews. There was an excellent turnout of 26 people and we gained lots of useful feedback that will influence what we do in year 2 of the project.

Eastside were thrilled to be awarded Highly Commended at LMA's recent Archive Landmark Awards. Our entry showcased the Working Lives project at the end of year one. Thank you to everyone who has helped with the project.