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Local Heroes - Your streets were their streets Local Heroes - Your streets were their streets

The names of 197 local men who lost their lives in World War I are
inscribed on the bells of the Memorial Community Church in Plaistow. They are our local heroes

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Local Heroes: First World War Stories project

By Philippa

In 2014, to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, a new project took place to explore the stories of people from Plaistow during the war, particularly those named on the Memorial Bells and their families.

A series of creative workshops taught family history research skills to find out more about some of the men named, then developing ideas and sharing them through writing and art. One set of workshops took place for all of year 6 at Kaizen Primary School, after their SATS exams in June and as part of a cross-curricular focus on the First World War. Year 7 students from Oasis Academy Silvertown had their turn in September, and over the summer a group of mainly older people joined in a series of workshops held at the church building.

A researcher, an artist and a writer led the different workshops, which resulted in an evening of performance, an exhibition in the church building’s Tower Gallery and a local history walk on Heritage Open Day. The new information discovered about some of the men from the bells has been added to this website, and you can see a gallery of writing and artwork here.

The project was funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

 

 

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