WALTHAMSTOW: Ex-residents and enthusiasts to celebrate town's history (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

WALTHAMSTOW: Ex-residents and enthusiasts to celebrate town's history

2:35pm Wednesday 27th April 2011 in News By Daniel Binns

DOZENS of people from across the UK and Europe who are fascinated with Walthamstow will descend on the area this summer for a unique mini festival celebrating its history.

Guided tours of Walthamstow landmarks, history talks, film shows and music are among the activities being laid on for the four-day event in June, which is being organised by the Walthamstow Memories group.

The organisation is based around a website which was established ten years ago with the aim of collecting the stories of ordinary Walthamstow residents past and present.

But it is also popular for many people who have never lived in Walthamstow but are deeply interested in the area because of family roots.

One of those is Daniel Quinn, 59, who has spent most of his life living in Florence, Italy, but has an affinity with Walthamstow because his father and grandparents lived there.

Mr Quinn, who is leading the organisation of the event, said: “The main reason for my involvement is of sentimental origin.

“In a way, I feel closer to my grandparents, trying to maintain the memory alive of the place where they lived.

“And I think that many of the contributors to the website share this same feeling.”

The gathering is being held between Thursday June 23 and Sunday June 26, with tours of sites such as Walthamstow Market during the day and entertainment in the evenings at Ye Olde Rose and Crown pub.

John Knowles, 66, founded the website after a friend said he wanted to find out more about Walthamstow's history online.

He lived in Walthamstow until the age of 19 but now lives in Norwich.

“The website started off slowly but soon we started to get hundreds and hundreds of emails from people” he said.

“Typically history, especially in schools, has always been about kings and queens and battles, but there's often a gap in historical knowledge about what life was like for ordinary people.

“When people die their memories go with them, so it's important to make these records.

“Many contact us but Walthamstow's golden age of the 1940s and 1950s is an era which seems of particular interest to lots of people.”

Another person eager to see modern day Walthamstow is 72-year-old Pam Ray, who is travelling from her home in Bristol for the event.

Her grandparents used to live in the area.

She said: “It's fascinating to read about Walthamstow's history and it seems that people around the world who find the website are also delighted to know that Walthamstow is cherished by others with roots there.”

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