Newham Heritage Month 2025 Projects Announced

The fascinating projects for Newham Heritage Month 2025 are announced today, spanning from skateboarding and Bollywood culture, to trade union activism and trailblazing women in the workforce. The festival is made by Newham’s communities, for Newham’s communities and has been made possible thanks to a generous grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Marking the 60th anniversary of the creation of the London Borough of Newham, this year’s theme is ‘Newham at 60: A Borough Like No Other’, celebrating the people and places that have made Newham the unique borough that it is.

The popular festival will return for its sixth year in September, celebrating everything that has contributed to the borough’s development over time, from outstanding individual members of the community, to special places across the borough, activist movements, creative minds and iconic moments.

The selected projects will research both the borough’s period of change from the Essex county boroughs of East Ham and West Ham to Newham and stories from further back in the area’s history, drawing links to Newham in the present.

The fourteen projects selected for Community Grant Funding are:

60 years of Newham in Motion – Skate Newham

Skate Newham plans to research and celebrate Newham’s skateboarding past, creating a new outdoor exhibition at the borough’s only skatepark. The project will also provide free skating workshops for young people to build awareness of the sport.

Bells and Whistles – Art in the Docks

Bells and Whistles will connect the dockland community in Newham today with that at the time the borough was created. Through a range of art workshops on the theme of ‘arrivals and departures’, residents will share their own stories while learning about the Royal Docks at the height of their operations.

Between Two Worlds: Tamil lives in Newham – Swetha Mathanamohan

This project seeks to preserve and disseminate the rich history of Newham’s Tamil community through film, storytelling workshops and creative activities. Between Two Worlds will share stories often overlooked in historical records, from migration journeys to cultural traditions.

Building Community through Food: Wentworth Newland “Watch and Learn” – Immediate Theatre

The story of Wenty’s Tropical Foods in Upton Lane, opened in 1986 by Wentworth Newland will form the focus of Immediate Theatre’s festival project. The team will work with Wenty’s family and Manor Park Senior Club to capture oral histories that inform an exhibition and podcast celebrating the shop’s history.

The Desi Legacy of Green Street – Revive FM

This project will create a documentary film on how Green Street became the heart of the South Asian community in East London. The interviews recorded will also inform a podcast series.

Drawing on Heritage – Rabbits Road Press

Exploring Newham’s art and design heritage through postcards, this project is inspired by the work of Madge Gill and the Arts and Crafts movement. Four artists will be commissioned to create a set of risograph-printed postcards that respond to different aspects of the borough’s past.

Green Street, Newham, 90’s & noughties Bollywood, music & memories – WIILMA

Capturing the importance that Green Street played as a destination for Bollywood culture in the 1990s and 00s through cassettes, VHS tapes, and magazines. In addition to collecting material and interviews, the project will organise singing and art workshops that will lead up to a spectacular closing performance.

Inspector of Nuisances – GROW Studios (at Alice Billing House)

Inspector of Nuisances explores the story of the woman whose name was given to the building that houses Grow Studios – Alice Billing, who was West Ham’s first woman sanitation inspector. An open call will engage an artist to interpret this research alongside public workshops and an exhibition.

It Takes a Village; how Caribbean community spaces helped to raise & shape us – Cold Islanders

At the time of Newham’s creation, community spaces were inaccessible to the newly arrived Caribbean community. It Takes a Village will research and share how the community has carved out spaces for itself across the borough, delivering workshops, recording oral histories and creating an exhibition and film showcasing their findings.

Ruminations from Newham City Farm – Alison McLucas

Opened in 1977, Newham City Farm was a much-loved part of the borough’s community until its recent closure. The project will capture the site & history through oral histories and the development of an exhibition.

The Lesbians of Forest Gate – Emily Wollenberg

Collecting the lived experience of the wider lesbian community of Forest Gate, the project will use these first-person stories as the inspiration for a brand-new play. Interviews will be recorded with people who have made Forest Gate a unique place
through activism, art and more, which will inform the theatre piece.

The Story of Newham Academy of Music – Community Albums

Documenting the impact of the Newham Academy of Music on the borough’s creative landscape. The project will create a public archive and exhibition from oral and written histories, photographs, recordings and other documents collected from alumni and former teachers, as well as a short film focusing on composer Shirley Thompson OBE.

The Workers United – Deborah Peck

Research into the borough’s history of activism will form the basis of a new play focusing on the 1889 strike at Silver’s factory in Silvertown. The ultimately unsuccessful strike, involving figures such as Eleanor Marx and Will Thorne, would go on to influence the development of the hugely influential new unionism movement.

Turtles of Newham: A sonic & visual journey through time – Art Beyond The Shell

Combining film, music, oral histories, art and photography to explore Newham’s impact on musical subcultures, culminating in a digital exhibition and documentary film.

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Anyone wanting to take part in the projects can email newhamheritagemonth@newham.gov.uk.

Newham Heritage Month, generously funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, is organised by Newham Council.