A row of graves at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.
Hello from the heritage team here at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park! It’s been a while since we’ve posted an update and lots has happened since our Remembrance Day blog in 2019.
It’s been a challenging year for the team. The pandemic has meant a lot of unknowns for the Cemetery Park but we’ve survived! We have lots of exciting things in store over the coming months as Cemetery Park Online and heritage volunteering resume and work on our new heritage book (details tba but please get in touch if you’d like to get involved) continues.
Cemetery Park Online has been a great success. We began the talks way back in March and included everything from gravestone symbolism and London bats to growing in small spaces and policing in the park. You can find some of our talks on Youtube here. The next heritage related Cemetery Park Online will be with MA Folklore graduate Jaymie Tapsell on East End Customs and Traditions. You can book your free ticket to their talk here.
In September we welcomed our new Heritage Officer, Claire, to the team. Claire will be spending the coming year or two developing a
An angel on a headstone at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.
conservation management plan for the site (thanks to some funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund) and planning new activities to get our community more involved in the heritage of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. We hope this plan will help us to better understand our history and give us some ideas for what our future will look like as well as making the Cemetery Park more engaging and more accessible. There will be lots of opportunities to get involved over the coming months but please feel free to email Claire on claire.slack@fothcp.org for more information or to lend a hand!
Finally, our Remembrance Day ceremony this year will be virtual due to Covid restrictions. More information will be announced as soon as it is available. Keep an eye on our social media pages over the coming weeks!