Clapton Pond<br>Neighbourhood Action Group : Heritage Book

Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action Group (CPNAG) has received an offer of grant from English Heritage towards a community heritage project focusing on the diverse community of Clapton Pond, an historic area with a complex past and present.

This outline brief defines the scope of the project.

The project will have two outputs:

- An illustrated publication;
- The same publication on the web, with the facility for local people to add to it, so that the we have an evolving record of the different heritages that live in and around the area. This will form the basis of a community archive that we hope to deposit at the local history centre. This is, however, conceived of as an open-ended project, to be built on using contacts with the schools. Note: the current Pond Works project is building links with the local schools, around the design of a teacher’s pack on the history of the area, its architecture and archaeology.

The Clapton Community Heritage Project is part of the larger Pond Words initiative, funded by the Clapton Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

CPNAG will act as the commissioning agent and be responsible for assembling manuscript and graphic material. The grant will cover professional fees and expenses (see section 5.0 for an outline budget), in addition to a fee towards the publication.

2.0 The Aim – Not another ‘heritage’ book

Preliminary research has shown that there are many publications in various forms (books, society magazines & pamphlets, the web) on the subject of the London Borough of Hackney, covering many different aspects of its history, culture and social changes – then and now.

Not all are good and not all are comprehensive. Some are fairly specialised, others little more than notes supported by a few illustrations.

There are, however, two notable omissions from the genre, and none specifically relating to Clapton, an area with a complex history, and an undeserved, poor reputation (Murder Mile):

1 A book that records the personal experiences of local people, who have diverse heritages and different voices.
2 A book that sets the contemporary ‘heritage’ profile of the local residents being set against the backdrop of an historic part of London, in other words a study where the history of the area is continuous with its present and, by implication, its future.

The intention is to fill this gap by producing a publication focusing on the history and present character of Clapton, as seen by local people, and expanded on by specialists with an understanding of the place’s past and present, not just the bricks and mortar, but the people who live here.

The booklet will be web-published, on an interactive site (CPNAG site) that will enable local people to contribute directly to the community archive, so that the Community Heritage Project is not static or fixed, but continues to grow, organically, in step with local people.

3.0 Content

3.1 A History of the Area
This would be written by local architectural and urban historians, and an archaeologist, supported by historical and contemporary illustrations, with input from English Heritage, linked to:

3.2 A Timeline
A historical and pictorial timeline punctuated with key dates, events, iconography etc covering more than 2,000 years of Clapton’s history.

3.3 Oral Histories

These will be based on personal interviews to elicit stories, views and experiences of the people of Clapton through the eyes of a wide variety of people to include all ethnic groups, religions, ages, gender and undertaken on the advice of the British Oral History Society (in a manner similar to the ‘East End Voices’ work recently completed by the Education Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum for the Bethnal Green Museum. At this point we are planning to have no more than eight detailed oral histories in the publication. We plan to use the interactive web-based community archive to record a larger cross section of the community. Using a method devised by the British Oral History Society – who recently advised the Victoria and Albert Museum on their ‘World in the East End’ project, now showing at the Bethnal Green Museum – we will use young people to take oral histories.

We will get histories from people in the area’s different ethnic communities:

- African, White British, Turkish, Asian (Hindu and Muslim).

We will also attempt to record the life histories of people who play an important role in the local community:

- Shopkeepers, doctors, councillors, religious leaders.

Using the ‘eyes’ and ‘voices’ of individuals would not only personalise and add to the book’s popular appeal, but would also work very well as a device to ‘link’ disparate elements of its content in the context of Clapton’s historical and contemporary life. They will be augmented with quotations from historical sources – people and accounts from the past with connections to the area – and would occur throughout the book at appropriately strategic points.

3.4 Photography
Family photographs and other ephemera would be used to support the ‘stories’ as well as specially commissioned photographs of the area and ‘life’ today – buildings, people, events etc – taken by a local professional photographer.

3.5 Demographics
To take the form of an analysis of the social and demographic changes and current trends in Clapton. To be prepared by a professional social-demographer.

3.6 Foreword
A prominent person with local connections to be approached to write a brief foreword.

4.0 Format

4.1 The eventual format of the book has not yet been decided but ideally, it would take the form of a soft-covered booklet, reasonably priced. There are a number of recent Hackney Society publications that provide a model.

4.2 The book will be electronically published on the CPNAG website, and become the basis of a larger community heritage project, in which local people are enabled to build on the base material, adding their own stories.

This will be maintained on a continuous basis using local members and school contacts.

5.0 Outline Budget

English Heritage have identified a £5,000.00 grant to CPNAG for a community based heritage project. Here follows some initial ideas on cost:

5.1 Photography (digital): Fee for professional photographer £1,200.00, inclusive of VAT. Allow £200.00 expenses.
5.2 To further professional fees, to commission a social demographer (recognised academic) to prepare chapter outlined at 3.5 above. Allow £1,200.00 inclusive of VAT.
5.3 To general professional time involved with running project: publicity, organisation of photographic subjects and oral history materials. Proposed to use community development consultants Time and Place who are already instructed by CPNAG as part of the Clapton Neighbourhood Renewal Fund): Allow £1,000.00 inclusive of VAT.
5.4 To general expenses, including costs of obtaining copies of historic photographs and plans, etc. Allow £300.00. Note: This assumes that a number of public organisations (archives, etc.) will either waive normal reproduction costs or issue them on a reduced ‘pro bono’ rate.
5.5 To sub-editing: Allow £500.00
5.6 To publication costs and costs related to posting on web: Allow £600.00. We will be seeking a publishing ‘partner’.

6.0 Programme

6.1 Achieve approval from English Heritage for revised proposal, budgets and programme: 1 October 2003.
6.2 Identify publishing vehicle and co-publishers (Hackney Society, LB of Hackney, Friends of Hackney Archives, National Trust). Achieve partner approval in principle by 1 October.
6.3 Community sponsorship from local businesses towards publication costs. Promises by 31 October 2003.
6.4 Commission consultants (social demographer and photographer): October 2003.
6.5 Contact schools and British Oral History Society: November 2003.
6.6 Collate materials: December – February 2004, package to sub-editor by March 2004.
6.7 Design website to accommodate project and allow community heritage archive to be built up; arrange for long term archival deposit of materials at Hackney Archives and London Metropolitan Archives and English Heritage.
6.8 Publication in hard copy by June 2004, simultaneously published on website.

Eve Harrison & Chris Miele
CPNAG June 2003

This Page was last update: Friday, July 4, 2003 at 11:24:44 AM
This page was originally posted: 7/4/2003; 11:24:44 AM.
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Neighbourhood Action Group

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