Transport on the Becontree Estate If you have read our article about education on the Becontree Estate, you may get the idea that the London County Council was not always…
Conservation in Action A film documenting the conservation of the portrait of Sarah, Viscountess Fanshawe. Conservation was undertaken by Plowden & Smith Ltd. Film was made by The…
Building the Becontree Estate If you have read the introductory article to our Building Becontree project, you will know we have been using architectural and building plans to look…
Education on the Becontree Estate Without checking any maps or having a quick internet search, could you count how many schools there are in and around the Becontree Estate area?…
2021: The Centenary of the Becontree Estate 2021 marks the centenary of the Becontree Estate. It is of great significance to the residents of Barking and Dagenham – once the world’s largest…
An Exploration of Barking Abbey Barking Abbey was founded in c.666 AD as a double house of both monks and nuns led by an abbess. A Viking attack in 871…
Remembrance 2020 This year the covid-19 pandemic has meant that many Remembrance Sunday events will not take place and those that do will be much smaller and…
Dagenham Festival, 1951 – Part 1 This week’s film shows part of the celebrations held for the 1951 Festival of Britain in Dagenham. Celebrations were held up and down the country…
Dagenham Road Safety – Where’s Johnny? It’s Film Fridays again and we’re returning to the Dagenham Road Safety films this week with a short film that was filmed on Oxlow Lane.…
Colour Scenes – Dagenham Village For the latest instalment of Film Fridays we’re going over to Dagenham Village. This film focuses on the redevelopment of the area in the late…
Happy 10th Birthday Valence House 24th June 2020 marks 10 years since the re-opening of Valence House following a multi-million pound redevelopment of the site. Let’s raise a cake or…
Our Year – The Queen Mother Visits Dagenham For our latest Film Fridays we’ve got a clip from the film Our Year, which was produced by the Dagenham Co-operative Film Society. The clip…
Colour Scenes of the Council – Barking For this week’s Film Fridays we’re going to Barking in the later1960s/early 1970s with a film created by the council and showing some of the…
Memories of War and VE Day 8th May 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of VE Day when peace was announced in Europe after nearly six years of war. In this exhibition…
‘Dearest Mickey’ – VE Day Letters A former Dagenham resident has kindly shared the letters sent to her father on VE Day by her mother and grandparents (her father’s in laws). …
‘Seeds of Time’ Part 1 The first film to be produced by the Dagenham Cooperative Film Society, ‘Seeds of Time’ focuses on young people in the area in 1947-8. It’s…
Dagenham Road Safety – ‘The Mother who Wouldn’t Listen’ Today is our fourth Film Fridays and we’re sticking with the road safety films again. There are some great shots from across Dagenham in this…
Dagenham Road Safety – ‘Suicide? or Murder?’ It’s time for Film Fridays take 3. We’re back on the Dagenham Road Safety films again this week – the second half of the film…
‘Colour Scenes 1968’ – Beacontree Heath For our second edition of Film Fridays we’ve got some council footage mainly filmed on and around Beacontree Heath c.1968. There are some familiar sites…
Dagenham Road Safety – ‘Last Testament’ We’re beginning Film Fridays with one of our Dagenham Road Safety videos. Filmed in the 1950s they were part of a campaign run by Dagenham…
Close Encounters: Wedding clothes In place of our regular Close Encounters event, which was due to take place on 2 April 2020, we have created a presentation to give…
Dagenham Co-operative Film Society Egbert Smart’s roles in the local community included those of librarian, borough photographer, and film society secretary. As part of the HLF funded Our Everyday…
Our Everyday Futures EVERYDAY FUTURES is an HLF funded project celebrating the work of borough photographer, Egbert Smart & the local area, connecting his archive to the contemporary…
Happy birthday Valence House: 1937-2017 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of a museum at Valence House. When the Dagenham Urban District took over Valence House in 1926…
A 350 year old facelift! 2016 marks the 350th anniversary of the death of Sir Richard Fanshawe (1608-1666). To commemorate this occasion the Valence House Volunteer Group began the ‘Be part…
Sebastopol to Dagenham The Crimean War (1853-1856) began due to religious differences. Fought between Russia and the allied powers, including Great Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, hostilities…
Battle of the Somme at 100 An exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I's greatest battle.
History of Barking Abbey This exhibition explores the history of Barking Abbey, which was founded in 666AD by a priest named Erkenwald for his sister Ethelburga. The founding of…
Tracing the History of Valence House In medieval times all of the land in Barking, Dagenham and Ilford was part of the Manor of Barking, owned and administered by Barking Abbey.…
Fifty Years a Borough Fifty years ago Barking and Dagenham became one of the 32 Greater London Boroughs. Before 1965, there had been two separate boroughs, both within the…
Made in Barking and Dagenham Made in Barking and Dagenham is a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures Programme. This exhibition explores how industry played a major…
Women’s Empowerment This exhibition explores the ordinary and extraordinary lives of women with connections to Barking and Dagenham from the nuns at Barking Abbey to the Ford…
History of Dagenham Town Show From horticultural exhibitions, flower arranging, bee keeping and handicrafts to, parachutists, escapologists, motorcycle displays and camel racing, the Dagenham Town Show has become an iconic…
Edward Pond Retrospective Edward Charles Pond was an artist who lived in Romford and studied in Dagenham for seven years. He made many famous paintings of various local…
Call the Midwife This exhibition explores the history midwifery from the sixteenth century to the sixties, illustrated with the birth stories of women with connections to Barking and…
