Jewish East End Celebration Society
4A Cornwall Mews South, London, SW7 4RX
[email protected]

Welcome to theJewishEastEndCelebrationSociety

 

The Jewish East End Celebration Society is a registe­red charity dedicated to recording and remembering the cultural heritage of the Jewish East End. Our aim is to focus attention on the history of Jewish life and culture as they developed in London’s East End and their legacy today. Our work includes the on-going documentation in print and on video of the architecture, music, literature, theatre, religious practices and daily lives of the Jewish community in the East End; the commissioning of projects in litera­ture, performance and the visual arts; and the creation of a permanent heritage centre and archive. With the changes in population living and working in the East End today we work closely with local authority and local community groups, and to establish links with other organisations whose work covers similar themes.

 

JEECS was founded on March 3, 2003 to save what remains of the rich Jewish heritage of the East End. The fact that only some 2,000 Jews were still in the East End did not deter us as the Jewish East End was the very cradle of the Anglo-Jewish community. It was essential not only to save the remaining buildings of the Jewish East End but to record the history of the people who had lived there and the events that had taken place there. We have not always achieved our aims, but we have had some notable successes.

 

We have organised numerous walks, curated an exhibition on the Siege of Sidney Street at the Museum of London Docklands, organised seminars on Cable Street (twice) Zionism, Isaac Rosenberg, Israel Zangwill and much more. We originated the Holocaust Memorial events in the East End. We have also taken up the cudgels in defence of Jewish interests in the East End. We played a prominent part in stopping the so-called “hijab” gates in Brick Lane and an important part in saving Bancroft Road library and in the abortive campaign to save Mother Levy’s maternity home in Underwood Road. We always co-operate with other Jewish cultural groups in London and with other faith groups in Tower Hamlets.

Who we are

Honorary Life President until his sad decease on February 25, 2024.

Bernard Kops z/l

Chairman

Clive Bettington

07941 367882

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Magazine editorial

David Walker

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Contact

Jewish East End Celebration Society

4A Cornwall Mews South, London, SW7 4RX.

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Latest news

  • Asleep through the Battle of Cable Street

      The distinguished Oscar-winning film director and illustrator Arnold Schwartzman OBE has sent us the following fascinating reminiscences. I may take the claim to be the sole survivor of the Battle of Cable Street! Aged 9 months, I was fast asleep upstairs in my grandfather Michael Finkleson’s boot repair shop at 292a Cable Street as the battle raged along the Read More
  • Escape from the East End Blitz

    On September 7 1940 I was four years old living with my parents in Sidney Street, in London's East End, on the first day of the London Blitz. I recall that it was a hot evening and my mother had set three salads on the kitchen table when I noticed out of the window that on the neighbouring flat roof there was a man stripped to the waist washing his Read More
  • East End Jews: Secret tales from the London Yiddish Press

    Join Vivi Lachs historian and Yiddish speaker on Thursday 26 March from 7pm-8.30pm at Finchley Church End Library, Finchley, Barnet showcasing the book 'East End Jews: Secret tales from the London Yiddish Press’ it offers an unparalleled view into the life, labour, and the joys of London's Jewish East End, from its heyday in the 1890s until the 1950s. Drawing Read More
  • Oral history of the Jewish East End

    Professor Jason Shela MBE recently contacted us about a research project he is currently conducting to collect the oral histories of people who grew up in London’s East End (which include his father, grandparents and great grandparents). Read More
  • Cinema book author needs your help

      Do you or your family have connections with the cinema in the East End? If so, Isabelle Seddon would love to hear from you. Read More
  • Do you know the Gramophone Man?

    JEECS has been asked if anyone knows the name of the Gramophone Man, pictured here, his back story, when he retired, and the sort of music he played. Read More
  • More emerges about H Lotery and Co

    A while back, we had a reader asking if anyone had any information about a company his mother had worked for in the East End and which she remembered as being called Lottries. The inquiry sparked some fascinating replies, which identified the company as H Lotery and Co, and we've just had a response from the grandson of the company's Read More
  • Project seeks material and memories from the legendary Yiddish poet A.N. Stencl

    Did you know or do you have material from the Polish-born Yiddish poet Avrom-Nokhem Stencl (also known as A. N. Stencl) who was once famous in east London for selling his celebrated Yiddish magazine Loshn un lebn (Language & Life), for running his Friends of Yiddish Saturday afternoon literary society and for his many acclaimed publications of Yiddish poetry? Stencl Read More
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For the old Jeecs site, visit www.jeecs.org.uk/archive