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

 

Our review of Martin Sugarman's fascinating book about the role played by Jewish members of the Fire Services during the Second World War stirred some memories for long-standing JEECS member Yoel Sheridan, one of our members in Israel.  

The superb photography of JEECS member Louis Berk, whose studies of the Brady Street and Alderney Road cemeteries in the East End through the seasons featured in the last issue of our magazine The Cable, has been recognised by the BBC.

Whilst my family are not Jewish the attached picture was found in my husband’s family photograph archives. We have really no idea who the gentleman are but do believe they are dressed for a wedding.

East End Jewish Cemeteries: An Oasis in Whitechapel, a superb collection of photographs of the Brady Street and Alderney Road cemeteries in the East End by JEECS member Louis Berk, is being published on June 15.

Barnet Ruderman’s bookstore and publishing house at 71 Hanbury Street, off Brick Lane, was a key address for a generation of East End radicals.

 

DAVID WALKER hails a book that is both a riveting read and a fitting memorial to the many brave Jewish members of Britain’s wartime fire services

See below for great book offer, valid until April 28

The City of London Corporation is creating a new square next to St Botolph's, Aldgate. The drinking fountain in memory of Frederick Mocatta, the notable Jewish financier and philanthropist, has now been fully restored and put in the square.

JEECS is working with an American film company making a feature film on the life of Daniel Mendoza, known as the father of scientific boxing.

The historic Still and Star public house in Aldgate has been saved from demolition and site redevelopment after a campaign by the Victorian Society, supported by JEECS. 

The organisers of this event are  seeking information from Jews who have World War One connections.  The London Jewish Cultural Centre has been awarded a substantial lottery grant to establish a website dedicated to the role London Jews played in the First World War.

If Lewis Altman is remembered today other than by immediate family it is as a leading character in two City scandals of the 1970s. But he has quite another claim to fame; he was one of over 540 British, Dutch and Empire prisoners of the Japanese during the second world war. Many, including Altman, were East Enders.

Do you have memories, or stories from your families, of going to the dogs or the races? Or what about popping down the pub in the days of the old East End? If so, JEECS member Isabelle Seddon would like to hear from you.

Latest news

  • 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
  • Two great East End events

    Two great East End related events take place next month. First, Tower Hamlets Local History Library in Bancroft Road, Mile End, has what should be a fascinating free talk on Thursday, 5 September (18.30 - 20.00hrs) entitled “The Petticoat Lane Foxtrot”. The next day, September 6, sees the opening of a great exhibition at the Brady Arts and Community Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Read More
  • East End playwright, novelist and poet Bernard Kops dies aged 97

    Bernard Kops, the great East End playwright, novelist and poet, and honorary president of JEECS, has died at the age of 97 The son of Dutch-Jewish immigrants, Bernard was born in 1926 and brought up in Stepney Green Buildings in a world whose frontier was Aldgate East tube station, a world in which clothing from the Jewish Board of Guardians Read More
  • Seeking the human being within, behind the cloak

    Bernard Kops, the great East End playwright, poet and novelist has died at the age of 97. Honorary life president of JEECS, he was an astute observer of both the old Jewish East End and the modern world. The interview below is from the JEECS magazine The Cable in 2006 and is being republished as a tribute to a great Read More
  • A fresh look at the Siege of Sydney Street

      The Siege of Sydney Street is the subject of a new book published on March 1 that provides a thrilling account of this iconic East End event. Read More
  • From Polish immigrant to East End artist: the lost Whitechapel boy

    Morris Goldstein, a near forgotten member of the remarkable group of artists and writers that flourished in the East End in the early part of the last century, deserves wider recognition. RAYMOND FRANCIS, his son, gives us a taste of his story in this extract from his book about his father's life. This article was published in JEECS's magazine The Read More
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For the old Jeecs site, visit www.jeecs.org.uk/archive