As if to reassure myself that East London has pleasures to compare with those of Japan, I went on a brisk morning walk round the streets of Stepney.
Past Tollet Street (the streetsign is normally defaced):-
Past the local library, now being turned into a Heritage Centre:-
To the canal which unusually was iced over:-
Past the Ragged School Museum:-
And the Wall Street Bakery:-
To St. Dunstan’s:-
The church was open:-
And back along Stepney Green:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Does it mean that the Labour Council has closed the [Bancroft] local history library [rich in documentation of the early 20th century in the inner East End] to replace it with a heritage centre? What has happened to the large Neapolitan seventeenth century history painting which used to hang inside the entrance
I don’t unfortunately know the answer, just read the sign outside. They had a book sale a couple of weeks ago which I missed and suggests they may be disposing of book stock. Charles
Ah! The Familiar Streets ! Welcome Home, you’ve been missed.
It is a vital resource. The previous council wished to close it and transfer the building without its contents to neighbouring Queen Mary University, but there was a public meeting and protests which led to the abandonment of this plan. Anybody interested in the East End and its political and social history would find it amazingly useful. I used it for working on articles on Whistler’s Thames Set.