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NEWSLETTER NO: 6

15 October 2008

LEADER OF TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL
DECIDES THAT THE COUNCIL
WILL RETAIN BANCROFT LIBRARY
FOR THE LOCAL HISTORY LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES
Our public meeting on 27 September 2008 was attended by about 150 people; and was addressed by Bernard Kops, Stan Newens (former MP and MEP) and Professor Jerry White. The meeting agreed to ask Tower Hamlets Council not to sell Bancroft Library (resolution one); and to raise funds for the repair and adaptation of the whole building as THE TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE for the Borough's schoolchildren and students, local residents and visitors from all over the world (resolution two). In support of resolution two, Tom Ridge referred to floor plans which showed how the building could be used as the local history centre.

The full two-page text for each resolution may be downloaded from our Latest News page.

After our well-attended and successful meeting, Brenda Daley (Chair of Ocean Estate Tenants & Leaseholders Association) asked one of her ward Councillors, Cllr. Alibor Choudhury, to help set up a meeting with Council Leader, Cllr. Lutfur Rhaman and Cabinet colleagues. At the meeting, which took place on Tuesday, 7 October, campaign working group members Brenda Daley, Clive Bettington, Melissa Parker and Tom Ridge met with Cllr. Lutfur Rahman and Cabinet colleagues Cllrs. Rofique Ahmed, Alibor Choudhury, Marc Francis and Joshua Peck. During the meeting, the two resolutions and the floor plans were presented to the Councillors. After a cordial exchange of views and a brief resume of fundraising possibilities, we were informed that they were close to making a decision. At the end of the meeting, we expressed the hope that a statement would be issued as soon as possible.

Cllr. Lutfur Rahman's statement was issued on Friday, 10 October, and, together with a brief statement by Tom Ridge, was immediately emailed to supporters.

Subsequently, we have learnt that officers have been given the task of fundraising for Bancroft Library. And we hope to have meetings with Cllr. Rofique Ahmed (and one or two other Councillors and senior officers) to assist with the initial programme of repairs and improvements. We are also keen to find out more about the Council's proposed fundraising strategy and how this will achieve THE TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE, which must be planned "in partnership with the Borough's Local History Librarian and the Borough's Archivist, the Borough's primary and secondary schools and Tower Hamlets College, historians and geographers, local residents and others" (resolution two).

Considerable progress has been made as a result of the East London Advertiser's campaign and the campaign to SAVE TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY LIBRARY & ARCHIVES AT BANCROFT ROAD. The campaign's working group is particularly grateful to the:

3,661 local residents and others who have so far signed our petition to keep and improve the local history library and archives at Bancroft Library

1,312 people who signed the East London Advertiser's e-petition to the Prime Minister

growing number of supporting organisations and individuals

organisations and individuals who have written to council officers and/or Councillors

150 or so people who attended our public meeting on 27 September at the Arbour Youth Centre (by kind permission of the Rector of Stepney), donated £147.00 to campaign funds and marched to Bancroft Library to demonstrate their opposition to the proposed sale

three excellent speakers, Bernard Kops, Stan Newens and Professor Jerry White; and the reporters and photographers who covered the meeting and demonstration

twelve shops and community centres which served as collection points for posters, petition forms and badges

Nigel Winfield (formerly of Stepney, now living in South Wales) for his donation of £150.00.

The campaign to SAVE TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY LIBRARY & ARCHIVES AT BANCROFT ROAD will continue until Bancroft Library becomes THE TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE.

Although it is no longer necessary to present the petition to Tower Hamlets Cabinet, we will continue the petition until its final date of 30 October 2008 as a grand total of just over 4,000 signatures will undoubtedly help the council with fundraising from "external sources".

We also need more messages of support from organisations and well-known individuals. Finally, would ward residents and others (especially individuals and organisations who have written previously) write to members of the Tower Hamlets Cabinet thanking them for saving Bancroft Library and hoping that they will support its reuse as THE TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE. (see the How To Get Involved page)

Tom Ridge
on behalf of the campaign to Save Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives at Bancroft Road

THE PRIME MINISTER'S RESPONSE TO THE EAST LONDON ADVERTISER'S e-PETITION ASKING HIM TO REFUND THE REFURBISHMENT OF BANCROFT LIBRARY (2 October 2008)
The Government recognizes that the closure or relocation of public libraries and archives is an emotive issue and we encourage local authorities to consult communities about changes to services that will affect them. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, with The National Archives, will continue to support institutions to deliver services and resources the community needs by sharing best practice and advocating the value of well-resourced, responsive museum, archive and library services within communities.

But the Government remains committed to the principle that locally accountable politicians and managers should be free to decide how to deliver library and archive services in their authority in a way which is appropriate for their communities. The future of Tower Hamlets Local History and Archives Library in Bancroft Road is therefore a matter for Tower Hamlets Borough Council.

CLLR. LUTFUR RAHMAN'S STATEMENT (10 October 2008)
As someone whose grandfather first arrived in the East End in the 1940s and who has spent most of my life here, I am convinced that our common history can be a force to bring together people with different cultural backgrounds. That is why, when I became Leader of Tower Hamlets Council a couple of months back, I promised the East London Advertiser's readers that I would do everything I could to ensure that we cherish the East End's unique heritage. Not long after that, I discovered that Queen Mary College had offered to buy our Bancroft Library. This proposal involved a multi million pound renovation of the historic Vestry Hall to house the internationally acclaimed Wiener Library. Having the Wiener Library in Tower Hamlets would really help our work to make sure today's generation understand the tragedy that befell the Jewish people the last time anti-Semitism was allowed to go unchecked. So I took the view that the offer required further investigation to see whether we could combine it with our own desire to make the Local History Library and Archive more accessible to the public.

Our enquiries have now been completed and it is time for a decision. After receiving expert advice, it is clear to me that the archive cannot easily be separated from the Local History Library itself. It is also clear that the council does not, at present, have any other building capable of housing both the archive and library, let alone providing the quiet space researchers usually need. I have therefore decided that the Council will retain Bancroft for the Local History Library and Archive.

The challenge now is to secure the funding needed to complete the urgent repairs and bring the Vestry Hall back to its former glory. Having just committed the Council to invest £5 million in the long-overdue restoration of Victoria Park, I cannot at this stage commit a similar sum to the Bancroft. I have therefore instructed council officers to try to identify external sources of funding to help finance those works. In the meantime, we will be looking at how we can improve conditions in the History Library and increase public access. Our shared history is not something to be locked away or reserved for the few. It is something to be shared and celebrated by the many. That is very hard in the current cramped space, so I am seeing if more can be made available. My lead councillor for culture, Rofique Uddin Ahmed, will be coming forward with further details in the next few weeks.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Advertiser and its readers for highlighting just how valuable a resource the Local History Library and Archive are to local people. I hope your campaign will not stop here, but will now get behind our efforts to persuade other public bodies to help finance the restoration of the Vestry Hall and give the Local History Library and Archive the home it deserves.

TOM RIDGE'S STATEMENT (10 October 2008)
Cllr. Lutfur Rahman is to be congratulated on his decision to keep the local history library & archives at Bancroft Library. This is good news for all concerned, but we have asked for the whole building to be reused as the Tower Hamlets Local History Centre. We therefore hope that the council will make the necessary financial committment to secure funding from elsewhere.

NEWSLETTER NO: 5

23 September 2008

CABINET DECISION TO SELL BANCROFT
LIBRARY FIXED FOR 5th NOVEMBER
On the morning of 18th September, a Cabinet forward plan on the LBTH website indicated that a report entitled "Disposal of Bancroft Library" would go to the Cabinet meeting on 5th November. By late afternoon, there was a subsequent plan in which the title of the report had been changed to "Options for the Future Development of the Local History and Archives Service". Its purpose is "To select a preferred option to progress the development of the Local History and Archive Service"

The forward plan contains a column headed "Who will be consulted before decision is made and how will this consultation take place" In the previous and subsequent plans, the information in this column referred to consultations which took place last year. At the June 2007 consultation for the regular users of the Local History Library and Archives at Bancroft Library, there was no mention whatsoever of Bancroft Library being sold, even so everyone agreed that the Local History Library and Archives had to be kept together and improved at Bancroft Library. A recent Council press release describes the June 2007 consultation as a consultation "with the local community" and omitted any reference to Bancroft Library as the consultees preferred location for the retention and improvement of the Local History Library and Archives.

As the June 2007 consultees were not consulted on the sale of Bancroft Library, the June 2007 consultation is invalid as a consultation in support of the disposal of Bancroft Library. Nor can it form the basis for the selection of a preferred option for the development of the local history and archive service at locations other than Bancroft Library. Furthermore all the people who attended the June 2007 consultation were written to in September 2007 by a council officer who promised that:

"once the plan is finalised it will be sent out for public consultation to you
and to the wider community of Tower Hamlets."
Clearly this commitment has not been honoured. Nor is it likely to be honoured before 5th November 2008 as "Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives" has already been deleted from the UNESCO archives portal. We suspect that should there be a public consultation, it will be about the future of the service and will take place after the local history collections and archives have been removed from Bancroft Library. By which time our most historic public library will be a study centre for postgraduate students at Queen Mary, University of London.

It is beyond belief that the Council has managed to convince itself that the only way it can "progress the development of the Local History and Archive Service" is to evict it from its rightful home, without even having suitable old or new premises ready to accommodate all the local history collections and archives. That it is still responding to letters of objection with a standard reply referring to "well developed plans in place to ensure that our Local History Library and Archives service is properly relocated" when it has known since 29th July 2008 that there is no possibility whatsoever of the "local history archive" going to the Museum in Docklands.

That it is in effect closing the Local History Library and Archives at Bancroft Library without appearing to have any definite plans for the temporary relocation of the local history collections or the temporary relocation of the archives; until such time as it provides a suitable home for both somewhere in the Borough.

We are particularly concerned about the archives which have been in the Borough's environmentally-controlled archive storage room for twenty years. Should they be relocated in anything other than a similar archive strong room, they will be exposed to the risks of theft and deterioration. The local history collections must also be properly cared for; and have to be colocated with the archives as neither archived documents nor related items from the local history collections can be studied in isolation; and researchers often have to consult more archived documents than initially anticipated.

Not only does the Council imagine that the archives can be ordered from a remote store, it also believes that "digitisation of the archive...will significantly enhance its accessibility" (recent press release). All the archives and paper collections are far too extensive to be made available online. However, professionally-informed selections from primary sources and interpretations can and should be made available online, especially for the Borough's schoolchildren. But they must be capable of being checked by reference to the primary sources (and the secondary sources). For this reason all the sources must be kept together in one safe place as a true record of our 1,500 year old, world-wide history. And all the stored artefacts and pictures suitably displayed in the same safe place.

Compared to most other local histories, our local history is more capable of meeting national curriculum requirements in history and geography (and various new government initiatives). It is therefore beyond belief that the Council as an education authority has neglected its local history and archive service and is now planning to evict the collections from their rightful home, putting them at risk and making them less accessible, for an indefinite period. In these respects, the Council is not only failing the Borough's schoolchildren, it is also failing in its statutory duty to provide a "comprehensive and efficient library service". To right these wrongs it must start an immediate programme of improvements at Bancroft Library, and make the whole building into the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE, as agreed by all the June 2007 consultees.

To remind the Council of its statutory duties, obligations and commitments, and promote the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE, we are hosting a public meeting at the ARBOUR YOUTH CENTRE in Shandy Street, Stepney, London E1 on Saturday 27th September at 2pm. It is hoped that the meeting will be addressed by Professor Jerry White, Bernard Kops, Sir Christopher Frayling and others; followed by discussion on two resolutions. The first will ask Tower Hamlets Council not to sell Bancroft Library and the second will ask Tower Hamlets Council to raise funds for the repair and adaptation of the whole library building as the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE for the Borough's schoolchildren and students, local residents and visitors from around the world.

We have invited all the Councillors and representatives from the Boroughs primary and secondary schools; and hope that school representatives and representatives of all the communities in Tower Hamlets will unite in their opposition to the sale, and their support for the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE. The press and TV Channels will also be at the meeting. So please all do your best to attend - otherwise it will only be me talking for 5 minutes to the 10 members of the Cabinet at their meeting on 5th November, when I will present our petition to keep and improve the local history library and archives at Bancroft Road.

Already just over 3,000 local residents and others have signed the petition; and as we are now extending its final date to 30 October, we hope with your help to achieve a grand total of 6,000 signatures.

Tom Ridge - Campaign to Save Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives at Bancroft Road

NEWSLETTER NO: 4

9 September 2008

We have heard from the Director of the Wiener Library (Holocaust archive) that Birkbeck, University of London has leased 29 Russell Square for the Wiener Library to move to from its present home in West London; and that a planning application has been made to Camden Council for the adaptation of the building. It therefore seems increasingly unlikely that the Wiener Library will move to Bancroft Road or 117 Poplar High Street.

However, we fear that the Cabinet will still press ahead with the sale of Bancroft Library to Queen Mary, University of London for the exclusive use of postgraduate students. Regardless of public opinion and the Council's letter of 13 September 2007 (to the people who attended its June 2007 consultation workshop on the local history collections and archives) which stated that:

"once the plan is finalised it will be sent out for public consultation to you
and to the wider community of Tower Hamlets."
To remind the Council of this commitment and the fact that the "wider community" includes the Borough's schools and Tower Hamlets College, the campaign is holding a public meeting at the ARBOUR YOUTH CENTRE, Shandy Street, Stepney on Saturday 27 September at 2pm. We are inviting Professor Bill Fishman and the thirteen other well-known writers who wrote to The Daily Telegraph (August 21) calling for intervention to stop what they called "cultural vandalism"; also the eminent supporters of the all-party Parliamentary Group on Archives, which is administered by the National Council on Archives.

We have already written to Headteachers and expressed the hope that all the primary and secondary schools will send at least one representative. All the Councillors and certain officers are being invited and we also hope that local residents and other supporters like yourself will come to the meeting.

The meeting should help make the Council realise that all the Borough's communities are united in their opposition to the sale of Bancroft Library; and in their support for our new proposal that the Council raises funds for the repair and adaptation of the whole building as the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE for the Borough's schoolchildren and students, local residents and visitors from all over the world. To realise its full potential, the centre should have a substantially increased staff, additional archive storage, an exhibition room and a schools room with outreach workers; and should work in conjunction with the Ragged School Museum, which also needs more financial support from the Council.

Please all do your best to attend the public meeting on 27 September as it may be our last opportunity to persuade the Council to consult local residents, schools and others on its plan to sell Bancroft Library and disperse the local history collections and archives. We thought the agenda item to approve the sale of Bancroft Library would be going to the Cabinet meeting on 5 November, but it now seems that it could be the Cabinet meeting on 8 October 2008. To complicate matters further, there is a cabinet report or paper on Bancroft Library and a separate report on Idea Store Strategy, which will probably mention Bancroft Library. We suspect that the report or paper on Bancroft Library will be approved by the Cabinet on 8 October.

So it appears that the decision to sell Bancroft Library will be taken without consulting the "wider community of Tower Hamlets" and without definite arrangements for the temporary relocation of the local history collections and archives. We discovered that the local history collections would not be going to the Museum in Docklands (see Newsletter No.2) and we have just heard from the East London Advertiser that the staff at the Royal London Hospital archives know nothing about the alleged plans for the Tower Hamlets archives to be placed in their care.

All this at a time when there is an urgent need for continuing to properly care for the local history collections and archives at Bancroft Road, and making them more readily available to the Borough's school children and students. Not only to meet national curriculum requirements but to assist the Government's Who Do We Think We Are Initiative (see Newsletter No.2); and the Council's newly launched scheme One Tower Hamlets (see attached paper From Vestry Hall to Tower Hamlets Local History Centre).

This paper summaries our 1,500 year old history and shows that throughout our long history the people of Tower Hamlets have always been migrants or the descendants of migrants and that our world-wide history is housed in an appropriately historic public building, which could and should be fully utilised as the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE.

Our petition to keep and improve the local history library and archives at Bancroft Road has now been signed by 2,772 local residents and others. Although there is now little or no possibility that the Wiener Library will move to 117 Poplar High Street, we have decided to keep the same petition and extend its final date to 30 September. By which time we hope to achieve a grand total of 5,000 signatures, so please do your best to get more signatures, especially local residents.

Cllr Dr Anwara Ali, who is a member of the Cabinet, has told us that she is fighting for Bancroft Library and will not support any decisions for selling it or rehousing the collections elsewhere in the Borough. Let us hope she is quickly joined by other Cabinet members before it is too late.

Tom Ridge - Campaign to Save Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives at Bancroft Road

NEWSLETTER NO: 3

19 August 2008

We have just heard from Julia Gregory (East London Advertiser) that the Council announced this morning that the proposed sale of the Bancroft Library Building is not now scheduled to go to the Cabinet meeting on 10th September.

Our campaign has also just gained the full support of THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON ARCHIVES (NAC), which administers the All-party Parliamentary Group on Archives. The NAC Head of Public Affairs has informed the All-party group and its supporters, namely: Lord Bew, Ed Vaizey, Mary Hodges, Lord Howarth, Lord Smith, Hywel Francis, Lord Brooke, Lord Avebury and Lord McNally.

They have been sent a petition campaign email and also told about the Museum of London's decision not to provide accommodation for the local history collections at the Museum in Docklands (see newsletter No. 2).

We have also been in touch with Dr Nick Barratt (see his letter to Cllr Lutfur Rahman in newsletter No.2) and have asked him to write to the Chief Executive requesting to meet the Directors of Cultural Services and Children's Services to get them to see Bancroft as a potential "school and community resource" which must be fully developed (with cultural Olympiad funding and possible funding from the sale of another building to Queen Mary's College of the University of London for the Wiener Library, and from other sources).

Thanks to all your efforts, our petition has now been signed by 1,725 local residents and others. For the moment we will keep to the present deadline of 8th September 2008 but please redouble your efforts so that the Council fully understands the views of local residents and others and the Borough's Headteachers, Teachers and school Librarians; and concentrates its efforts on making the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY LIBRARY & ARCHIVES at Bancroft Road, the jewel in the crown of its library service.

This Thursday's East London Advertiser will also be covering recent developments, so please make sure you get a copy.

Please pass on this newsletter to many people as you can to ensure that we spread the news about the campaign as far and wide as possible.

Tom Ridge - Campaign to Save Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives at Bancroft Road

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