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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.
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How you can help
Ward residents and others please write to the following members of the Cabinet thanking them for saving Bancroft Library and hoping they will support its reuse as the TOWER HAMLETS LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE. The Cabinet Members concerned and their email addresses are:-
The postal address for the Councillors is:
Executive Support Office,
LBTH Town Hall,
Mulberry Place,
5 Clove Crescent,
London E14 2BG.
Please could you send copies of all letters by post to:-
Tom Ridge
7 Shepton Houses,
Welwyn Street,
Bethnal Green
London E2 0JN
or to the campaign email address:
stepney.history@live.co.uk
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SAVE BANCROFT LIBRARY
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