Together on Cable Street 90: Free bannermaking workshops for all

On Sunday 4th October, The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park will be joining the march and celebration in honour of the 90th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street. We need you to help! 

Join us for to make banners for the march with creative facilitator and textile artist F. Zeeshan Choudhury. 

Following a walk through the Cemetery Park and a brief discussion of its history of radicals in the Cemetery Park, we will learn how to use woodblock stamps to create beautiful designs on fabric. Then, using Choudhury's bespoke woodblock stamps we will decorate the banner with diverse plants, flowers and other features of the Cemetery Park, celebrating the diversity of both the natural world and our East End communities. A week later, the banner will be carried across our borough in the 90th anniversary march.

As well as contributing to the Friends against Fascism banner, you will have the opportunity to create your own protest apparel using woodblock stamps and fabric markers. If you wish to do this, bring a cotton t-shirt, blank placard,  tea towel or other personal item to decorate! Materials, including card for placards, and instructions will be provided.

About Faraj

F. Zeeshan Choudhury runs creative community projects in East London. In 2024 she collaborated with Bangladeshi artist Rasel Rana to reimagine the Bengali art of woodblock stamp printing (chappa) to capture community stories as part of the Forming New Folklores project.

fzeeshanchoudhury.com       @fzeeshanchoudhury

About the Battle of Cable Street

The Battle of Cable Street was a major anti-fascist confrontation that took place on 4 October 1936 in London’s East End, around Cable Street.

A march by the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, planned to move through a largely Jewish and working-class area. Many local residents—including Jewish groups, trade unionists, Irish dockworkers, socialists, communists, and other anti-fascists—opposed the march.

Tens of thousands of protesters blocked the streets with barricades, furniture, and overturned vehicles while clashing with police, who were trying to clear a route for the fascists. The crowd’s famous slogan was “They shall not pass” (adapted from the Spanish anti-fascist movement).

Information before booking:

This event is for all. Children under 16 will need to be accompanied by one adult carer. Please book a space for all children AND adults attending.

ON THE DAY

1) Please arrive on time and go to the meeting area: the Soanes Centre (on the right as you enter via our main gates on Southern Grove E3).

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Access statement

• This is an accessible, inclusive session The maximum number of participants for each class is 45

• The event may a walk through the park. We will be walking outside so please dress for the weather.

• The Soanes Centre is wheelchair accessible but please get in touch if you have any specific needs. If arranged in advance a motorised vehicle could drive onto the site but there is no general parking at the Cemetery Park. There is on-street parking in the nearby area.

• Please contact us with at least 2 weeks’ notice if you’d like BSL or other interpretation/translation and we will do our best to facilitate. Sadly we have no interpreters or translators available in-house.

• Accessible  toilet facilities are available. There is no adult changing table or hoist.

• We are able to offer baby changing facilities and we can provide a private space for breastfeeding on request.

• If you require prayer space during the event please let us know and we'll make a quiet space available for you.

• We aim to make our events as accessible as possible and are learning constantly how to do this better. If you would like to let us know about any specific requirements or access needs that you would like us to meet, or offer feedback on our accessibility arrangements, please email contact@fothcp.org. We want you to feel safe in nature.