Cable Street 90 - Radical Walk in the Cemetery Park

This is the 90th year of Cable Street. In 1936, thousands of East Enders — Jewish families, Irish dockers, trade unionists, communists and neighbours who'd simply had enough — filled the streets and stopped Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists from marching through. They shall not pass. We're marking it with a walk through the Cemetery Park, among the people who made that kind of resistance possible.

The walk sets off at 5:15pm and takes about an hour on the main paths. At 7pm we'll head to the Soanes Centre for a short talk and an open discussion.

The East End's radicals are buried here in their thousands. Eliza Martin — buried under her married name, Elizabeth Best — was 19 when she sat on the five-woman strike committee that took on Bryant and May in the 1888 Matchwomen's strike, and won. Chris Braithwaite, born in Barbados in 1885, was a sailor, a docker, an activist and one of the leading Black political voices in 1930s Britain. Will Crooks went from the Poplar workhouse to become the first Labour mayor in London and MP for Woolwich. Clara Grant, a headteacher in Bow, founded the Fern Street Settlement and was known across the East End as the Bundle Woman of Bow.

Because the questions aren't only historical ones. With hate rising again, can community activists draw on the lives of those buried here? Can a cemetery be a site not of rest but of action? Can we organise with the dead? Can we find hope in graves, in grave times?

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: Just outside 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 the walk is 30.

• The event will involve 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.

Refund policy: This is a free event. If you are not able to make it, please email us at heritage@fothcp.org to let us know so we can offer your place to someone on the waitlist.