Now that’s a title that pretty much sums everything up, don’t you think? We’ll be hearing about Hackney rebels, reformers and revolutionaries on this tour as we discover the stories and social history that Clapton is steeped in. More steeped than a We Are Nana all-the-tea-you-can-drink-for-£1 teabag even. And that’s saying something. So, kick off…
Tag: Hackney
Special Mary Wollstonecraft Fundraising International Women’s Day Walk – Sat 9th March
To celebrate International Women’s Day on Fri 8th March, we’re running our Feminist (Or Is It?) walk in reverse on Sat 9th. This time we’ll START at the place of Mary Wollstonecraft’s radicalisation, the Unitarian Chapel at Newington Green (10-15 mins walk from either Dalston Kingsland or Dalston Junction). We’ll get a short talk and…
Grans Doing Grand: Clapton’s New Community Cafe
Hackney Tours is excited to announce the first Clapton history walk (10.30am Fri 15th Feb) leaving/returning from/to We Are Nana. See below for details of this great new intergenerational initiative here: “I met these people who were 80 or older and still smashing it every day!” says Katie Harris, founder of a new Clapton community…
Gentrification: Is Our Art & Coffee Costing The Neighbourhood?
“It is at best a misunderstanding, and at worst a harmful lie, to portray the cultural sector as an ally of low-income groups. Campaigners against gentrification should resist every art gallery, craft workshop, or new media centre. The first art gallery in a working-class neighbourhood is a sure sign, that gentrification is imminent. “Keep them…
Good Gym: Extreme Shovel Action In Stoke Newington
Hackney is a hotbed of history and October’s first trot for the Good Gym community volunteer crew took 15 keen runners to a corner of Stoke Newington that has seen plenty of action even before we arrived. On our 7.2km round trip we ran up from the usual Arch Gallery start – via Regent’s Canal,…
Hackney Tours Berlin Wall Run in Hackney Gazette
Hackney Gazette covered our Wall run last week in Berlin. It was partly about Berlin and the old German Democratic Republic, but it was also about Hackney. In 2009 Hackney Tours ran the former Iron Curtain with a team of ‘East’ and ‘West’ Germans to celebrate 20 years since the Wall fell (see Running the…
Hackney Tours Running Tour on BBC Radio Scotland’s MacAulay & Co
Yesterday we had the pleasure of taking Lesley Kay from BBC Radio Scotland’s MacAulay & Co on the running version of our popular alternative Olympic walking tour around Hackney Wick. And what fun it was too. “How fast do you run?” she asked. “As fast as you want, it’s your tour,” was the answer, of…
Sounds of Hackney Summer
You want to hear the sounds of Hackney? Are you expecting the police cars up and down Kingsland Road making Ridley Road afternoon shoppers strain even harder to be heard? Are you expecting
Vampires, Vegetables and Vitality: Another Morning at Ministry of Stories
I steeled myself yesterday for a heavy morning at Ministry of Stories, volunteering as a writing mentor for 8-year-old inner city kids in Hoxton, the southern end of Hackney that almost meets the City. I needn’t have bothered; the children of Whitmore School were wonderful. Ministry of Stories follows in the same mould as San…
‘Sounds of Hackney’ on Urban Vignettes
Urban Vignettes is a new website which captures the essence of cities all across the world. This week’s theme is sounds and they asked if Hackney Tours would like to contribute something about this diverse borough. Here’s the piece on the Urban Vignettes website. It starts one way, but finishes in another. Hackney: it’s not…
Sport suffers by the Lee as Olympic security zone expands
It’s reasonable to suggest that to make a global spectacle omelette, you need to crack a few eggs. The London 2012 Olympics will be one mightily large dish, presented on a multimedia platter and sampled by some 4bn across the world. But when the Games mean the loss of your own amenities, it leaves a…
Hackney Tours on France 24 Olympic Report
This report from France 24 last week opens with yours truly and goes on to ask some good questions about what is being done for local residents before – and pertinently after – the Games: France 24: 100 Days to Go
Hackney Tours: East LDN Creative Exploration 