Sunday 17 May 2026

1978. 100,000 music fans walked seven miles from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park. To protest against the National Front. To rejoice in the music of punk and reggae. And to watch X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and the Clash. This was Rock Against Racism. Anti-racist, Anti-sexist. And a warning to the divisive rhetoric of rock gods like Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and David Bowie. Award winning author of Walls Come Tumbling: the music and politics of Rock Against, 2 Tone & Red Wedge in conversation with Andrew Harrison.

In December 1580, Stoke Newington’s Lord of the Manor John Dudley died. After a hugely expensive funeral, a monument was erected the following year within the church underneath which he is buried. In this talk I will explore the monument in the context of Dudley’s life and times. I will offer a translation of the monument’s curious Latin epitaph and reflect on what it reveals of the classical metaphors and allusions which influenced Elizabethan poets and playwrights – some of whom came to Stoke Newington – and speculate on the tantalising possibilities for the identity of the epitaph’s anonymous author.

For almost 50 years the building we now know as EartH on Stoke Newington Road was one of Hackney’s numerous cinemas. Opened in 1936 as the beautiful art deco Savoy, by the time it closed in 1984 it was the shabby and short-lived Ace. Prior to its transformation into a music venue and arts centre the former picture palace was semi-derelict but just before its redevelopment in 2017 a box of relics was rescued, full of ephemera from the 1960s when the cinema was known as the ABC Stoke Newington. In this talk we’ll discover how the contents of that box sheds light on London's cinemas in a state of decline and look back at the cinema during its pre-war heyday.
Nigel Smith is a tour guide who specialises in the history of cinemas and cinema-going in London. His website Memory Palaces is telling the stories of 100 buildings in the capital that are or have been cinemas. Visit memorypalaces.co.uk and find Nigel on Instagram @nigelsmithwalks.

Since the 1980s, Turkish and Kurdish women have played a vital yet often overlooked role in shaping Hackney’s economy, streets, and community life. This talk traces how women’s paid and unpaid labour—from garment workshops to family-run shops, cafés, and restaurants—sustained households, built local economies, and helped create the vibrant food culture that attracts visitors to the borough. Drawing on oral histories and community-based research, the talk also highlights women’s contributions in education, health, and local public services, where they supported families and advocated for safer and more inclusive local policies. Beyond work, it explores how women made place through community organising, centres, mutual support networks, and activism. In turn, the social and urban spaces of Hackney shaped women’s identities, senses of belonging, and everyday lives. By centring women’s voices, the talk offers a re-reading of Hackney’s history as one stitched together through labour, care, resilience, and collective struggle.

Annabel Dott, untrained architect and excellent self publicist, made her mark in Yorkshire, Sussex and south and west London where she was responsible for designing twenty nine buildings. For ten years she promoted her achievements through articles in journals and newspapers. And yet it was in Hackney that she spent her formative years from the age of two until her mid-twenties. What was it about this area that so influenced her? Lynne Dixon has co-authored a book about Annabel and her achievements and what led to her being labelled ‘tiresome’ in a dispute with Eton College.

While researching Hackney’s history names have emerged - Sue will present these (some from centuries past) and start the conversation about capturing what the (audience/attendees) know.

Join us for a fun pub-style quiz about all things 'Hackney History'! Written by professional quiz writers and Hackney history enthusiasts, you can expect Hackney-history-based general knowledge, picture, music, literary and connection rounds, with a variety of questions tailor-made for all knowledge levels. 2 hours with comfort and refreshment break half-way.