Sunday 2 October 2011

Blitz archaeology in Eltham

A local twitterer has written about attending this Eltham event - @Lee SE12 tweeted yesterday:

Pics from brill bit of local history, Blitz archaeology walk ... on Twitpic"Pics from brill bit of local history, Blitz archaeology walk in Eltham Green, shame @ for poor plug not giving the details, only 3 other people were at the 3pm tour. Starts opposite Macdonalds, follows detail road plan from recently unearthed records in the Greenwich Heritage Centre."

The event in question was an Archaeological survey (9.30am) and a walk (3pm) on the Page Estate in Eltham Green described as follows:
"We are launching a self guide map and fact sheet, put together with the support of the team at BBC Hands on History, on the ARP Service on the Page Estate. We will be carrying out a formal archaeological survey of the items on the map, recording and photographing those which are still there and looking for other evidence of the Blitz. We hope to the work will also lead to us meeting more local people with information about the period and people named in the map."  The BBC also put together this Hands on History guide. (extract right)


More photos by @Lee SE12 from the Blitz walk in Eltham Green this afternoon can be seen at    

This is certainly an event in which local schools might be interested - last year my daughter's primary school class was 'evacuated' via Eltham station for a couple of nights to a centre (in Herts) where they experienced the wartime life of evacuated children (all done in an age-appropriate way, of course!).

UPDATE:  I spoke too soon  - the organisers DO do work with local schools and had apparently done so that day - fab. And more: the item was plugged on BBC London in the morning with a reporter even talking to organisers onsite in Eltham, however they didn't have a chance to give all the details and also said Erith by accident. The 11am/1pm walks were well attended apparently (thanks for info @Lee SE12). It sounds a good project and it is great to have our local area's history mapped in this way, so well done.

No comments: