St Hilda's East Community Centre is a charity based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The centre is located in Shoreditch in Central London and its second site, Sonali Gardens, is in Shadwell in East London.
St Hilda's East Community Centre works with local people of all backgrounds, offering a wide range of activities. This includes advice services, youth projects, support for parents and pre-school children, work with older people, women’s projects, volunteering placement and carers’ respite.
It was founded as a settlement in 1889 by the Guild of Cheltenham Ladies' College.
After its first building in Victoria Park Square proved unsuitable, St Hilda's East found a permanent base on Old Nichol Street near the newly built Boundary Estate in 1898. [1]
In 1945, the settlement had also purchased another building across the road, Bruce Hall. The new building stood where St Hilda’s East is today on the corner of Old Nichol Street and Club Row. [2]
In 1964, the building on Old Nichol Street was sold and all activities moved into the site on Club Row, which was extended in 1968. There were no more residents, no live-in Warden, and more paid staff were employed to run the centre. [3] The buildings were replaced in 1994. [4]
In 2005, St Hilda's became a two-site organisation when the Bengali Elders Day Centre moved to a purpose-built facility, Sonali Gardens, in Shadwell. [5]
The community centre now offers a range of services and opportunities for local people of all ages and backgrounds, providing a resource for the community in the Weavers Ward in northwest Tower Hamlets, while also delivering borough wide social care services.
The work of St Hilda's East today broadly covers the areas of Older People and Care, Young People (including under 5s) and Women's Groups and Advice, Training and Resources (such as legal advice, a community archive, and training).
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By the 16th century the term applied to a wider rural area, the Hamlet of Bethnal Green, which subsequently became a Parish, then a Metropolitan Borough before merging with neighbouring areas to become the north-western part of the new London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Poplar is a district in East London, England, now part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End.
Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name applied to a much larger manor and parish. Stepney Green is a remnant of a larger area of Common Land formerly known as Mile End Green.
Wapping is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping's position, on the north bank of the River Thames, has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, such as the Prospect of Whitby and Wapping Stairs. It also has a Royal Navy shore establishment base on the riverfront called HMS President and home to Tobacco Dock and King Edward Memorial Park.
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough of London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of the regenerated London Docklands area. The 2019 mid-year population for the borough is estimated at 324,745.
Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by-Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, Toynbee Hall and Commercial Tavern. It has several markets, including Spitalfields Market, the historic Old Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane Market and Petticoat Lane Market. It was part of the ancient parish of Stepney in the county of Middlesex and was split off as a separate parish in 1729. Just outside the City of London, the parish became part of the Metropolitan Board of Works area in 1855 as part of the Whitechapel District. It formed part of the County of London from 1889 and was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney from 1900. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1921.
The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London created in 1900. In 1965 it became part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Shadwell is a district of East London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the Thames between Wapping and Ratcliff. This riverside location has meant the area's history and character have been shaped by the maritime trades.
The London Docks were one of several sets of docks in the historic Port of London.
Ratcliff or Ratcliffe is a locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames between Limehouse, and Shadwell. The place name is no longer commonly used.
Bow is an area of East London within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is primarily a built-up and mostly residential area and is 4.6 miles (7.4 km) east of Charing Cross.
Shadwell Basin is a housing and leisure complex built around a disused dock in Wapping, London. The old dock was formerly part of the London Docks, a group of docks built by the London Dock Company at Shadwell and Wapping as part of the wider docks of the Port of London.
St George in the East, historically known as Wapping-Stepney, was an ancient parish, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. The place name is no longer widely used.
Bishop Challoner Catholic Federation of Schools is a Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form, located in the Shadwell area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. In May 2015, the name of the schools formally changed from "the Collegiate" to its current nomenclature of Bishop Challoner Catholic Federation of Schools.
St George's Town Hall, formerly known as Stepney Town Hall, and, before that, St George's Vestry Hall, is a municipal building on Cable Street, Stepney, London. It is a Grade II listed building.