Private tour of Ilford's pre-historic remains at Natural History Museum, inspires children to learn more about our heritage

The East  Ilford Betterment Partnership has outlined a funding application with the Heritage Lottery Fund, that if successful will see the installation of a life-size replica of the Mammoth skull found locally, in our town centre.  The project which is being supported by Redbridge Museum will include a series of children's and adults workshops on our pleistociene mammalian past.

Gerrard Greene from Redbridge Vision visited the Natural History Museum on Tuesday last week and met with a curator to discuss the potential loan of some of the existing fossilized bones stored in their archives.  These would be used as part of a exhibition of the Ilford of over 100,000 years ago, at a time when the area was a savannah and huge mammals roamed the land in more tropical heat.

On Tuesday 27th August a group of children visited the museum's hidden archives, as part of a private tour with Senior Paleontologist Adrian Lister - to stimulate an interest with our local heritage.  The participants included Hannah Chowdhry, Tatiana Ngeze and Tanisha Ngeze.  The children were able to access bones found at a number of excavations from 1864 that illustrated the range and size of animals that once lived here.  Fossilized remains of elephants, lions, cattle, rhinos and of course mammoths surprised and excited the young visitors.  The children later visited the actual skull labelled "Ilford Mammoth" maintained in the main central foyer of the Natural History Museum and the replica found in the Mammals section of the Museum exhibition areas.

Hannah Chowdhry (9 years) said;

"Touching the bones was very exciting, the fossils were surprisingly tough, from the way they looked I thought they would be much more brittle. The size of the animal's was terrifying!"

Tatiana Ngeze (9 years) said;

"I felt like a VIP, we did not have to queue for the museum and got to see the private archives which most members of the public never get to see.  I was so pleased to see our town with a picture mentioned by the replica skull in the mammals section of the museum." 

Wilson Chowdhry said;

"We are in the process of completing our main application with the help of Redbridge Museum and hope to submit it by September this year.  If our application is successful the project will be undertaken throughout 2014 celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sir Antonio Brady's excavation, that led to the finding of the famous skull."

The EIBP is calling for local people to complete their on-line questionnaire that will assist them with their funding application.  It can be found using this link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TR6CQTR

Children feel a lions tooth found in Ilford.

Tatiana Ngeze holding a Mammoth's tooth.

Hannah Chowdhry holding a Mammoth tooth.

Children held an elephant tusk, found in Ilford.

The actual Mammoth skull found in Ilford is one of the NHM's most prized assets.  A replica would be installed in our town centre if our funding application is successful.

Local children breathe fresh life into Redbridge Peace monument!

Redbridge Peace monument with new mosaic inserts.

A local art feature received a facelift this week after new mosaics were installed into it's base.

Children of Clementswood Ward attending our recent mosaic art workshops, created peace designs that have now been incorporated into the Redbridge Peace monument.

The monument which was installed in Ilford by the East Ilford Betterment Partnership in 2011, is based at the location of the fatal stabbing of Teenager Kashif Mahmood in 2005, at the Winston Way Roundabout.  

Children aged between 5 - 10 years, created images of butterfly, doves, snails, stars and other images, following the theme of peace hope and unity.

Community leaders inspired the creations through a series of 5 minute seminars before each class.  A public display of some of the Mosiac designs can be viewed at Redbridge Central Library.

 Sania Satwat Chair of the EIBP said:

"It is hoped that the designs will inspire future generations to recognise the importance of diversity in the borough and the value of life."

Redbridge "Love has no Colour" Mosaic Art Workshops a great success!

Today the EIBP completed our Mosaic Art Workshops focused on stimulating Cultural and religious awareness and peace amongst children in East Ilford.   In total 42 Children aged between 5 and 11 enjoyed learning about the historic art of mosaics.  Our Surveys indicated that 100% of children felt they had gained more confidence in art and had gained new transferable skills, that they were more aware of the principles of other local faiths, that they had made new friends and that they had learned that all faiths were equally important.  

The wonderful pieces of art that included flowers, snails, people and trees (representing life), patterns and spirals, Om Symbol, Khlasa Symbol, Crosses (representing diversity), crosses, doves, rainbows and fish (representing peace), were described as "of a high  calibre"  Gary Drostle the artist responsible for the workshops said; "The children of East ilford are very talented and ever so well behaved, it was a pleasure to work with them, they taught me a few things about mosaic patterns too!"

Hannah Chowdhry a young participant (9 years) said; "When I started I thought it was going to be difficult, the teacher made it very easy for us to create our images."

Tatyana Ngeze (8 years) said; "It was so much fun I wish we could do it again, I made lots of new friends"

Simran Sangha (9 years) said;  "Usually holidays can be boring, this was so exciting and I learnt a new skill."

Pastor Bryon from the Apostolic Church, Ilford based on Connaught Road was one of five community faith leaders that talked about the principles of his faith. The leaders provided images to inspire the artwork created by children.  He said;

"I was grateful to be invited to get involved with this project, initiatives like this develop better understandings in communities and can be the start of lifelong friendships."

Chairman of the Hindu Human Rights Group, Ranbir Singh said; "Classes like this engage with young people, open their minds and allow them to contribute to wider society." 

There were also talks from Danny O'Brien of Anti-knife UK and the local police team.

The Artwork will be displayed In Redbridge Central Library on the 1st floor foyer from this week until January 2014.

We hope to bring similar classes to our centre in the future that are focused on concepts of peace hope and unity and will lead to new mosaics being installed into the base of our local Peace Monument.

Our thanks to Church Urban Fund for their grant towards this project.

Children busy in designing their artwork.

 Children deep in concentration.

C

local children of different origins shared time together.  

Some practised on plates before making their final designs.

Support form teachers ensured a high quality of artwork and many new transferable skills.

Children even used tools to shape their own tiles.

Children learnt the need for good preparation

Children represented a broad spectrum of faiths.

100% of participants said they learnt new skills.

Children exhibited great concentration and were very methodical and neat.

The sun.

A flower

A cross

A star

A mountain

A person.

A tree.

A flower.

A snail

Pastor Bryon describing concepts of peace within Christianity.  

Children eager to respond to questions.

Taking pride in their work.

Images provided by guests speakers inspired the artwork.

Sheer joy expressed by children.

                                                    

                                                        Children worked well together.

Three men arrested for the killing of the pair who were shot on Mortlake Road.

Three men have been arrested in connection with the shooting of two victims on Mortlake Road Ilford on Sunday.

The shooting has alarmed local residents who were disturbed by loud shots which they initially thought were fireworks.

The Ilford recorder informs us that one man was shot in the arm and another may lose his sight due to the injuries from the gun shot.  Further details can be read here:

http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/crime-court/21_year_old_could_lose_sight_after_being_shot_by_motorbike_gunman_in_mortlake_road_ilford_1_2291151

If you have any information that can help the police in their investigations please call the Trident Gang Command on 020 7230 9831.

Two men shot on Mortlake Road a first for the community!

Residents of Mortlake Road, Ilford were disturbed by a series of doors being knocked aggressively, as two men tried to escape gunmen around11.30pm last night (Sunday 21st July 2013).    A man aged 21 and one aged 29 are the alleged victims and were rushed to a local hospital.   The men are said to have survived the attack but are in a critical condition.

Local resident's were too frightened by the scene to open their door to the eventual victims.  One man rushed to the victims aid after the shooting and waited with them till emergency services arrived.

If you are aware of any details that could help in the ensuing police investigation, please call Trident Gang Command on 020 7230 9831.

Mammoth Steppes for Redbridge!

Professor Adrian Lister Senior Palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum and Wilson Chowdhry revealing the new Mammoth plaque, replacing an original plaque stolen early 2012.

Ilford is one of the world’s foremost sites for fossils but, apart from the plaque installed by the BPCA and EIBP in Ilford Lane and some small items in Redbridge Museum (on loan from the Natural History Museum), there is nothing here to commemorate this. Recent research has revealed that the mammoths of Ilford (at least from Uphall Pit) are not, as was thought,

an early form of the familiar woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius , but a late and slightly smaller form of the ‘steppe mammoth.’   We believe Ilford people should be proud of their pre-history and would like to introduce a replica of the skull to Ilford Town Centre.  Please complete our survey so that we can gauge the level of support for such a project.

Our project would introduce a life-size replica of the mammoth skull found locally and currently residing in the Natural History Museum.  The installation if successful would be installed near the original discovery site, which would be outside Boots Pharmacy in Ilford town Centre.

For a grant to be successful we need to show that there is support for our project, which we believe would invigorate great interest in our important  pre-history, whilst instilling a sense of local pride.

  

The project would coincide with the 150th Anniversary of the discovery and November publication by Sir Antonio Brady.  Moreover we would hold one large free public event to promote and launch our installation and a Redbridge Central Library Workshop and exhibition.

Could you please complete this questionnaire and ask others in your network to complete it too:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TR6CQTR

Teen angst a thing of the past, after love was sprayed around!

Redbridge's teenagers and children became more harmonious after a series of spray art workshops at the Clementswood Community Centre, during the May half term holidays.

Young people from the local area gelled together to produce art work, that will be displayed in Redbridge Central Library, Clements Road, Ilford  from 16th June 2013.

The project termed "Love Has No Colour" was funded by the Church Urban Fund and Help A Capital Child, based on a theme of Faith, Hope and Unity.  Participants learned how to create a "tag" - abbreviated versions of their name or nickname in artistic writing.  They also collaborated on a peace mural that now adorns the walls of Clementswood Community Centre and created boards that will be displayed around local parks.

Morning classroom sessions involved children aged between 6 - 11 and afternoon sessions were attended by young people aged from 12 - 17.  The afternoon sessions contained some young offenders who were supervised by the Youth Offender Service in a youth inclusion programme, designed to break the cycle of hatred and suspicion many young people face.  Young Offenders also primed the walls of the community centre for the final mural and repainted the entire interior of the property.

Interfaith harmony presentations were provided by Ranbir Singh from the Hindu Human Rights Group, Mozzam Bilal from the Green Lane Mosque, and Pastor Bryon from Eden Christian Centre, Connaught Road, Ilford, during the 5 day workshops.  A visit by the Clementswood Police Safer Neighbourhood team who talked about the need for communities to work together, inspired the final design.

Pastor Bryon said;

"It was a very rewarding experience to be able to work with young impressionable minds.  I simply spoke of the Love that God provides and the hope we have through this.  Response from participants was positive and their eventual artwork incorporated peace concepts and symbols from all major faiths."

Dominka Zakowana (15 years) one of the teenagers involved in the project said;

"When I first started the course I was a little scared of the boys from the YOS project, however by the end of the course we were all working well together and found we could rely on each other for help."  

She added;

"I have done some spray art in my bedroom before.  However, I feel as if I have gained news skills and  hope to use them to improve the way my room looks."


Hannah Chowdhry (9 years) said;

"We learnt about other faiths different from our own and visited a local church and mosque.  We chose the picture of a Police officer caring for children who were lost in a big town, as we felt Police gave us hope"  

Young offenders who cannot be named said;

GB – "The project was alright, I learnt how to spray paint  which I had never consider engaging in before.  Happy I learnt a new skill. The tutor was fun to work with."

AA – "It was ok, learnt different techniques of how to use spray paints for different effects. Had fun working alongside the other young people however, would of liked to take a picture home.  Enjoyed being interviewed by the Redbridge Recorder and that my photo will be in the local paper."

SF – "Yes, it was fun but could have been given more choice in what to spray paint."  

Chairperson Sania Satwat, said;

"It was great to see the team work exhibited by participants on the course, their willingness to learn and the wonderful works of art produced.  We hope members of the public enjoy them as much as we have."  The participants have learnt many transferable skills and the transformation in the attitudes and manner of the young offenders on the course was remarkable.  The experience we had with this project is one that our group will always cherish."

Dominika Zakowana working on the mural.