News at the Town Hall

Memento: Tracing Stories Through Sound 

Memento
A walking tour based on the stories and people of any space; a little often visited part of town, such as the deepest Docklands or even a twisted slant on a well-known cultural institution. Memento integrates fiction into real historical facts to create an exciting experience that makes the audience look at the local area and it’s history in a new way.  Put your headphones on and switch on your senses.

Limehouse Town Hall
This forms the second part of the ‘Memento’ series – the first ran in 2010, also East London based at Trinity Buoy Wharf, supported by Courvoisier.  Memento – Limehouse Town Hall, uses audio to guide listeners through the grand stories and little-known people of this building with a past. Looking at the first 50 years of it’s life from 1881, moments come alive through character driven narratives, heart-warming soundtracks and things to touch, taste, see. Take a memento from your experience or leave one behind.

Audio: If you miss the event, you should be able to listen and walk another time from the new year – provisional dates so far are Sun Feb 24th and Sun Apr 28th 2013.

Come for some history on headphones with Memento, live piano and strings from Waverley Keys and a big screen viewing of David Lynch's The Elephant Man. 

We have limited tickets available for the Memento audio walking tour based on the stories and people of the Town Hall. Looking at the first 50 years of its life from 1881, moments come alive through character driven narratives, heart-warming soundtracks and things to touch and see. Take a memento from your experience or leave one behind.

Schedule:

1800 Memento Audio Walk (limited availability, approx 50 mins - specify ticket type)

1930 Music from Waverley Keys, bar open, food available

2030 Screening of The Elephant Man

All ticket proceeds will go towards the upkeep of the Limehouse Town Hall

Please note: not suitable for under 14s, no wheelchair access.

See the video teaser here: http://vimeo.com/53603969 

Advance only here: http://mementolimehouse.eventbrite.co.uk/

Download: Memento Limehouse Press Release

The Limehouse Town Hall Consortium Trust would like to invite you to join us in exploring the history of the Town Hall on the weekend of 22nd/23rd September!

Our building, which is usually not open to the public, will participate again in London's Open House event from 12-5pm on both Saturday and Sunday. 

We have been busy working on an educational and fun audio piece for our visitors and shall be serving refreshments in the Grand Hall!

Also coming up soon:

Finding Butterfly Opera at the Limehouse Town Hall

3rd-20th October 2012

The Musical Director of Olivier Award winning La Boheme and guerilla opera-makers The Wedding Collective re-imagine Madame Butterfly; one of the most hauntingly beautiful operas ever made. 

Nagasaki, 1948. In a country ravaged by war and destruction a young man returns home, searching through the rubble for memories of his mother, a beautiful geisha called Cio-Cio-San but known to the world as Butterfly.

Torn away from his Japanese homeland and brought up in America, Lt. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, Jr. is forced to confront his true heritage as well as his father's monstrous act of betrayal. 

Sung by a cast of professional opera singers and using Puccini's original score, Finding Butterfly picks up where the original masterpiece ended, tracing Butterfly's final tragic steps and featuring the best known and loved arias from one of the most iconic works in the opera canon. Performed as an operatic, site specific play in Limehouse Town Hall, with words in English and an Italian libretto. 

Tickets http://www.sohotheatre.com/whats-on/finding-butterfly/

Community Space for Hire!

In addition to the Grand Hall we now offer the Community Space for hire. 

Whether for meetings, workshops, educational classes or your other projects, this may be the space you have have been looking for.

Both the Hall and Community Space can also be hired jointly. 

From 13th July to 24th August Stitches In Time's  Exhibition "Textile Circuit" will be shown in the Community Space, which we are all very excited about.

Please have a look at SIT's website for more information: http://www.stitchesintime.org.uk

The Trust is also delighted to let you know that it has been granted the London 2012 Inspire Mark in this context!

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Completion of Roof Repairs!

We are pleased to announce that, as of around 25th April, the roof and other high level repairs to the Town Hall were effectively completed. This is fantastic news for the future of the building, as with regular maintenance it should be watertight now for thirty or forty years at least, allowing the Trust to plan with confidence for the larger-scale works to refurbish and adapt the building for 21st century community use. The repairs to the slates, lead gutters and flat roof were carried out just in time to avoid water pouring into the building over the last couple of very wet weeks. The flat roof in particular had started to deteriorate so badly that there is a strong possibility the building would have become un-useable at some point later this year if the repairs had not been carried out. We are enormously grateful for the support of English Heritage, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Conservation Office and the Isle of Dogs Community Foundation, without whose help the works would not have been possible. We are also grateful to the contractor, Isis Restoration Limited, for the high quality of the work they carried out.

Unfortunately the repairs took longer to complete than expected, and have ended up costing more than expected, so we are still gratefully accepting any donations to help us pay the contractor's final bills. Any cheques should be made payable to 'Limehouse Town Hall Consortium Trust', writing 'roof repairs ' on the back and letting us know if you would like a public acknowledgement rather than just a private but very big 'thank you'!

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We would herewith like to invite you to our Spring Bazaar!

Spring Bazaar at Limehouse Town Hall

Where: 646 Commerical Road, E14 7HA

When: Saturday 31st March 2012, 11am-5pm

If you are looking for something to do with your family or want to see what is happening with different community groups in the Tower Hamlets area, pop on down to Limehouse Town Hall on the 31st March!

To celebrate the completion of badly needed roof repairs, Limehouse Town Hall Consortium Trust are holding a bazaar in the grand hall of the Victorian building. Entry will be free.

It will be a rare chance for the public to get a good look at the interior of this beautiful classical building. The building, designed by A & C Harston, was opened in 1881, and is now being renovated and developed for community use. 

Local community groups will be hosting various stalls and informal creative workshops will be taking place throughout the day. 

Stitches in Time, a local, visual and textile arts organisation will be hosting workshops the entire day. Come check out a bike powered lightbulb at the Hackney and Tower Hamlets Friends of the Earth stall. Join Jamie and Darren for some crafting at their 'Sparks Themed Arts and Craft Spectacular Stall. Bring some money to take away some lovely plants at the East London Garden Society Stall or sample some fine and tasty homemade cakes! 

We will have musical entertainment during the day by jazz singer Chantal Santos, folk singer/ songwriter Caroline Grannell and folk and acoustic singer/songwriter Nicola Jane Stevens.  We will also have on display, photography by local photographer Marian Spiers. 

There will be an opportunity to see what the plans are for the building, and to give the Trust your ideas for, and memories of, the place. 

The hall was used as an entertainment venue for much of its early life. Musical performances were a draw for hundreds of local people, who packed the main hall and public gallery to capacity. Dance classes were held here in the 1890s, and cinematograph performances used to take place regularly. 

The inspiration for this event, celebrating a key phase of the current renovation, came from bazaars that took place at the hall around the turn of the century. These were often held near Christmas, and incorporated side-shows, art exhibitions and stalls. The hall was a bustling hub for the local community, both for leisure and for their civic necessities, and the bazaar will continue this tradition.