Anna Aslanyan

Digging deep into history

Gillian Tindall uncovers a swathe of London’s history as she follows Crossrail’s route to Bedlam and beyond

issue 10 September 2016

The year is 1963. A girl is walking around Stepney with a pack of index cards, visiting old residents in their dilapidated houses, drinking strong tea with tinned milk, listening to their stories of happy days past and looking at cracked walls and leaking roofs. As she promises them help on behalf of her employer, the Old People’s Welfare Association, redevelopment plans for the area are being drawn up with little regard for its inhabitants, many of whom don’t want to move.

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