A Home Fit To Live In
Housing in Canning Town in the 1950s, 60s and 70s
"We were lucky enough to have a backyard, outdoor toilet." - Roger
"It was quite a while before new buildings came about, in the 60s the building sites regenerated (...) there weren’t any tall buildings until the blocks of flats." - John
“Suddenly the 60s came (...) it was all very gaudy, all very bright (...) orange was the colour.” - Terry
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"We were lucky enough to have a backyard, outdoor toilet." - Roger
"That house was life changing. I look back now. I had my own bedroom, inside toilet - two toilets, actually. (...) Stable housing, warm housing, no rats, no mice, no mould. And the council looked after it." - Terry P
About the Project
Our project shares new oral history interviews from Canning Town residents recalling their memories of home from the 1950s to the 1970s, and celebrates Canning Town as a historic centre of housing standards innovation. This project is made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Eastside Community Heritage delivered oral history training to 7 volunteers, who then conducted oral history interviews with local people. The quotations, sound clips, and photographs used in this website and exhibition are taken from these interviews. We are also honoured to share paintings from Canning Town-born artist Terence Claydon, who paints his memories of growing up in the area in the 1950s and 60s. All materials from this project are kept in our Hidden-Histories archive.
Eastside Community Heritage is a Newham-based charity that works to uncover and share the hidden histories of East London. Our Hidden-Histories archive, open to the public, now contains over 4,000 oral histories and 40,000 photos of East Londoners, dating from the 19th Century to the present day. We take these accounts into communities to connect people with the rich heritage of East London.