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This website has been provided voluntarily to support the project Kingsley Hall and the Legacy of Muriel Lester and will be maintained, hopefully, as long as there are Kingsley Halls and websites! Currently it is maintained by David Baker, Centre Manager of Kingsley Hall, Bromley-by-Bow.

Kingsley Hall in Bromley-by-Bow successfully applied for a grant of £49,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for this project, running from August 2008 to September 2009. Its aim to preserve the Muriel Lester Archive, making it accessible to everybody, and so gaining wider recognition for the achievements of the founders of the two Kingsley Halls, in Bow and Dagenham, Muriel and her sister Doris.

The project included a wide range of events and activities for all ages, with opportunities for local volunteers to learn skills and discover a part of local and international history that has been undeservedly neglected for many years.

Muriel Lester’s personal papers are at Kingsley Hall in Dagenham. The archive is a fascinating and important record of the Lester sisters’ work in East London and Muriel’s world travels in the cause of international peace. It includes diaries, notebooks, correspondence, photographs, publications and records of both Kingsley Halls and of Children’s House, Bow.

During the course of the project:

  • Documents in the Muriel Lester Archive underwent basic cleaning and repair by volunteers in a series of workshops led by a conservator.
  • The project archivist, Valentina Mirabella, assisted by volunteers, created an electronic catalogue, with digital images. This will be accessible through the Archives Hub from September 2009, and from this community website.
  • A collection of oral history interviews conducted by a group of volunteers were added to the Kingsley Hall archives.
  • Tower Hamlets Humanities Education Centre produced learning activities for the Citizenship curriculum based on work with local schools.
  • Stitches In Time, working with the Patchwork group at Kingsley Hall and other local groups, produced a three panelled tapestry based on the archives, emphasizing the Halls’ original and continuing commitment to international peace.