Coronation Avenue 80th Anniversary Memorial Event
13 October 2020 is the 80th anniversary of the Coronation Avenue bombing in 1940. To mark this occasion, Abney Park Trust hosted an online event. The Civilian War Memorial in the cemetery, which commemorates the Stoke Newington residents lost in the Second World War, has recently been restored thanks to a donation from the charity TimeLine.
The event was made up of a selection of talks:
Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas introduced the event, giving a brief overview of the monument and Abney Park Trust.
Alan Gartrell gave a talk on the history of the Civilian War Memorial in the context of the Second World War, detailing the events of 13 October 1940 and Stoke Newington during the war.
Rabbi Herschel Gluck gave a talk entitled 'A glimpse of Jewish life in Stoke Newington throughout the ages." This touched on the history, institutions, and contribution of the Jewish community in Stoke Newington, the Second World War including the events at Coronation Avenue and Abney Park, Mosley and the Black Shirts, and contemporary Jewish life in the area.
There were also poignant video messages from the relatives of those lost during the Coronation Avenue bombing, kindly contacted by TimeLine.