Moving In -
Gunnesbury Park Museum - Acton
The exhibition asks (and answers) the question why have people moved to the Borough of
Ealing in the last thousand years?
The following are extracts from the
publicity material available at the Exhibition.
Moving In - The
Peopling of Ealing over 1000 years
(Click on above to see larger version)
Wed 1 Mar - Sat 25 Mar
2000
(At Gunnersbury Park Museum, Acton from
Saturday 8 April- Saturday 28 October 2000.)
"Give over all the busy care Of gain, and with despatch repair To Acton
for Untainted air"
(The advice of Dr Cobden, Rector of Acton
1755-1764 to a wealthy friend.)
"My great grandfather Lambert escaped from France during the siege of
Paris (1870). His son moved to Ealing, the Queen of the Suburbs."
(Ms Jackie Burke, Ealing)
"We came here to earn money... But in the meantime we have our families,
some of our children were born here and they were educated here."
(K.S. Bhullar, Southall)
This exhibition asks the question why have people moved to the Borough of
Ealing in the last thousand years?
•
Farming, the reason that the land was settled.
• Finding a home, from an early date, wealthy Londoners chose to move to
Acton or Ealing if they could afford it. In the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, larger numbers of people moved in to the burgeoning suburbs which
were built in response to new developments in transport and job opportunities.
• Finding work in almost every imaginable job, for example brickmaking,
laundry work, domestic service, factory work, driving a bus or train, building
Heathrow Airport, acting and film-making.
The exhibition
also looks at those people who did not choose to come but were forced to, such
as the inmates of Hanwell Asylum and refugees and asylum seekers escaping war or
civil unrest in the countries where they were born. The exhibition is a
collaborative project between staff from the Lifelong Learning section of Ealing’s
Education Department and the staff of Gunnersbury Park Museum. Many members of
community groups and other local residents
have sent in their reminiscences and old photographs to explain how it was
that they (or their parents or grandparents) arrived in the Borough. The
exhibition includes material from all three towns, Ealing, Acton and Southall,
and the districts of Hanwell, Greenford, Perivale and Northolt, and will fairly
reflect the ethnic diversity of the modern Borough.
The exhibition is a fascinating reminder of the Boroughs ever-changing
history. As well as maps, paintings and photographs, the exhibition will include
models and open displays. There will also be the opportunity for visitors to
record the reasons why they or their predecessors moved to Ealing.
Pitshanger Manor & Gallery
Walpole Park Mattock Lane
Ealing London W5 5EQ
ADMISSION FREE
Times
Tues - Sat 10am to 5pm Closed Bank Holidays
Tel 020 8567 1227 Fax 020 8567 0595
e-mail: pitshanger@ealing.gov.uk
Travel
BR and Tube: Ealing Broadway
