UK: Restoring Bankroft Road Cemetery

Activists, community leaders and politicans are supporting restoration efforts at one of Europe's oldest Jewish cemeteries, which was bombed in 1944.

The story includes details of the plans.

Architect and amateur historian Susie Clapham, alongside fellow activists at the Jewish East End Celebration Society, is trying to raise the estimated tens of thousands of pounds required to restore graves at Bankroft Road cemetery, located in Mile End.

She has also submitted plans to the Board of Deputies (BoD) - which has owned the cemetery since its closure in 1928 - for a memorial to some of the UK's first Ashkenazi immigrants.
Among those buried there are 19th century authoress Charlotte Montefiore, the sister of Sir Moses.

Clapham says the campaign has become a quest to put right 80 years of neglect.

Founded in 1811, there are 500 graves on the derelict site. The Board of Deputies has approved funds to build a pavilion on the site for education purposes.

"This will mark Bankroft Road being back in its rightful place as an important part of Jewish history and culture - and a yahrzeit to all 500 souls who lie silently buried in its overgrown grounds."

A fundraising campaign will be necessary, according to others quoted in the story.

Read all the details at the link above.