Campaign prompted by Blitz special report in the Gazette

Two stalls in Stoke Newington today hope to raise the last �350 needed for a plaque commemorating one of London’s worst disasters in the Blitz.

The Coronation Avenue Campaign hopes to reach its target of �3,500 to honour the victims of a local tragedy when a a 550lb bomb tore through the flats at Coronation Avenue – next to Stoke Newington police station on the High Street – killing over 160 of the men, women and children who had taken refuge in the air raid shelters beneath the flats.

The campaign began when father of two Simon Eaton of Palatine Road came up with the idea of marking the 70th anniversary of the tragedy by installing a plaque on the building.

“I wanted to make sure that the memory of the terrible event did not fade. Prompted by the special supplement in the Gazette about the Blitz, I wrote to the Letters page about our idea,” he said.

Within days of my letter appearing (September 16th), messages of support began to pour in.

Soon a campaign was being spearheaded by Simon and other voluntary helpers – Rev. Niall Weir, of St.Paul’s Church in West Hackney, Stoke Newington councillor Louisa Thomson, Nicola Baboneau of The Learning Trust and Camilla Loewe of history organization TimeLine.

A bric a brac stall at the Winter Fair at St. Paul’s Church, opposite Coronation Avenue in Stoke Newington High Street.

Mugs will be on sale at the Farmers’ Market, at William Patten School in Stoke Newington Church Street, which will be running until 2.30pm.

More information about Coronation Avenue history and about the campaign is at

www.timeline.org.uk