Changing Times: 100 Years of the Broadway, Bexleyheath, 1912-2012

In September 2011 the Bexley Historical Society received £31,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for an exciting project entitled "Changing Times: 100 Years of the Broadway, Bexleyheath, 1912-2012". The project celebrated the centenary of the Clock Tower, which was built to commemorate the coronation of George V. We have been looking at the history of the Broadway from the time the Clock Tower was built up to the present day, focusing on historical research, oral history and photographs.

The HLF funding has allowed us to engage a wide audience by taking the project to local schools, training volunteers and appealing to the public to donate their memories and photographs. An interpretation panel has been placed at the foot of the Clock Tower and the public have been invited to learn from the project through activities such as talks, guided walks, a website and an exhibition.

We asked anyone who has lived, worked, shopped or otherwise spent time at the Broadway to contribute by writing about their memories or arrange to be interviewed. We also asked people to donate photographs of the Broadway or any documents - newspaper cuttings, maps, letters, diaries, etc. We took photographs and listed the premises in the present-day Broadway, creating a complete record of what stands now. Volunteers have researched aspects of the Broadway's history using the plentiful resources at Bexley Local Studies and Archive Centre, looking at significant events or at the history of a building or business. This has enabled us to piece together the history of the Broadway from the time the Clock Tower was built in July 1912 right up to the celebration of its centenary in July 2012.

The project finished in September 2012, but we will continue to collect memories, documents and photographs. If you would like to contribute in any way, please e-mail Penny Duggan at secretary@bexleyhistoricalsociety.co.uk.  

Events relating to the Changing Times project are in our News archive.

Fuller details of the project are at broadwaybexleyheath1912.wordpress.com.

Also see details of the project on our partner Bexley Council's website at Changing Times.

You can follow the project on Facebook, and on Twitter @Broadway1912.