Posted Friday 1 March 2013
As the air raid sirens rang out across London on March 3 1943, hundreds of people headed underground to safety at Bethnal Green where the tube station was under construction. Plagued by bombing raids, Eastenders were no strangers to taking shelter, even in the pitch dark of a blackout. Working their way down the temporary steps that night, however, a lady carrying a child fell. The crowd pressed on into the darkness not knowing about the accident in the stairwell below. The resulting crush led to the deaths of 173 people, including 62 children, and injuries to 90 more.
After six years' fundraising, designing, planning and negotiation, phase one has now been completed. It includes a white concrete plinth set in a landscaped area of granite slabs. As well as listing all the names of those who died, bronze plaques placed along the memorial feature testimonials from survivors, emergency services personnel and relatives of the victims. A reclaimed teak bench overlooking the area offers passers-by and family members a place for reflection, while a small light set in the ground matches the 25 watt light bulb that served the stairwell that fateful night. Funds for a stairwell-shaped canopy, also to be made of reclaimed teak, are still to be raised. Mr Paticas hopes the memorial can be completed later this year - 70 years on from the disaster.
Every piece of material that has been used in the memorial has a story behind it. The wood that will make the stairwell canopy is perhaps the most unusual. "The canopy will be made from reclaimed teak recovered from a ship that was sunk in World War I," Mr Paticas explained. "We wanted to use wood because it is a soft, gentle material appropriate for a memorial. But, it had to withstand the elements, so we needed to find a sustainable hard wood source, which we did. I just didn't expect it to come from the bottom of the Irish Sea."
Secretary of the Stairway to Heaven Memorial Trust Sandra Scotting lost a grandmother and cousin in the disaster, while her mother was one of those rescued alive. She said that the tragedy devastated a generation in her community and praised the work done by Mr Paticas for the charity. "He's poured his heart and soul into the project - it's even better than we could have imagined," she said. "His attention to detail has been breathtaking and the symbolism in his choices of shape and materials has created something people will definitely be moved by. The survivors and their families have waited 70 years for this."
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