St Hilda's East Community Centre is a charity based in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

. The centre is located in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

and its second site, Sonali Gardens, is in

Shadwell Shadwell is a district of East London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets , east of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the Thames between Wapping (to the west) and Ratcliff (to the east). This riverside location has meant ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. St Hilda's East Community Centre works with local people of all backgrounds, offering a wide range of activities. This includes advice services, youth projects, support for parents and pre-school children, work with older people, women’s projects, volunteering placement and carers’ respite. It was founded as a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

in 1889 by the Guild of

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

History

After its first building in Victoria Park Square proved unsuitable, St Hilda's East found a permanent base on Old Nichol Street near the newly built

Boundary Estate The Boundary Estate is a housing development in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It is positioned just inside Bethnal Green's historic parish and borough boundary with Shoreditch, which ran along ''Boundary S ...

in 1898. In 1945, the settlement had also purchased another building across the road, Bruce Hall. The new building stood where St Hilda’s East is today on the corner of Old Nichol Street and Club Row. In 1964, the building on Old Nichol Street was sold and all activities moved into the site on Club Row, which was extended in 1968. There were no more residents, no live-in Warden, and more paid staff were employed to run the centre. The buildings were replaced in 1994. In 2005, St Hilda's became a two-site organisation when the Bengali Elders Day Centre moved to a purpose-built facility, Sonali Gardens, in Shadwell.Phillips, Anna. ''St Hilda's East: The Story of A Community.''p. 10

Current Work

The community centre now offers a range of services and opportunities for local people of all ages and backgrounds, providing a resource for the community in the Weavers Ward in northwest Tower Hamlets, while also delivering borough wide social care services. The work of St Hilda's East today broadly covers the areas of Older People and Care, Young People (including under 5s) and Women's Groups and Advice, Training and Resources (such as legal advice, a community archive, and training).

References

External links

St Hilda's East Community Centre
{{coord, 51.5250, -0.0743, display=title 1889 establishments in the United Kingdom Community centres in London Settlement houses in the United Kingdom Shoreditch