Living Memory exhibition at Bargehouse

Over 300 residents engaged in the project and at least 250 of them attended the exhibition launch on Thursday evening.

On show are paintings, posters and films recording the decades of the twentieth century. The votes for women campaign, the Second World War and the Festival of Britain stand out.

The focus is the triangle created by taking the Thames, Lambeth Road and Southwark Bridge Road as boundaries. Maps by Ben Stephenson highlight the themed walks taking place again this week within this area.

Old maps, models and photographs show how Waterloo and its neighbours have changed. Although there is the record of poverty, when occupations included 'scavinger', there are also moments of fun and happiness.

Poems and oral history recordings tell of today's experiences and preferences.

Catherine Cowell writes in Madhouse:

Move to Brixton.
No thanks.
Move to Battersea. No. Thank God!
Final offer. Waterloo. Mum takes it.

Anne of The Cut says:

It still grabs me every time I look upstream and I see St Paul's and the river and I think 'I'm home and everything's OK.

The Living Memory Heritage project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.