Kensington and Chelsea council has shared first designs for an exhibition space providing access to the Social Justice Archive that is being develop by the library service, with local groups and residents.
The public space is one element in the £1 million project that will tell stories of campaigns including those for housing, playspace, anti-racism, childcare, legal aid, and gay liberation – mainly focussed on the historically poorer neighbourhoods in the north of the borough.
The main issue driving protest, and the formation of campaigning groups including the Notting Hill People’s Association, was appalling housing conditions, and the exploitation of tenants by landlords including Peter Rachman. Jan O’Malley tells the story of that and other campaigns in The Politics of Community Action, available here online.
The exhibition space will be housed in North Kensington library, which resident fought to save from closure. The designs were shared last week at a consultation session – see panels below, with a download button. The display panel says:
“For more than 150 years, North Kensington has been at the heart of campaigns for social justice. In 2022, a group of local residents proposed the idea of creating a Social Justice Archive – a place where these important stories and community histories could be preserved and shared. This year, that vision is becoming a reality.
“Kensington & Chelsea Archives & Local Studies already holds archive collections that link to social justice campaigns throughout North Kensington’s history. These stories are told through historic documents, photographs, oral histories, written accounts, artworks, community posters and more.
“The Social Justice Archive at North Kensington Library aims to make these archive collections, stories and experiences accessible within the heart of North Kensington”.
The campaign to save the library, and the need to rebuild trust with residents after the Grenfell tragedy, were significant in the council’s decision to develop the archive. The archive project page details the consultancy and consultation process which led to current proposals. As well as physical archive content in central and North Kensington libraries, there will be a web site highlighting archive collections, and a map of key campaigns and groups locations.
The display panel asks: “Which stories, movements, or historical events would you like to see represented?”
As I explained in an earlier post, one of the key campaigns of the 1960s and 70s was to secure play space for children living in overcrowded and unfit housing. The creation of adventure playgrounds led to summer play programmes and a further campaign, organised by Adam Ritchie and John O’Malley, to secure 23 acres of land underneath Westway for community use. The land is now managed by the Westway Trust. Adam tells the story here.
More recently Adam answered the question about stories of community achievement in an exhibition of his photographs from the 1960s, which I reported earlier. He highlighted:
- Fought fascism and Oswald Mosley and marched for Kelso Cochrane.
- Started one of the first Adventure Playgrounds in Britain
- Secured 23 acres under Westway for the community
- Started Westway Trust and later secured it for the community
- Started the Notting Hill Carnival
- Started the first Law Centre in the country
- Started the first Community Printing Press
- Supported the exiled Spanish children fleeing Franco
- Supported the Mangrove Nine
- Have an active gay support community
- Invented Meanwhile Gardens.
- Liberated the Tabernacle for community use.
- Did a Housing Survey which changed Council policy (a little)
- Ran the Summer Play Programme for three years
- Liberated Powis Square
- Created Frestonia
- Started a public laundry
- Eddie Adams created an Oral History, Mike Braybrook a Graphics Archive, Saved our Library and College, Ran information Centre
- Opened a women’s refuge, a women’s centre and a well-woman centre
- Started a Free Shop
- Started a national drugs support charity
- Fought for Grenfell bereaved and survivors
- Created their own Community Transport service
- Built their own network of Supplementary schools
- Created their own network of community gardens
The SJA project is already organising events with local groups, and I can strong recommend one on Monday March 30th telling the story of community print in local campaigns. Before the days of social media, posters and newsletters were the main way of organising groups and mobilising public support. Here’s the event details:
The People’s Print Shop
How was the UK’s first community printshop organised? How did it operate day to day? And what role did print play within a wider political project?
Using archival material as a starting point for discussion, Heiba Lamara joins Beryl Foster to revisit everyday life at Notting Hill Press, which operated between 1968 and 1972 and is widely recognised as the UK’s first community printshop.
Grounded in the daily work of the West London printshop, Heiba and Beryl will explore how Notting Hill Press sat within a broader ecosystem of grassroots organising in North Kensington and wider struggles for social transformation.
Monday 30 March 2026, 6–8pm
North Kensington Library, W11 1PZ
🔗 Book your ticket via Eventbrite: https://shorturl.at/7NmOH