EAST ENDERS star Barbara Windsor joined survivors of the worst Second World War disaster at a memorial service yesterday. The soap actress was surrounded by survivor Alf Morris, 80, and pearly kings and queens, as she laid a wreath of flowers at an East End church.
EAST ENDERS star Barbara Windsor joined survivors of the worst Second World War disaster at a memorial service yesterday.
The soap actress was surrounded by survivor Alf Morris, 80, and pearly kings and queens, as she laid a wreath of flowers at an East End church on the 67th anniversary of the 1343 Bethnal Green tube disaster.
The memorial service at St John on Bethnal Green Church was followed by a blessing on the stairs of the underground station.
Three-hundred people were crushed into the stairwell on March 3, 1943, and 173 people died, mostly women and children, and 90 were injured.
After the service the congregation returned to the church to look at an exhibition about the disaster.
The disaster was largely hushed up at the time, but the exhibition included the proposed model for a memorial and memorial garden by architect Harry Paticas.
The Stairway to Heaven campaign has so far raised �200,000 towards their �600k memorial target. Full planning permission has been granted by Tower Hamlets council.
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