Double fundraising boost for Bethnal Green tube disaster charity

The charity campaigning to build a permanent memorial to the 173 people who died in the Bethnal Green tube disaster received a double boost this week.

Two fundraising events - a scooter ride from South Woodford to Bethnal Green and an arts auction at the Rich Mix Centre - have helped to bump up their fundraising total by over �3500, organisers hope.

The Stairway to Heaven Memorial Trust aims to build a memorial outside the Bethnal Green underground station to mark the disaster, when lives were lost in a crush in the station’s stairwell in 1943.

The Foresters Scooter Club rode in convoy from South Woodford to the Misty Moon pub in Bethnal Green Road on Sunday and spent the day there collecting for the cause.

At the end of the day, members presented the Trust with a cheque for �622.

Last night, it was the turn of Tower Hamlets artists to do their bit when over a hundred works of art went under the hammer at the Bethnal Green Road centre.

The Trust’s honorary secretary Sandra Scotting said; “Many went for very good prices and anyone buying art for investment would have done well.”

Contributors included Columbia Road-based graffiti artist Eine, Hoxton artist Pure Evil, Rachel Glittenberg and Rich Simmons.

The auction was led by designer Steve Edge, the self-proclaimed Lord Shoreditch, who has a studio in Charlotte Road.

Ms Scotting believed the auction will have raised over �3000.