East London’s proud printing heritage will be charted thanks to £58,200 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Community interest company Rendezvous Projects will use the funding on a project exploring pre-digital print workshops in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest.

Lightboxes and Lettering: Printing Industry Heritage in East London will map former businesses and record the experiences of current and former employees, the company says.

“We are so pleased to have been awarded this National Lottery grant, which will uncover and preserve this important aspect of London’s industrial heritage, and one which is still a major part of the creative industries in east London,” said director Lucy Harrison.

Access to small presses allowed political and community groups to print books, pamphlets and leaflets cheaply and easily,

Many of these smaller firms were in east London, though the number of print workshops is much reduced and operating very differently today.