Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker—new patron to the Bethnal Green wartime air-raid disaster memorial fund—met schoolchildren from the Isle of Wight this week who have raised �600 for the Stairway to Heaven memorial.
A youngster from Brightstone Primary near the resort of Ventnor visited Bethnal Green two years ago with her grandmother who grew up in the East End and met a trustee from the memorial trust who told them about the disaster in 1943 when 173 men, women, children and babies died in a stampede during an air-raid alert.
The little girl went back to her school to tell them about Britain’s worst wartime civilian tragedy and teacher Donna McQueen’s class decided to raise money for the charity as part of their World War curriculum project.
The new class of nine-year-olds wanted to do the same this year. They raised money by baking cakes, cleaning cars and windows, washing up, walking dogs and doing odd jobs —then presented a cheque to Cheryl yesterday while on a school trip to an educational centre in Kent.
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