Happy birthday to Chats! Arts Palace celebrates 100 years this month

Homerton Library, 1913

The building that is now Chats Palace opened exactly 100 years ago this month, and to mark the occasion a programme of activities and events has been announced.

From May until December, events and projects will reflect on the past, present and future of Chats. On Chats’ actual birthday of Friday 31 May, an exhibition will open of posters created by Chats in the 1980s and 1990s.

The public are also invited to watch a slide show containing some fascinating scenes of community life in Hackney. Later on, the building will remain open for live music and for people to socialise.

During the day a storytelling workshop will take place for young local children run by social enterprise Stories and More, who will return the following day (Saturday 1 June) for the Neverending Story – a storytelling workshop for anyone between the age of five and 10.

Chats was a hive of community life during the late 1970s and 80s, although for more than half a century beforehand it served as a public library.

A 1913 photograph shows the grand opening of Chats Palace as a library by the then mayor of Hackney, the chief librarian, town clerk and other dignitaries. On Tuesday 7 May, this photo was ‘duplicated’ with the current mayor Jules Pipe, plus councillors, Chats Palace staff, trustees, volunteers, stakeholders and funders.

The aim is to have copies of both images printed as postcards for people to buy for a small token, and the images will bookend the 100 year Chats Palace photographic exhibition taking place in the autumn.

Chats Palace grew out of the old Hackney Marsh Fun Festival, which was organised from the building during the 1970s. It quickly became a community resource, with a pensioners group, weekend schooling and a carnival committee.

In the 1980s, Chats Palace was a vocal protester against the Poll Tax and the demise of the GLC, while in the 1990s it became better known as a music and stand up comedy venue.

Teresa Hareduke, who remembers the early years of Chats, said: “It had an extensive programme of dance, drama and music workshops for all ages. It did community pantomimes and a whole series of community drama projects.”

With poetry nights and a Ceilidh in the pipeline for the summer and autumn, there is all the more reason to believe that good times are in store for Chats Palace.

Chats Palace
42-44 Brooksby’s Walk,
E9 6DF