The Hammersmith Banners currently on display in the museum reflect Britain’s response to the Spanish Civil War and the campaigns held here to recruit new members of the International Brigade, collect food, money and arms for Spain, and remember those who had died.
For our exhibition, our volunteer Susan, did a lot of research into the Islington story of the Spanish Civil War. We decided, working with banner-maker Ed Hall, to make a banner reflecting these stories. Ed Hall has made banners for trade unions and protest groups since the 1980s. See here for an exhibition of his work at the People’s History Museum in Manchester a few years ago.
On the day of the workshop we first explored different banners from around the country, including many by Ed himself. We then looked at the Hammersmith banners and investigated Islington stories and decided who we would like to feature and how we would do it.
Learning about the Spanish Civil War in Islington; Bosco Jones from Finsbury who fought in the Spanish Civil War
Then we began to design our banner… planning and then drawing different elements under Ed’s guidance. During all our work we had really interesting discussions about the Spanish Civil War and what’s happened since.
Drawing pictures ready for our banner
We then stuck all our pictures together and rolled them up for Ed to take away. He will be making our banner to go on display in the museum very soon!
Our final banner and the team
Friends of Islington Museum 