Welcome to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the home of Tower Hamlets Rotary.

Go tyo our Facebook Page which shows all our current projects                                                                            Registered Charity 1011198

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, population 186,700, is situated to the east of the City of London. Within its boundaries is the Tower of  London and Tower Bridge and the new business “city” of London Docklands including Canary Wharf, previously the area of London Docks. The area contains some of Britain’s most economically deprived communities. It has been home to successive waves of migrants including the Huguenots, the Irish, the Jews and most recently many Bangladeshis principally from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh.

Tower Hamlets Borough is an amalgamation of four smaller geographical boroughs each of which had their own Rotary Clubs of which two remain. The multi cultural, dual gender Rotary Club of Tower Hamlets (formerly RC Stepney) was formed in 1929. At that time the London borough of Stepney had a larger population than the four amalgamated boroughs have today – such was the level of overcrowding. Historically crime arising from the dock culture was significant – indeed Bill Sykes originated from East London - and in 1968 major London gangsters – the Kray twins were arrested.

For more about the criminal past of the East End see http://www.crimelibrary.com/

The East End was also the recipient of good as well as evil. William Booth founded the Salvation Army here and opened his first house in Whitechapel, close to Christopher Wren’s Trinity House. George Peabody, an American who lived most of his life in London, bequeathed his considerable fortune to a charitable trust to fund education and slum clearance. Thomas Barnardo, an Irishman, became superintendent of an impoverished free school, and in 1870, opened his first Children’s Home. In a lifetime of unselfish toil, he rescued and trained 60,000 destitute children and helped 250,000 more in want. The London Hospital, the largest general hospital in Britain situated in the East End, became the final home to John Merrick, famous as “The Elephant Man.”

The East End was a setting for some of the most famous detective and mystery thrillers ever written. The novels of Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Wallace and Arthur Anthony Ward created images featuring criminal malfeasance of the deepest hues, involving the immortal characters-Sherlock Holmes and the evil genius of Fu Manchu, among others.

The East End is also famous as the stamping ground of the first world-famous serial killer: a man who subsequently became celebrated as Jack the Ripper. In 1888, between Friday 31st August and Friday 9th November, he savagely murdered and mutilated five women. All the killings involved prostitutes as victims, and all occurred in or near Whitechapel, a squalid, densely populated rabbit warren of a suburb flanking the City of London.

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets lies on the left of the picture starting at Tower Bridge - the last bridge in the picture -and extends to the Canary Wharf Towers in the distance.

Charities supported by  Rotary International - Tower Hamlets

Kids Out

Bow Food Bank

St Josephs Hospice

The Zaccaheus Project - Betrhnal Green Methodist Church

Mercy Ships

Hearing Dogs

Asian Tsunami (2004/5)

New Orleans Hurricane

Asia Earthquake (2005)

Jaipur Limbs

Hope and Homes for Children

Macmillan nurses

Community Events

London Marathon

Hackney Half Marathon

Remembrance Day - The Cenotaph

Remembrance Day - Hackney Town Hall

Kids Out – fun day out with Special School

Pensioners Christmas Pantomime

Children’s achievement awards in local Primary Schools

Stroke Awareness BP testing at Sainsbury’s

Christmas gifts to Children in London Hospital

International Projects

New Delhi, India - Supporting the education of 2 girls from a leper colony.

Asella, Ethiopia - Fire engine to set up a fire & rescue station

Elbasan, Albania - Set up a bakery for the orphanage

Barisal, Bangladesh equip 2 hospital wards

Dighirpur, Bangladesh – various health and education projects

Chittagong, Bangladesh –supplied computers for graduate training

Dhaka, Bangladesh – supported nutritional awareness campaign

Fund Raising Events

London Marathon - Marshall Duties
Hackney Marathon - Water Station Duties
Christmas Collection at Tower Hill Underground Station
Dragon Boat Event, London Docklands.

Web address: http://www.towerhamletsrotary.org

Contact email: rcth1130@gmail.com                     

Rotary in London.