Tooting Stall Stories is a new history and arts project working with Furzedown Primary School and the community to explore the history of Tooting's covered markets.

This project explores the history of the markets focussing on the lives of the people who run the shops and those who shop in them. It explores their life stories, their family history on the market and in the area, some dating back generations, some more recent.

These will include the Stannard family who have been running the butchers in Tooting Market for 50 years, the cobblers which has been repairing shoes on site for 80 years, the watch repairers who came from India via Kenya and have been fixing the watches of Tooting residents for 47 years. More recent Tooting residents who have set up shop include "The Juice Man" who gave up a career in IT to provide nutrician to the people. These and many more stories will be explored and recorded for this project.

With funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Wandsworth Grant Fund, arts and education charity digital:works is working collaboratively with Furzedown Primary School and Wandsworth Local Studies to explore the history of the markets. The children will work with historians to understand the history of Tooting in the development of London to give a context for the role of the markets in the area.

The Year 6 children will lead on this project. With workshops, training and support from digital:works the children will visit the markets to meet the people working there. After workshops exploring local history they will work with digital:works to understand oral history techniques and recording. They will then develop interview questions before returning to the market to conduct and record oral history interviews with traders and shoppers.

These interviews will be edited to make a documentary film starring the people on the markets.

The children will also be producing creative and historical written work inspired by the people they meet and their research on project.

They will also be working with wonderful local artist Sally Booth to create artwork on the market, again inspired by the people they meet.

The film will be premiered in Tooting Market tonight, Wednesday 7th December 2016 in the evening at 7pm.
The Year 6 children will present the film and show it to an audience of local people, stall holders and anyone curious to come along. Please join us.

On Thursday 8th and Friday 9th December Furzedown School will run their own gallery on Broadway Market showing the artwork, writing and film inspired by the project so drop by.

The film, writing and artwork will also be on display on this website.

The full unedited interviews will be on this website and will also be given to Wandsworth Borough Archives for their collection.

For more information or for schools wishing to work with Wandsworth Local Studies please visit their website here..