Event    From /1/1959 

Notting Hill Carnival

It seems that the roots of the Notting Hill Carnival are in dispute since both Claudia Jones and Rhaune Laslett-O'Brien have a claim to be the originator. Claudia organised the first indoor event at St Pancras Town Hall in January 1959 and organised a similar event every year until her death in 1964. Rhaume organised the first outdoor event in August 1966.

We don’t want to enter this murky territory, well-flagged as troublesome at the Rhaune Laslett-O'Brien website: “Ask anyone involved who owns carnival and they will say the same thing: the people. The trouble is, which people? Since Rhaune Laslett handed over responsibility for the carnival, the primary body organising the event has split, reinvented itself, then split again several times. It has been called the Carnival Development Committee, the Carnival Arts Committee, the Carnival Enterprise Committee and, at present, the Notting Hill Carnival Trust, which is itself riven by internal rows. Each group has its own version of the carnival's history and development.”

And then Russell Henderson was also an early initiator and Leslie Palmer had a major influence later on.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Notting Hill Carnival

Commemorated ati

Claudia Jones

Unveiled during the Notting Hill Carnival, 2008.

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Claudia Jones - Carnival Village

Carnival Village honours Claudia Jones, 1915 - 1964, publisher, political act...

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Leslie Palmer

Leslie Palmer, 1943, pioneered the template for the modern Notting Hill Carni...

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Rhaune Laslett-O'Brien

Unveiled during the Notting Hill Carnival, 2011.

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Russell Henderson

A 'pan artist' plays the traditional West Indian steel drums.

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Other Subjects

Friends of the Forgotten Irish

Friends of the Forgotten Irish

The Irish Post has a photo of a similar plaque erected by this group in Dublin.

Group, Community / Clubs, History, Ireland

1 memorial
Ladywell Assembly

Ladywell Assembly

An initiative set up by volunteers to promote the activities of local groups, and to cover the issues raised at the local assembly, including parking, traffic congestion, pollution and planning iss...

Group, Community / Clubs

1 memorial
Enfield Society

Enfield Society

Founded  as the Enfield Preservation Society, and renamed The Enfield Society in 2007.

Group, Community / Clubs, History

2 memorials
Plastics Historical Society

Plastics Historical Society

First to draw attention to the heritage of the plastics industry and to celebrate all things plastic.

Group, Community / Clubs, History

1 memorial
Islington Art Society

Islington Art Society

Formed as the Islington Art Circle in 1941 by A. E. Hickman-Smith and on his death in 1965 run by George and Deborah Bunting until their deaths in 2000.  Changed its name in 2002 to Islington Art S...

Group, Art, Community / Clubs

1 memorial