International focus on East Tilbury
Its official! East Tilbury Library is now a site of international importance.
A group of students from Bauhaus Kolleg XII in Dessau, Germany — in England on a ten-day visit as part of their studies in Urban Planning — arrived at East Tilbury Library and the Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre.
They looked at the architecture and historical setting of the factory and the housing estate which was designated a conservation area in 1993 because of its architecture.
The design of the Bata Estate and factory along with the Bata settlement in Batanagar India, which they will also be visiting at a later date, are copies of Zlin “the ideal industrial town” in Czechoslovakia designed by architects Karfik and Gahura.
During their visit the students made use of the extensive historical records and plans stored in the Reminiscence Centre archives which in East Tilbury Library.
Maureen Hattam, from Thurrock Council’s Communities, Libraries and Cultural Services, said: “We are becoming quite well known, we have recently had visits from students studying at Cambridge and Westminster Universities and Charles University in Prague.”
If anyone is interested in contacting the Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre they should ring East Tilbury Library on 01375 844921 or e-mail [email protected]
