Bells and Whistles: A look into the Archives

Bells and Whistles Event The Royal Docks has always been a place of arrivals and departures. Once alive with the sound of ship horns, church bells, and dockland families gathered at the water’s edge, it now thrives as a home for new communities from across the world. Sixty years on from the night the docks fell silent, we invite you to explore this story through conversation and making.

Join us on Saturday 20th September for a printing, drawing, painting workshop where you’ll be invited to respond to archival photographs and oral histories from the Royal Docks’ past. Together, we’ll reflect on how the area has changed—its rhythms, its people, its purpose—and imagine the connections between then and now.

This is not only a chance to make art, but to share stories, memories, and visions for the future of the Royal Docks. The works you produce in the session will be invited to be shown in a group exhibition at the Gallery on Saturday 4th October.

These workshops are funded by the Notting Hill Genesis Love While You Live Fund.

We thank them for their continued support in making these workshops possible.