Text collected and edited by Liz Braby.

Introduction

Everyone living in a community shares a 'common ground' - they see the same houses, walk along the same roads, go to the same shops. However, as individuals, we will all see different things as important or special.

During the summer of 2001, people from the Ocean Estate in Stepney were asked
about the place or activity that they felt was most important to them on the estate. They were photographed within their selected settings and their thoughts were recorded to be presented in an exhibition and a book.

The resulting collection celebrates a richly diverse community and provides a forum for local people's views to be stated and heard.

The exhibition recorded on these pages was on display at the Museum between 20 November 2001 and 20 March 2002.

Acknowledgements

Above all, we would like to thank the people who volunteered to be the subjects of our photographs and who kindly shared their thoughts with both us and their local community.

We would particularly like to thank Ocean New Deal for Communities for funding the project and Teresa Osbourne, the Standing on Common Ground co-ordinator, for her enthusiasm and support in all partnership projects. We are also grateful to Stagecoach East London, in particular Paul Owens and Benjamin Franklin, for enabling extracts from the exhibition to appear on their buses.

Lastly, we wish to thank the following for their help and advice at various stages of the project:

Age Concern (Tower Hamlets), Alex Henderson, Claire Seymour, David Joseph, Elliott Green, Gaby Weigert, Magic Me, Ned McWhirter, The Ocean Estate Tenants and Lease Holders Association, Pam Wallis, Pauline Plumb, Phil Hissey, Ray Singh, St. Dunstan's Bengali Community Resource Centre.

	Copyright © Ragged School Museum Trust 2001-2002. All rights reserved.