Care home residents are championing a century of East End markets thanks to funding of £19,850.

Members of The Artful Willows, a community group based at Willows Care Home in Romford, Essex, are breathing new life into the stories and traditions of local markets as part of a Heritage Lottery funded-project.

InStall: A Century of East End Markets, shines a light on the community role of Rathbone Market, Chrisp Street market and one of London’s oldest sites Petticoat Lane.

For the next 18 months the group will explore heritage collections and items with Tower Hamlets Local History and Archive Library to inspire a series of creative writing and artwork.

Together with artists they’ll take part in dementia-friendly creative workshops to create visual artwork, audio recording and Zines about the traders and those who shopped there.

Hannah Wood, from creative ageing charity Equal Arts is supporting the group’s creative activities.

She said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with the history of the area and uncover stories from the past 100 years. The group will be delving into photos, diaries and records to celebrate the social and cultural value of markets and the role they played within the community.”