Stairway to Heaven Memorial Trust

the stairway to heaven memorial trust is a charity set up to fund and construct a memorial to the worst civilian disaster of ww2, on 3 march 1943. what happened? a crowd of people were entering bethnal green tube station, which was being used during the war as an air-raid shelter. the crowd surged forward to get inside, as they could hear the new anti-aircraft rockets being launched in victoria park nearby. someone tripped on the stairs, causing many others to fall. three hundred people were crushed into the stairwell within a few seconds, 173 of them died and over 90 were injured. this was the worst civilian disaster of the 2nd world war. it was kept secret because of the war, and until now, the only record at the site was a small plaque at the entrance to the tube station. work has started and we still need funds to complete the “stairway” on the memorial.