A behind the scenes exploration of the Synagogue's origins

By Domenico Trillo

In March Irene Mensah (artist), Hamish MacGillivray (WRVS Heritage co-ordinator) and Isilda Almedia-Harvey (East Sussex Records Office) met with the elders of the Eastbourne Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. The meeting was organised to discover any clues to the origins of the Synagogue.

As well as demonstrations of the Ram’s horn the three were invited to look at old prayer books, pictures of former Rabbis and old registration forms. What was surprising was the amount of information that gave clues to the original congregation of the Synagogue from the 1920s.

Irene Mensah is leading this group of Jewish elders to discover more about the history of the Synagogue and location of Jewish run businesses in Eastbourne possibly from the 1880s.