Canvey: The Promised Island

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• 2018
• 0 hr 40 mins
• Documentary

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The Stamford Hill area of London has been home to the largest Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Europe since the late 1800s. However, soaring rents, cramped housing, large families and low employment rates are forcing many members of the community to consider moving elsewhere. After a previous attempt by some to relocate from Stamford Hill to Milton Keynes failed, a new destination for those desperately seeking more space at less cost has presented itself - Canvey Island, Essex. Canvey Island is 70 per cent white, predominately Christian, one of the 5 most pro-Brexit wards in Britain and in 2013 was voted the most English place in Britain. The island may seem like an unlikely place for members of the Hasidic community to put down roots, but they have found the most unlikely of champions who is determined to do all he can to assist them. The man who gave the world Canvey Island's finest exports, Chris Fenwick a lifelong Islander, local pub landlord and manager of classic pub rock band Dr. Feelgood has devised a plan to integrate the communities by inviting the newcomers to a gig at his pub, taking the Hasidic children on a guided tour of the Island and with the help of the Reverend David Tudor and incoming mayor Barry Campagna organising a dinner party for the two very different communities. Mutual understanding is top of the menu, but will the Hasidic guests turn up? Will the Islanders learn to love their new neighbours?