FAQ: Why does Romford's heritage matter?

To answer this I can do no better than to quote the following from a booklet produced by the London Borough of Havering:

Why does Romford's heritage matter? Because it improves the quality of life for people now. When we understand the past, the environment becomes more interesting, and more enjoyable for us. We can picture something of what it would have been like to live in Romford in days gone by. We can celebrate the achievements of people who lived before us. We can learn about how our society has developed. This can give us a stronger community feeling today.¹

And some more quotations about the importance of history and heritage:

• A society unaware of its history is like a person suffering from amnesia. It simply cannot function efficiently.²
• History is to society as memory is to the individual. Only through a sense of history can communities establish their identity, orientate themselves, understand their relationship to the past and to other communities and societies. What happened in the past profoundly affects all aspects of our lives in the present and will affect what happens in the future.³
• Where the past exists, the future may flourish.⁴
• The familiar landmarks, public halls, old pubs and houses... define the character of our streets... Losing these, through neglect and decay, changes the way a town, city or village looks for ever, and squanders its most valuable assets.⁵
• History can help human beings think better, live more richly and act more wisely.⁶
• If you keep one eye on the past, you are blind in one eye. If you ignore the past, you are blind in both eyes.⁷
• History is actually about real lives, the human heart, and memory, and living connections with our past. It's not about them, it's about us.⁸
• There's no such thing as a nowhere site - every site has a history.⁹
• It is because of everything that happened that we are as we are, and still the future beckons.¹⁰
• The pride of an area can be judged by how it looks after its buildings and its parks.¹¹
• People need to know much about the past in order to really understand the present and how the present works.¹²
• Memory is identity. Memory grounds us in who we are, where we've come from. Memory shapes and guides us... Future identity and destiny... flower from a remembrance of things past.¹³

References

¹ Romford Heritage; 10 pages; 1998; London Borough of Havering.
² Norman Davies, author of The Isles, quoted in BBC History Magazine, Vol 2 no 5 (May 2001), page 18.
³ Prof Arthur Marwick, BBC History Magazine, Vol 2 no 7 (July 2001), page 80.
⁴ Peter Ackroyd, London: The Biography, page 697.
⁵ Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, Radio Times, 13-19 July 2002, page 38.
⁶ Joyce Appleby, historian, quoted by Prof David Cannadine in BBC History Magazine, Vol 3 no 7 (June 2002), page 8.
⁷ Old Russian saying.
⁸ Michael Wood, historian, writer and presenter, advocating Harperly POW Camp in the BBC television series Restoration.
⁹ Steel City: A Time Team Special, Channel 4, 22nd March 2004.
¹⁰ Sian Busby, The Cruel Mother: A Family Ghost Laid to Rest, page 12.
¹¹ Dr Barry Gray, chair of Severndroog Castle Building Preservation Trust, speaking on the BBC television programme Restoration, 18 July 2004.
¹² Paul Armitage, OFSTED's specialist advisor for history, quoted in BBC History Magazine, Vol 6 no 9 (September 2005), page 86.
¹³ Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God, pp. 195-196.