The East End community has rallied round to save a local Holocaust Memorial Day service which had been under threat because of a ceiling collapse at the original venue, East London Central Synagogue.

The HMD commemoration has been switched to Sandys Row Synagogue in Spitalfields following the damage to the Nelson Street shul. Bevis Marks and a local church had also offered to stage the event.

“I am deeply moved by the offers to help,” said East London president Leon Silver. “It would have been disastrous if the East End’s Holocaust remembrance had to be cancelled.”

His Sandys Row counterpart Harvey Rifkin said that when alerted to the issue, his community immediately offered to help. "We have also invited the Nelson Street congregation to come to Sandys Row for their weekly Shabbat service.”

The Nelson Street building has had a leaking roof for a number of years and rainwater is thought to have caused the cornice plasterwork to weaken, which crashed down onto the aisle.

Restoration work is now urgently needed on the 97-year-old premises. The Spitalfields Trust, which has been involved in restorations of historic Huguenot buildings, has suggested that the synagogue be considered for listed status.