'Bomberg and his Students' was an exhibition of paintings and drawings by members of the Borough Group and by some associated artists who attended Bomberg's classes at the Borough Polytechnic between 1945-1953. The exhibition was held as part of the University's centenary celebrations.
The Mad Dog Project was part of a research programme in the University's Sustainable Transport Research Centre in the School of Engineering. The Project designed and built low budget solar cars and competed in various World Solar Challenges. The first car, Mad Dog I entered the 1996 race, Mad Dog II competed in the 1998 World Solar Rally and Mad Dog III competed in several races, including the World Solar Challenge 2001 and 2001 American Solar Challenge.
Battersea Polytechnic was founded in 1891 and was based on Battersea Park Road. In 1956 it became Battersea College of Technology and in 1965 obtained land in Guildford for a new campus. In 1966 the college became the University of Surrey and the move to Guildford was completed in 1970.
The original Battersea College of Education was a department of the Battersea Polytechnic and called the Battersea Training School of Domestic Economy and as such appears in the Battersea Polytechnic reports.
Endowed Charities are charities which exist to carry out the terms of bequests, usually within parishes, and hold some assets and investments in order to do this. Schemes are legal documents by which the Charity Commission may amend, replace or amplify a charity's governing document.
Approved by the Board of Charity Commissioners on 12 August 1892.
Focus was a newsletter primarily published for London East Learning+Skills Council training providers and included reports and news related to basic skills training and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).
ESL Publishing Group was run by the Language and Literacy Unit and was a part of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA).
South Bank Polytechnic Student Union was formed in 1970 by amalgamating the unions of the Borough Polytechnic Institute, Brixton School of Building and City of Westminster College after these institutions were merged, along with the National College for Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration and Fan Engineering to form the Polytechnic of the South Bank.
The Borough Polytechnic Students' Union had been situated in Borough Road Building, but the new South Bank Polytechnic Student Union was located on Rotary Street where facilities included a bar, coffee bar and games room. By 1973 the Union had established a Welfare Service and the clubs and societies on offer were categorised into four groups: sporting; academic; entertainments; and other. The Union promoted itself as "the only democratic organisation within the Polytechnic representing student's interest to the college and other authorities as a Union". As well as the building on Rotary Street, the Student Union also had a presence at Wandsworth Road Building, after its opening in 1973.
In 1987 the Polytechnic purchased the Vickers Building on Keyworth Street, which was renovated in order to house the finance department and the Student Union. Work was completed in 1990 and the building was renamed George Overend Building. It contained a Student Union shop and bar, a hairdressers and an events hall and was the second largest student venue in London. In 1993 the Union opened a shop in Wandsworth Road and in total provided four bars, two shops, a recreation room and student common room for the Polytechnic's students. The four categories for clubs and societies were altered to become: course based; cultural; external; and sports.
In January 1994 the Union opened a mini-mall on Keyworth Street containing the new Union shop, Endsleigh Insurance and a small space for amusement machines. The Union also expanded its welfare unit and opened two new entertainment venues within George Overend Building: The Void for smaller events and The Arc, which had space for 1,000 people. The venues within George Overend Building were refurbished and changed name several times, but by 1999 consisted of the Tavern, a bar styled as a traditional pub and Isobar, a larger venue.
The Student Union ceased to have facilities at Wandsworth Road in 2003 once the building was sold. It also ceded management of Turney Road Sports Pavilion to the University's Academy of Sport, Physical Activity & Wellbeing in 2006.
In 2007 the Student Union was relocated to a temporary structure on Thomas Doyle Street in order for the George Overend Building to be demolished. The temporary structure contained a shop, bar events area, outdoor seating and offices. The Union remained here until November 2012 when it moved to the newly built Student Centre next to Borough Road Building.
Redwood College was formed in July 1993 by the merger of Roding and Romford Colleges of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare Studies. These Colleges were in turn formed by the amalgamation of several Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in Essex and London. Redwood College of Health Studies merged with South Bank University in 1994.
Records in this collection were created by several hospitals in Essex and London, which taught nursing but which no longer exist, with the exception of Whipps Cross Hospital.
From Lost Hospitals of London: https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/forest.html
The Forest Hospital for Buckhurst Hill, Loughton, Chigwell, Abridge, High Beech, Chingford and Sewardstonebury opened in 1913 with 21 beds. The Lord Mayor of London had laid the foundation stone in 1912, and the costs of the building had been donated by a local family. The new Hospital replaced the Village Hospital and the Medical Provident House in Buckhurst Hill, which both closed.
The Hospital joined the NHS in 1948 as a general hospital with 44 beds. It came under the control of the Forest Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Health Board.
In 1974, following a reorganisation of the NHS, it came under the auspices of the Redbridge and Waltham Forest Area Health Authority, part of the North East Thames Regional Health Authority. It had 42 beds.
By 1977 it faced the threat of closure.
In 1982 it had 40 beds. After another NHS reorganisation, it became part of the Waltham Forest District Health Authority, who managed it ex-territorially as the Hospital lay physically within the area of the West Essex Health Authority.
By 1985 it had become a small, well-run General Practioner hospital with 35 beds, a Physiotherapy Department, and a busy X-ray Department. It had a Day Centre with 20 places which provided companionship to elderly patients and a few hours' relief for their carers. But, again, it was threatened with closure and this time it did not survive. It closed in 1986.
The Borough Group was made up of artists who attended David Bomberg's classes at the Borough Polytechnic between 1945-1953.
London South Bank University was established as the Borough Polytechnic Institute in 1892. In 1883 a local solicitor, Edric Bayley, heard that the government's Charity Commissioners had been given powers to redistribute redundant money from City of London parishes to improve the physical and moral condition of poor Londoners. This led him to set up the South London Polytechnic Institutes Council in 1887, whose members included the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Mayor of London. With Evan Spicer as its Chairman and the Prince of Wales as its President, the Council on the 16th January 1888 petitioned the Charity Commissioners for money. The petition was successful and the Charity Commissioners pledged funds to match any money up to £150,000 raised by the public to establish three polytechnics in South London. As a result a committee of the Council, the South London Polytechnic Institutes Committee, was appointed to raise the funds, select sites and make plans for the three polytechnics, chosen to be located at Elephant and Castle, New Cross and Battersea. After a public appeal by the Committee at Mansion House in June 1888, £78,000 was raised in four years to set up the Battersea and Borough Polytechnics. Also by 1892 the Borough Polytechnic's Governing Body had been set up and the British & Foreign Schools Society's, Borough Road Training College had been bought to house the Polytechnic.
The stated aims of the Charity Commissioners' Scheme for the Borough Polytechnic were 'the promotion of the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and wellbeing of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes' (LSBU/1/9/3). It was officially opened on 30 September 1892 by Lord Rosebery the Foreign Secretary. The first Chair of the Board of Governors was Edric Bayley, the first principal was Charles Millis and the Secretary and Clerk to the Board of Governors was William Richardson. From 1893 the Polytechnic received grants from the Technical Education Board (TEB) of the London County Council. And the London Polytechnic Council (LPC) was established to inspect and co-ordinate the work of the polytechnics. Both the TEB and the LPC were abolished following the London Education Act in 1904, when the London County Council took over responsibility for education in London.
From its inception, the Polytechnic focused on teaching skills relevant to industry and the workplace. The first 'Technical and Trade' classes were offered to apprentices or tradesmen and included woodcarving, boot and shoe manufacture, typography, oils and colours and varnishes. Women could attend classes in laundry, needlework and dressmaking. Science classes comprised chemistry, building construction and drawing, machine construction and drawing and hygiene and music courses, art and design, commercial classes and elocution were also offered in the early years, though most emphasis was placed on the trade classes. Bakery classes began in 1894 and by 1898 comprised the largest group of students at the Polytechnic. In 1899 the National School of Bakery and Confectionery (now the National Bakery School) was opened. In 1898 the Polytechnic introduced its own diplomas, though in 1921 the Ordinary National Certificate (ONC) and Higher National Certificate (HNC) were introduced.
From 1894 the Polytechnic established three Junior Technical Schools, partly in order to justify the employment of full-time staff: many rooms were unoccupied during the day as much of the teaching and activities took place in the evenings. The junior school also had the advantage of producing students able to take up the polytechnic's adult courses. The first school was the Domestic Economy School for Girls in 1894, followed by the Technical Day School for Boys in 1897 and the Day Trade School of Waistcoat-making for Girls in 1904. The schools, for boys and girls aged 12 years and above, taught practical skills for the home and the future workplace.
The governors of the Polytechnic sought to integrate their work with that of neighbouring institutions, in particular Herold's Institute, the London Technical School of Leather Manufacture and the Norwood Technical Institute. In 1907 some work was transferred to Morley College in an attempt to rationalise technical education in London, and a Joint Committee established (see LSBU/3/10/5). In 1917 commercial classes and some language work also transferred to Morley.
During the 1920s diplomas and certificate work for structured courses were introduced, pioneered by the Borough Polytechnic and soon after introduced at other polytechnics as part of a national system. Courses evolved over time and were continually adapted to the vocational needs of students. Single courses were divided into elementary and advanced parts, preliminary and ancillary courses were added, such as mathematics or basic science, and gradually the course grew until it became suitable for examination under the National Certificate or some other scheme. This led to a considerable amount of specialisation in course content and level.
During the Second World War, the polytechnic was bombed with more than 13,000 square feet of the buildings destroyed or made unsafe. New courses were introduced during the war, notably accelerated Higher National Certificate engineering courses under the Hankey scheme by Lord Hankey, Chairman of the War Cabinet's Scientific and Engineering Advisory Committee, and two-year engineering courses were developed for the army. At the end of the war degree courses in Pure Science and Engineering were introduced, which the polytechnic decided to concentrate on. Some courses were discontinued, such as welding, metal plate work and paper technology. Scientists were recruited from the services and war industries and accommodation and equipment required for degree standard work was developed. Due to the 1944 Education Act the junior schools were separated from the Polytechnic after the war. Degree courses were offered in the late 1940s and in 1955 the National Council for Technological Awards (NCTA) began awarding Diplomas of Technology and Technology Engineering. The diploma was the first major award of first degree standing for technical colleges and was quickly adopted by the Polytechnic's different departments. Further education and training was reorganised following the White Paper on Technical Education in 1956. The variety of levels of work at the Polytechnic meant that it was designated a regional college rather than a college of advanced technology, after which the governors decided to reduce the proportion of lower level work. The NCTA was replaced in 1964 by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) and the South Bank Academic Board established. There was a large increase in full-time and sandwich courses in diploma, CNAA and external degree courses.
The publication of the White Paper 'A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges', published in 1966, had announced the creation of some 30 polytechnics throughout the country to form what became called the public sector of the binary system of higher education. The 13 existing colleges managed by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) were to be reorganised into five. The Borough Polytechnic Institute, the Brixton School of Building, City of Westminster College and the National College for Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration and Fan Engineering joined together to become the Polytechnic of the South Bank in 1970.
First degree courses were the mainstay of the new polytechnic's activities, and by the mid-1970s departments were offering full-time or sandwich courses and part-time courses in each major discipline. There was a rise in full-time and sandwich education leading to diplomas, CNAA and external degree awards. CNAA honours degrees in several subjects replaced London external degrees and CNAA ordinary degree, and new awards were introduced. The polytechnic expanded its range of courses into new areas of work, including sociology, town planning, management, education and law, in an environment where science and engineering had been dominant. Courses such as dental technology and building crafts were also transferred in order to rationalise work at the Polytechnic. Engineering and science courses continued to be central, with electrical and mechanical engineering and chemical engineering particularly growing in importance. Postgraduate work increased during the 1970s and 1980s, with 16% of students studying on postgraduate courses by 1990. In 1976 Battersea College of Education was incorporated into the Polytechnic, as were the parts of the Rachel McMillan College of Education that provided courses at the New Kent Road annexe. During the 1980s the Polytechnic pioneered the provision of access courses, including one in legal studies, for part-time and mature students. A new Department of Hospitality, Food and Product Management provided a new range of courses, including hotel management and in 1988 the Polytechnic was accredited for first degrees by CNAA. In 1991 students from South West London College transferred to South Bank on the dissolution of the College, and the Central Catering College was also incorporated into the Polytechnic.
In 1987 the Polytechnic became known as South Bank Polytechnic, and as result of the 1988 Education Reform Act was awarded corporate status and became independent of local authority control. Funding of polytechnics was given over to a new body, the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC), which was itself replaced in 1992 when the Higher and Further Education Act created a single Higher Education Funding Council, removing any remaining distinctions between polytechnics and universities. As a consequence South Bank Polytechnic became South Bank University on 18 June 1992 with the power to award its own degrees.
South Bank University consolidated and developed course specialities in computing, engineering, applied science; architecture, construction and estate management, business studies, management, languages and law, social sciences, arts, media studies and a new programme of Combined Honours degree subjects. In 1995 Redwood College of Health Studies and Charles West School of Nursing were incorporated into the University, bringing a number of health courses including nursing and allied health professions.
In 2003 the University underwent another name change to London South Bank University and teaching was split into four faculties: Arts and Human Sciences (AHS), Business, Computing & Information Management (BCIM) (from 2009 Business), Engineering, Science & the Built Environment (ESBE) and Health and Social Care (HSC).
From Lost Hospitals of London: https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/newhammaternity.html The origins of this Hospital lie in the Forest Gate Industrial School, which was built in 1854 on a 12 acre site once owned by Samuel Gurney (1785-1956), a well known Quaker philanthropist. In 1890 a tragic fire resulted in the deaths of 26 boys, who suffocated because they were locked in their dormitories. (This disaster led to institutions developing 'scattered homes' rather than barrack-style schools.) Poplar Union continued to use the building as a training school until 1906. It then closed temporarily, opening again in 1908 as a branch of the Poplar Union workhouse. In 1911 the building was bought by West Ham Union workhouse. It re-opened in 1913 as the Forest Gate Sick Home, with 500 beds. There were 21 beds for mentally handicapped adults and 25 for mentally handicapped children, including epileptics. In 1930 the West Ham Borough Council took over its administration. The main buildings became the Forest Gate Hospital, with 500 beds for mental patients and the chronic sick, and 64 beds in the maternity unit. A temporary building with 200 beds for the chronic sick was added in 1931. By 1937 the Hospital had 723 patients. During WW2 the Hospital suffered damage in 1940 from two direct hits, one a high explosive bomb. Much of the accommodation for non-maternity patients was destroyed, and the patients were evacuated to the South Ockendon Colony (a mental hospital in Essex which had opened in 1932). The number of beds was reduced to 201. After the war, accommodation for 128 patients re-opened in 1945, and the building of a new maternity unit commenced in 1947. In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS, when it had 207 beds. Further maternity wards were built in 1950. In 1974 it was renamed the Newham Maternity Hospital, by which time bed numbers had reduced to 116. By 1983 there were 106 beds. The Hospital closed in 1985 when the newly built Newham General Hospital opened.n
From Lost Hospitals of London: https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/rushgreen.html The Romford Isolation Hospital opened in April 1901 with 24 beds. It had been built by the Romford Rural and Romford Urban District Councils and served the Romford, Dagenham and Hornchurch areas. It was enlarged in 1906, after which it had 70 beds. A new pavilion ward block with 8 beds for TB patients was built in 1914. After the Becontree Estate was built by the LCC during the 1920s the Hospital was much enlarged in the 1930s to cater for the greatly increased population. During WW2 it joined the Emergency Medical Service and became the Rush Green Emergency Hospital - a general hospital with 230 beds available for military and air-raid casualties. The Hospital buildings themselves suffered some bomb damage and, on 16th June 1944, a flying bomb destroyed a ward. Six patients and two nurses were killed. After the war, in June 1947, a plaque commemorating the staff and patients who lost their lives in the incident was unveiled by the Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan. In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS under the control of the Romford Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. It was renamed Rush Green Hospital and became a general hospital with 180 beds. The old open wards were considered unsuitable for fever patients, but one remained open, under protest, for scarlet fever patients, while two became used for TB patients, and one was closed due to insufficient staff (but probably would have been used for TB patients if there had been enough nurses). In 1957 the Hospital had 301 beds. A Polio Unit was established as there had been an epidemic of the disease during the 1950s. By 1966 there were 316 beds for general and infectious diseases patients, including the Polio Unit. In May 1969 a new 5-story maternity unit with 115 beds was officially opened by the Duchess of Kent. It had cost £829,000 to build and equip. In 1972 there were 409 beds. The maternity block contained 78 obstetric and 55 gynaecological beds. A Special Care Baby Unit for premature babies had also been established.
Following a major reorganisation of the NHS in 1974, the Hospital came under the control of the Barking District Health Authority, part of the North East Thames Regional Health Authority. In 1982, after another reorganisation of the NHS, the Hospital was administered by the Barking, Havering and Brentwood District Health Authority. It had 397 beds. By 1990 it had 345 beds. Maternity services were moved to Harold Wood Hospital and, in 1994, the local Health Authority decided to close the Hospital, despite local opposition.
As a result of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 thirty-five polytechnics were permitted to become universities. South Bank Polytechnic was one such institution and as a result was redesignated South Bank University.
The Charitable Funds Committee was a committee of the Board of Governors which exercised custodianship over originally the Polytechnic and then the University's charitable funds and ensured that these were allocated appropriately. The final meeting was held in December 2012.