The memorial commemorates the 127 men from the Borough Polytechnic Institute who lost their lives during the First World War. Staff, students and relatives paid for the memorial, which was dedicated in 1921 by the Bishop of Southwark, who hoped it would, 'help to weave into the lives of others who study here and who come within this hall the memory and the example of those who died... [and make] successive generations feel that they are becoming members of a corporate society, of real fellowship.'
The Polytechnic's student common room (today's digital gallery) was the memorials first home, but when the room was converted into a telephone exchange in the 1960s, the memorial was placed into storage. Rediscovered in 1996, the University restored and re-erected the memorial in the Edric Hall. The hall's refurbishment in 2004 meant the memorial was once again put into storage.
Over the Easter holiday of 2010, the Estates & Facilities Department, in consultation with the Chaplain and University Archivist, arranged for the memorial to be assembled in its current location which provides the memorial with a permanent home as close as possible to its original location and allows room for public commemoration.
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).
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/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 Formation Committee was formed jointly in April 1970 by the Governing Bodies of the Borough Polytechnic Institute, the Brixton School of Building, City of Westminster College and National College for Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration and Fan Engineering to oversee the establishment of the Polytechnic of the South Bank, including the appointment of the Director, Secretary and other senior officers.
School of Legal, Political and Social Sciences, South Bank University
Principal of the Borough Polytechnic Institute 1956-1965
Dean of Quality Initiatives and Executive Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor, 1992.
The Vickers Building on Keyworth Street was formerly used by a printing machine factory company called Vickers and was purchased by the Polytechnic in 1987.
In 1989 South Bank Poly-Enterprises Limited took out a contract with the construction company Mansells Ltd to convert the former Vickers Building into suitable accommodation for the Student Union, as part of an overall conversion programme. There was an agreement between South Bank Poly-Enterprises Limited and South Bank Polytechnic for South Bank Poly-Enterprises Limited to pay all costs incurred and be reimbursed by the Polytechnic.
It was renovated and renamed the George Overend Building, after a former member of the governing body. From September 1990 it housed the Student Union. The building was demolished in 2007 to make way for K2.
Professor Anthony Giddens is an English sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters in October 1997.
Giddens was appointed to a life peerage on 16 June 2004 as Baron Giddens, of Southgate in the London Borough of Enfield.
Staff member, Faculty of Administrative Studies, Polytechnic of the South Bank