It wasn't going going to take long but no sooner had I mentioned College Crescent when I'm emailed by a resident about the traffic flow. :-)http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/10/come-and-drink-from-biscuit-fountain.html
But of course the other connection is that one of the most dominant buildings on the surviving College Crescent is number 36, The Phoenix School.
The Phoenix is a described on it's own website http://www.ucs.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=53
but in short it is nursery, pre-prep school for girls and boys that is part of the UCS (University College School) Foundation.
From the early 1880's this building was in fact the Hampstead Conservative Association and only ceased in this role following the winning of the Hampstead and Highgate seat by Glenda Jackson for Labour in 1992 (beating Oliver Letwin interestingly). In the aftermath of losing the constituency seat the Conservative Association moved out of College Crescent into their current offices in Heath Hurst Road, Hampstead.
The downsizing of offices is not a new thing and is illuminted more graphically by the collapse of the Liberal Clubs across the UK:
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/days-of-liberal-clubs-round-country.html
The irony now for me is that I find myself as member of the Governing Council of UCS and thereby of the Junior Boys (Holly Hill) and the Phoenix School.
2 comments:
How does one become a guvnor? It's always intrigued me. Do you have children at the school? If not, why would one want to be a governor of a school?
There are several routes to being a school governor
staff obviously has reps on governing bodies. Also the local authority (administered through the groups on the council), parents and then community governors - people who want to serve and are in touch with the local authority. Both Camden and Brent hold lists of people i think who have offered to serve on a governing body.
It's a good chance to put something back into the community.
Ed
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