Category Archives: Past Tooting History Group Events

Previous events run by Tooting History Group

Caroline Ganley: A Battersea Political Superstar

by Philip Bradley

Our next monthly meeting on Tuesday November 8th is a talk about Caroline Ganley, a leading political figure in Battersea from the 1910s to the 1960s.

Come and hear Sue Demont (Battersea Society) speak about her life and times.

“Caroline Ganley (1879 – 1966) was the ultimate multi-tasker long before the term was invented.  A hard-up mother of three who left school aged 14, she went on to become one of the first female magistrates in Britain, the first female President of the London Co-operative Society, and Battersea’s first woman MP. Her achievements were acknowledged during her lifetime, but her remarkable story is strikingly absent from the history books of the 20th century.  Drawing on Ganley’s own unpublished memoir, this short book is a first step toward reclaiming that story. “

You can order Sue Demont’s book here.

The meeting is at our usual venue: United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, Tooting, SW17 9NQ.

(Tooting Broadway Tube, 280 264 57 270 355 44 77 333 G1 buses)

A Legacy of Empire: The Windrush Generation and their relationship to the British State

by Philip Bradley
THG October 2022 Meeting Flyer

October is #BlackHistoryMonth. And Tooting History Group will be hearing about the experiences of members of the Windrush Generation from Juanita Cox. Juanita is a research fellow at the School of Advanced Studies at The University of London. Using Oral History techniques, she has undertaken detailed research on the experiences of The Windrush Generation who came to Britain from the Caribbean from the late 1940s onwards and the gap between the portrayal of Britain to potential migrants and the reality that they actually experienced.

The meeting is at The United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, Tooting, SW179NQ on Tuesday 11th October starting at 7.30pm.

(Tooting Broadway tube, 57,127,264,G1,280,77,355,44,270 buses.)

Tooting’s Roman Road: July Monthly Meeting

by Philip Bradley
July 2022 Meeting Flyer

The A24 is the main road through Tooting today. 2000 years ago, the route was laid out by the Roman invaders from Londinium to Noviomagus Reginorum (present day Chichester). It was named Stane Street by the Anglo-Saxons (Stone Street) and it’s route can still be traced from London to the Sussex Coast. Come and hear Robert Entwhistle (Author “Britannia Surveyed”) at our July monthly meeting.

We meet at the United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, SW179NQ at 7.30pm on Tuesday 12th July 2022.

“The Mercenary River” : Talk By Nick Higham

by Philip Bradley

Our May monthly meeting will be a talk by Nick Higham on his recently published book, “The Mercenary River“. He tells the story of the development of London’s water supply from the Middle Ages to the present day. For centuries London, one of the largest and richest cities in the world, struggled to supply its citizens with reliable, clean water. 

The book tells a tale of remarkable technological, scientific and organisational breakthroughs; but also a story of greed and complacency, high finance and low politics.

Nick Higham’s book uncovers the murky tale of how the most powerful steam engine in the world was first brought to London; the extraordinary story of how one Victorian London water company deliberately cut off 2,000 households, the details of a financial scandal which brought two of the water companies close to collapse in the 1870s; and asks whether today’s 21st century water companies are an improvement on their Victorian predecessors.

Nick Higham is a retired BBC journalist and he will be signing copies of his book at the end of the talk.

The meeting is on Tuesday 10th May 2022, beginning at 7.30pm. We meet at our usual venue: United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, SW17 9NQ (Tooting Broadway tube, G1,270,280,57,127,264,355,77,44,333 buses)