Tooting has been home to a large number of hospitals over the years. Fever hospitals, general hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, geriatric hospitals and maternity hospitals have come and gone from Tooting in the last 130 years. Now there are only two. Where were these other hospitals? What was there before St. Georges Hospital? What is the heritage of Heritage Park? Philip Bradley will uncover the Victorian origins of healthcare and hospitals in Tooting at our February meeting. There will also be a short AGM business meeting.

Tuesday 13th February 2024. Members free, guests £2. 7.30pm. All welcome. United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, SW179NQ.

Stuart McLaughlin will be speaking about Oscar Wilde’s time in Wandsworth Prison doing hard labour before being transferred to Reading Gaol in 1895. Stuart wrote his history of Wandsworth Prison back in 2001 and he curates the small museum at Wandsworth Prison.

Tuesday 12th March 2024. We will be meeting as usual at The United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, SW17 9NQ. Members free, guests £2. All welcome.

When did trolleybuses come to Tooting? Where could you get to for 1d? Were there really horse drawn buses through Tooting. Our next meeting on Tuesday 9th April at 7.30pm will be a talk by John Chilvers on the coming of public transport to Tooting.

We will be meeting at The United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, SW17 9NQ (Tooting Broadway Tube).

We hope you can join us.

In July 1884, the Tooting Ratepayers Association met and heard a detailed description of the boundaries of Tooting Graveney Parish. At our May meeting, we will explore this 1884 description and hear which buildings are still there 140 years later and which have disappeared. Where were the Watercress beds, the brickfield and Mr. Mann the hairdresser? How much was spent to beat the bounds of Tooting Graveney in 1850? Come and hear Philip Bradley tell the story of the Tooting Graveney Parish Boundaries and how they used to be beaten at our next THG meeting on Tuesday May 14^th 2024 at 7.30pm.

And on Sunday May 19th, we will be walking the 8 mile boundary of Tooting Graveney Parish. Starting at 10.30am at Amen Corner, SW17 (Opposite Sette Bello restaurant), we will be progressing round the Parish, stopping to see which buildings and features survive from 1884 and which have disappeared. There will be a break for lunch in Tooting Town Centre and we should finish back at Amen Corner about 3.30pm.

This event is part of the Wandsworth Heritage Festival.

Tooting Bec Hospital closed in 1994. It was demolished and redeveloped as The Heritage Park estate on the edge of Tooting Common. In the 91 years it was open, thousands of patients and staff passed through it’s doors. Many of the patients died there rathe than moving back to be with their families or to the Workhouse or to another asylum.

How should this hospital be marked or remembered? What was life like there for patients and staff?

Come and hear Philip Bradley and Liz Sayce talk about the history of Tooting Bec Hospital at The Woodfield Pavilion, Tooting Bec Common, SW16 1AP on Saturday 1st June at 11am.

This event is part of The Heritage Day organised by the Woodfield Pavilion and is also part of the 2024 Wandsworth Heritage Festival.

William and Sidney Wombill were professional artists who lived in Tooting for over 70 years.  William painted over 2,000 paintings and his son Sidney painted the winners of the Epsom Derby, but today they are largely forgotten and much of their work is lost. Come and hear Karen Ellis-Rees talk about her research into the lives, work and home of the Wombills. 

The meeting is on Tuesday 11th June at 7.30pm and will be held at The United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, SW17 9NQ. (5 minute walk from Tooting Broadway tube).

Charles Gassiot-The Man Behind The Road: A talk by Janet Smith.

Wine merchant, art collector and philanthropist, Charles Gassiot was a leading light in Victorian Tooting. There are memorials to him across London but he’s remembered locally only in a road name.  Come and hear Janet Smith talk on why Tooting should make a bigger fuss of him!

Tuesday September 10th 7.30pm.

Join Jennifer Godfrey, author of SECRET MISSIONS OF THE SUFFRAGETTES: GLASSBREAKERS &  SAFE HOUSES and SUFFRAGETTES OF KENT, to hear stories of hope, determination, courage and sacrifice of those campaigning for women’s suffrage. Topics covered will include the story of Tooting dressmaker & Suffragette Lillian Ball and those of other women from the Tooting area.  Jennifer will also share details of how the suffragettes used disguises, codes and alias names to complete their missions. There will be a chance for Q&A after the talk.  Jennifer will also be selling signed copies of her books at the event (cash or card).

Our next meeting will be a bit different! Join Karen Ellis-Rees in a history tour of Tooting’s oldest pubs, and find out about the Tooting Brewery, which operated on the High Street for at least a century.  Also hear the story of the fatal fire at the Rising Sun Inn, which saw the disappearance of a Tooting landmark. And there will be a chance to taste locally brewed London Porter as made across London in the 19th Century.

The meeting is on Tuesday 12th November at 7.30pm at the United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road, Tooting, SW179NQ. Everyone welcome-members free, guests £2.

Even if you are not interested in sport, this talk is bound to be a fascinating account of the passion and commitment generated by the different sporting activities that have been happening in Plough Lane for over 100 years.

We look forward to seeing you there.