Kingston University is coming up for its centenary next year and the U3A has been invited to help research some of its history.
There must be many of you whose family members have been involved with the university or indeed may have trained at the Gipsy Hill teacher training college which moved to Surrey in 1946.
Since then the college has continued to grow and expand finally becoming a university in 1992 after the teacher training college merged with Kingston College of Technology and Kingston College of Art.
The U3A Shared Learning project will look at the history of the buildings on the Kingston Hill campus. The archives have limited information including the fact that Florence Nightingale’s aunt and uncle owned one of the buildings and that the crown prince of Egypt spent a few years there in the early 1900s.
If you enjoy history, like doing a bit of investigation and would like to help this great project then why not take part.
The U3A has a strong record of such community projects. Sources magazine regularly includes updates on their work and I have been reading recently about a marvellous exhibition of 20th century wedding dresses put together by U3A members. Another one involves members researching the lives of staff at Kings College university. They have unearthed a possible candidate for Jack the Ripper and a link to the Pre-Raphelite movement.
Fascinating stuff and all waiting to be uncovered.
If this sounds like something you would like to help with then look at the following web links for more information or contact SLP co-ordinator Jennifer Anning for an application form :
ja_ku3a@btinternet.com
Kingston University website: www.kingston.ac.uk
Kingston University Archives and Special Collections site: http://www.kingston.ac.uk/library-and-learning-services/archives-and-special-collections/
Kingston University Digital Collections site (with photographs from the University’s history): http://cdm16680.contentdm.oclc.org/