20/12/2024
🚨Tower Hamlets Council are Evicting London’s Oldest Weightlifting Club 🚨
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👉🏽History Lesson - LCC (London County Council) set up the Bethnal Green Evening / Mens Institute on the site. The purpose of the Institute was primarily to help the men who had served and returned from WW1.
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The centre would have had a variety of classes and pastimes as diverse as carpentry, arts and crafts, pigeon club, gymnastics and an Orchestra. To our knowledge all Inner London Boroughs provided the same, all overseen by the LCC.
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Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club moved into the main building either late 1920s or early 1930, difficult to find the exact date. We continued being part of the classes in the main building until 1948 when the Gym moved into an empty building across the playground where we have been ever since. This can be substantiated as up until 2015 we had a gentleman still training with us who was there. He passed away aged 84 (Ronald Whitham)
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When the LCC was disbanded it was replaced by the ILEA (Inner London Education Authority which in turn was replaced by the GLC (Greater London Council). In 1986 the GLC was disbanded and responsibility of all the Institutions was given to the relevant boroughs that they resided in
