History
The first social Club for the University College Hospital – The 52 Club’s history.
The first social Club for the University College Hospital came into being in 1951 was held in the basement of the Grafton Nurses home in Tottenham Court Road. It was mainly set up to organise a range of activities and outings, craft exhibitions being one of the favourite events where the nurses showed off their talents.
Christmas Parties were also popular with cabaret spots performed by some now well-known entertainers, such as Dr Jonathan Miller, Libby Morris and Sir Bernard Miles.
In 1974, when the Board of Governors of UCH acquired the lease of Bonham Carter House the opportunity arose to provide all the staff with unrivalled facilities for a Sports and Social Club. This was possible because the previous owners of the building, Bourne and Hollingsworth of Oxford Street, had in the 1920′s designed and built it for their live-in staff, a residence which was unique for staff welfare. The recreational facilities included a swimming pool, various games rooms in the basement, a ballroom and library. In the 1920s the requirement for female staff to live in and remain resident until they resigned or married was common place, marriage meaning they would have to resign anyway!
In the 70′s the Club set up a Committee to act as a working party, headed by Vincent Burns, to manage the maintenance that was required to get the facility useable. NHS funds could not be used so the Committee set about fund raising to pay for the refurbishment. The Trustees and particularly Baroness Inga-Stina Robson stepped in to help the cause; substantial sums of money through her wide circle of contacts were contributed and in November 1975 the Club was officially opened by Racing Driver Graham Hill. A few months after this a license was granted and a bar was opened that was operated by the Club Committee; this development and the saunas proved a popular attraction for off duty staff.
Soon a bar steward, Bob Ram, took the role full time and the bar opened 6 days a week including lunchtime, his death three years later proved a sad loss as he had a particular talent for organising events and trips, he was a popular host. Inter departmental sports tournaments were held including the Jubilee Challenge Trophy which has been revived for 2009. With the changing times, attitude to lunchtime opening and drinking in general , and changes in the PCTs the Clubs social side started to decline in around the mid 80′s. South Camden District which had given the Club it’s name of the ‘The South C Club’ disappeared into the Bloomsbury Health Authority and then other clinics and hospitals also changed areas taking well known Club members and characters with them. This was when the Club became the ‘52 Club’. For a few years the Club carried on quietly, numbers remained stable and the Members were happy to make use of the low cost facility. In the early 1990s a series of problems began to emerge starting with the relinquishing of duties by the Club Staff followed by a succession of plant, power and equipment failures and finally by the collapse of part of the ceiling of the swimming pool. The Committee again had to raise money to meet the expensive programme of repairs which they did by raffles, bingo and similar events. Work took a lot longer than anticipated but the resulting 1920s style pool with polished metal and new lighting proved well worth while. The BBC have used it in the past for fashion shows and legend has it that a scene from Dr Who was once shot in the pool.
In the later 1990s the Committee looked to the Sports side of the Club to determine what to do for the future, there was a growing trend in gym facilities and the Club only had very limited room and equipment. Through a tender process Macdonald Design Architects were employed to look at the space and the building foot print. They were asked to plan a phased improvement of the facilities over the next 10 years. In 2003 and 2004 a brand new gym facility was installed by converting one of the squash courts and adding a ‘conservatory’ extension for the treadmill area. In 2005 brand new saunas complimented a newly tiled pool and then in 2007 the Trustees granted money from a fund to improve Staff Welfare. This went to install the disabled access, studio space and equipment for group exercise classes. This work was completed in 2008 and the class timetable went from 6 classes in 2004 to 27 classes in 2007 and a total of 37 in 2009, per week. There was also cosmetic work done in the Social side of the Club with a food preparation area added to the bar in 2006 and new furniture and decoration in 2004 and 2008. A new boardroom was included in the most recent refurbishment of the Club taking it to a total of 3 meeting rooms in the facility.
In December 2009 the Management Committee approved expenditure to purchase state of the art equipment to replace the 2004 installation in most areas of the gym. American company Precor supplied £100,000 worth of new resistance machines, cross trainers and two of the very popular AMT machines.
The Club continues to be supported by the Trustees of UCLH Charity and is managed by the Management Committee, through regular meetings, throughout the year.