| Biography | The Garden City Home for Boys at Woodford Bridge, was opened in 1909 and it remained a boys-only home until 1948. That year it began to care for girls and continued to do so until its closure in September, 1977.
It was the Council of Dr Barnardo's Homes which purchased the Gwynne House estate together with 39 acres of land in 1909. Over the next 20 years, a series of small detached houses was built to create the impression of a garden city under the direction of the architect, Mr W A Pite. And in 1918, the lands of the Roding House estate an extra 10 acres were acquired to expand the boys' home.
Built on the site of the mediaeval tenement of Guines, a total of 30 houses made up the original scheme, and by 1931 20 of these had been completed and were occupied. Over the years there were notable building additions to the home, including a swimming pool provided by Andrew Johnston, Esq DL JP, at a cost of £1, 000 as a golden wedding memorial.
The chapel was commissioned in 1929 and a 75-bed hospital, named after John Capel Hanbury, served the children living in the Garden City. Canada Hall acted as the public hall and dining room for all the boys and had been built during the first phase of the plan. The bakery was the last major building of note in the city. It also catered for the Barkingside Girls' Home and other local sites and by 1932 it was producing loaves at the rate of five thousand per week.
The first 34 boys were moved to the newly purchased site from the Youth's Labour House and Sheppard House in the East End and the children lived in large dwellings on the site while the first houses were finished. By December 1911 five of the planned houses had been completed and by May 1912, 13 had gone up. Each house was home for 30 boys, supervised by a house-mother or matron and it contained two dormitories, each sleeping 15 children.
For the boys, an average day would start at 6.30am with household duties, including polishing the dormitories and landings and cleaning the bathroom under the supervision of their matron. After this work was finished, the lads would make their beds and wash before breakfast then get ready for a daily inspection before being marched to school. An elementary school was established by the council in 1913 for the boys from the Garden City Home, but squads of boys also marched to Ray Lodge and Woodford Green Schools. Sunday saw the boys having an extra hour in bed but they still had to complete cleaning duties before breakfast. This was followed by morning service with a walk afterwards and while the afternoon was spent in the individual houses playing games, reading and writing until tea, everyone had to attend the evening church service.
By the 1930s the boys' home had grown from a small group of 30 to 700. A 500-pew chapel was added in 1930 and was dedicated by the Lord Bishop of Chelmsford as the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. The Garden City was the home of the boys and elsewhere they were taught trades like baking in the then state-of-the-art steam bakery as well as tailoring, bootmaking and gardening.
In 1931 the first boy from any English branch of Barnardo's to gain a degree was from Woodford Bridge's Garden City. Physical training and sports of all kinds played a major part in the philosophy in the Barnardo's home and it was aimed at improving the condition of the boys. Physical education used to take place in the dining hall which involved moving 200 tables and 400 forms. In 1936 a gymnasium was finished complete with a cinema projector showing a big picture every week plus instructional films and news.
The end of the decade saw the war disrupt the activities of the boys' home and following the war girls were admitted for the first time. The Garden City broadened its educational horizons with the girls and several establishments were set up covering a variety of aspects of child care, including a nursery unit.
The 1930s were a decade of growth and achievement for the boys and a sustained period of development in the thriving community of the Boys' Garden City and the Boyland Township became a major achievement for the Barnardo's organisation. Having started as somewhat of an experiment, it continued until 1977 to provide an important service as part of Dr Barnardo's extensive network before the Barkingside based charity started closing down its children's homes. |