The National Fitness Council in the UK (1937 - 1939) was a government organisation to promote fitness set up according to the Physical Training and Recreation Act, 1937.
26-605: The Secretary was Lionel Ellis . The National Fitness Council consisted of an Advisory Committee for England and Wales and a Grant Committee. There were 22 Area Committees to review existing facilities, to encourage local schemes, to consider applications for grant and to forward these applications with their recommendations to the Grants Committee. It provided grants towards the provision of playing fields, boys' clubs, youth hostels, gymnasia, swimming baths and expert leadership. Over 865 schemes were funded fully, or in part during
52-471: A more intimate, personal level. Toynbee Hall rejected the concept of a community centre as a location for Christian proselytising—as seen in the efforts of the Salvation Army . This principle is reflected in the decision to name it after the social reformer, Arnold Toynbee, who had died in 1883, aged 30. As Henrietta Barnett explained, the name would be "free from every possible savor of a mission." From
78-848: The History of the Second World War . After the war, he was an Associate Warden of Toynbee Hall . His The War in France and Flanders (1954) begins with the Phoney War of 1939–1940 and deals with the failed attempts of the British Expeditionary Force to defend Belgium and France from the German invasion of May and June 1940. It ends with the confusion of the Belgian surrender, the British failure to defend
104-679: The 19th century led to many Irish settling in Whitechapel. Also, many Jewish immigrants settled in Whitechapel after fleeing from persecution in Western Europe at the time. The Barnetts used their roles in the parish to improve the Whitechapel area. They built a church library, introduced art exhibits, brought university lecturers in, and took their parishioners on excursions to the homes of the wealthy and to universities. The Barnetts also tried to encourage officials to improve sanitation and housing and to build more playgrounds and washhouses. However,
130-575: The Council's existence although there was debate over its effectiveness. The grants were intended to improve facilities in poorer regions of the country. The Council was suspended at the start of the Second World War and was not continued post-war, transferring its activities to the Ministry of Education. Lionel Ellis Lionel Frederic Ellis CVO CBE DSO MC (13 May 1885 – 19 October 1970)
156-707: The Somme and the decision to evacuate British forces from Dunkirk. His later volumes dealt with the Normandy Campaign and the defeat of Germany. In 1916, Ellis married Jane Richmond (died 1953) in the Southwark district and they had a son, Christopher St John Ellis (1920–1997), who served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War and became a schoolmaster and also one daughter. Ellis died at Harlington , Middlesex, on 19 October 1970. Ellis
182-686: The United States. In 1911 the leaders of the social settlement movement founded the National Federation of Settlements. One of the best known settlement houses that was inspired after a visit to Toynbee Hall is Hull House in Chicago , founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889. Over time Toynbee Hall implemented many different educational community programmes. At its opening, Toynbee Hall introduced University Extension Society lectures. These lectures were taught by university professors. At
208-441: The advance south of Bavai on 6th November, 1918. When the whole battalion was held up at the railway, he brought his company headquarters up to reinforce his company, and, calling on his men to follow him, rushed across the railway bank, surprising and routing the enemy, whom he followed up on a spur, until held up by a fresh machine-gun position. His energy and resource encouraged his men to overcome all difficulties, and resulted in
234-494: The area of Whitechapel alone, the mortality rate for children under the age of five was around 60% mostly due to the tight living conditions. Charles Booth , another social reformer, mapped London according to eight different social classes , finding that around 70% of people living in the East End were in the lowest three classes. Whitechapel was also a place where many different immigrants settled. The Great Famine of Ireland in
260-494: The attempts the Barnetts made with the parish had little effect on the East End community as a whole. The parish did not reach everyone that lived in the East End. Many of the people did not involve themselves with the established church. In an effort to improve the wellbeing of the community, Barnett had the idea of sharing knowledge and culture. His proposal was to have university students come as volunteers to share their knowledge:
286-616: The beginning, it was non-sectarian and welcomed people of all faiths, despite having been founded by a Church of England cleric . It saw its purpose as more educational than charitable, in a missionary sense. Gertrude Himmelfarb lists some of the activities offered by Toynbee Hall in a typical month: "evening classes on arithmetic, writing, drawing, citizenship, chemistry, nursing, and music (...); afternoon classes for girls on dressmaking, writing and composition, geography, bookkeeping, needlework, hygiene, reading and recitation, French, singing, cooking, and swimming; and evening sessions devoted to
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#1732855355573312-465: The capture of Prihart Farm. He subsequently reorganised the company on his left, which was in difficulties, and finally brought up and posted a support company, securing the left flank of the division. He returned to civilian life and became the first General Secretary of the new National Council of Social Service , a position he held from 1919 to 1937, then the first Secretary of the new National Fitness Council, 1937 to 1939, working with Lord Aberdare ,
338-464: The charity's services. In 2006 Toynbee Hall launched Capitalise, a pan-London free debt advice service to support 20,000 people a year with their money worries. In April 2019 this service was rebranded as Debt Free London. In 2007 the Toynbee Studios opened in part of the building offering dance and media studios and a theatre. Toynbee Hall, the original building that houses the organisation of
364-868: The day. This tradition continued for over twenty years. In 1899, the Poor Man's Lawyer service was introduced. This programme gives free legal services to those who can not afford it, and continues to the present day. The international settlement movement began at Toynbee Hall, where a community centre was formed that attracted university students who wished to live or "settle" among the underprivileged in London's economically depressed East End. They came, according to Samuel Barnett, "to learn, as much as to teach, to receive as much as to give". As at most settlement houses, its social workers—students from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, among others—resided at Toynbee Hall and sought thereby to get to know their neighbors and their needs on
390-542: The discussion of legal principles and current social issues". By 1900 there were over 100 settlements in the United States and across the UK, and in 1911 the leaders of the social settlement movement founded the National Federation of Settlements. Today, Toynbee Hall provides a range of programmes and activities, broadly broken down into: youth, the elderly, financial inclusion, debt, advice, free legal advice and community engagement. Each year over 400 volunteers help to deliver
416-725: The first chairman. In the 1930 Birthday Honours , Ellis was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services in connection with the Coalfields Distress Fund" and in 1937 a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order . On 18 September 1939, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War , Ellis returned to the Welsh Guards and was later appointed as an official historian, contributing three volumes to
442-607: The first objective the leading waves were thrown back by machine-gun fire. He at once went forward, reorganised them, and succeeded in taking the position. It was due to his fine leadership that the objectives were gained. In 1919 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry and devotion to duty, in the advance south of Bavai in the days before the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . The medal's citation reads: For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in
468-650: The first settlement house in the world. Named after another social reformer, Arnold Toynbee , Toynbee Hall first opened its doors on Christmas Eve in 1884. Samuel Barnett was named as the first warden of the hall and Oxford and Cambridge university students came to work at the hall. By 1910 more settlement houses were founded in the United Kingdom in the areas of Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Birmingham, Liverpool, and elsewhere in London; as well as in Holland, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, and
494-553: The gap between people of all social and financial backgrounds, with a focus on working towards a future without poverty. Shortly after their marriage in 1873, Samuel Barnett and his wife, Henrietta, moved to the Whitechapel district of the East End of London . Barnett was vicar of St Jude's church , where he saw poverty at first hand. Late-Victorian Whitechapel was known for its overcrowded living spaces and high criminal activity. In
520-581: The programme's peak, in the 1890s, classes were taught in over 134 topics including; literature, zoology, ethics, philosophy, etc. In order to further promote education, 36 societies or clubs were created in different areas, such as, music, art, history, and science. One of these societies was founded in 1889 and was called the "Toynbee Travellers". This group was created after a group of Toynbee Hall residents travelled to Belgium in 1887. Toynbee Hall also began hosting Smoking Room Debates in which community members and invited speakers would come to debate issues of
546-589: The same name, is located in Commercial Street , Spitalfields , in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets . It was designed by Elijah Hoole in a Tudor-Gothic style, and was formally opened in January 1885. It was built on the site of a disused industrial school , and adjacent to the church of St Jude (built in 1845–46, but demolished in 1927). It was designated a Grade II listed building in 1973. The front of
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#1732855355573572-445: The students would be able to help the poor, and at the same time witness poverty at first hand, and potentially develop solutions for it. In 1883, Barnett gave a lecture at St John's College, Oxford to gain support for his idea. Barnett was able to gather enough support and a committee called the "University Settlement of East London" was set up by Oxford. With these ideas and the support of universities, Barnett founded Toynbee Hall,
598-426: The worldwide settlement movement —a reformist social agenda that strove to get the rich and poor to live more closely together in an interdependent community. It was founded by Henrietta and Samuel Barnett in the economically depressed East End, and was named in memory of their friend and fellow reformer, Oxford historian Arnold Toynbee , who had died the previous year. Toynbee Hall continues to strive to bridge
624-583: Was a British Army officer and military historian , author of three volumes of the official History of the Second World War . Between the two World Wars , he was General Secretary of the National Council of Social Service (1919–1937) and then Secretary of the National Fitness Council (1937–1939). In the 1950s he was an Associate Warden of Toynbee Hall . Born in Nottingham , in 1916 Ellis
650-399: Was a painter and a friend of Rex Whistler , who was stationed with him during the Second World War. Toynbee Hall Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. Established in 1884, it is based in Commercial Street , Spitalfields , and was the first university-affiliated institution of
676-573: Was commissioned into the Welsh Guards from the Inns of Court Officers' Training Corps and saw service in the First World War . Ellis was awarded a Military Cross , the citation for which reads: For conspicuous gallantry and resource while commanding the leading company in an attack. When the troops on his left lost direction, he went across and gave the officer in charge his correct bearing. On reaching
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