View report page

32
clinics to the special maternity, paedriatric, geriatric, thoracic and
neuro-surgical units based at local hospitals of which there are
twelve. With such a close connection as Woolwich has with the army
it is almost inevitable that one of these establishments, the Royal
Herbert, should be a military hospital. This latter hospital, opened
in 1866, owes its existence to the efforts of Florence Nightingale
and her friend Lord Herbert (Secretary of War) following the
Crimean War.
Virtually first class educational facilities are at the disposal of
residents, encompassing as they do the nursery and handicapped
children's establishments as well as the normal primary, secondary,
grammar, technical and comprehensive schools. Abundant opportunities
are also provided for further education whether vocational
or cultural or merely for enabling persons to indulge in a particular
hobby.
A women's residential training college, the first to be established
by the London County Council, is located at Avery Hill and
provides for upwards of 360 students and is a constituent college of
the University of London. Woolwich Polytechnic, now catering
for nearly 700 full time students and over 2,000 part-timers released
by industrial concerns, is unique in that it is the only polytechnic
in the London area which may be aided by the local Council.
Eltham College, originally founded in 1842 as a 'Home and School
for the Sons of Missionaries' lies just beyond the Borough boundary
in Bromley and is recognised as a Public School.
Of the nursery schools, that of Rachel McMillan is internationally
famous, for the McMillan sisters were the pioneers of
nursery schools in the British Isles; and in the Roan Schools,
founded in 1643 by John Roan the son of a member of the Royal
household when it was at the Palace of Placentia, Greenwich has
one of the oldest teaching foundations in London.
Most educational services are now under the control of the
I.L.E.A. or church organisations but there are still some private
schools in the area which are conducted independently of the Education
Authority and which cater for fee-paying pupils.
Serving the Borough are 12 libraries, 9 main and 3 part-time,
supplemented by a mobile library intended to cater for the more
'remote' parts of the area. The main branches are admirably
adapted to enable private study to be undertaken in close proximity
to comprehensive reference sections and they afford access to daily
newspapers as well as weekly and monthly periodicals. Special
facilities are provided for children, hospital patients, homebound
invalids and elderly persons and, furthermore, opportunities for the
borrowing of gramophone records have been made available to