Area: Wandsworth, South London
Researcher: Ian Donoghue
Ian Donoghue is a volunteer with UNA UK and a member of the local UNA group at Putney and Roehampton. "I didn’t expect to discover so many fascinating links between my own local community and the UN", Ian stated, but selected the following points as highlights of his findings.
- Standing proud on the south bank of the lake, in Battersea Park, is a ten foot high bronze monument, entitled 'Single Form'. A modern piece, sculpted by Dame Barbara Hepworth and unknown to many. This fine work is actually one of two identical pieces and its larger, twenty one foot high, twin stands prominently in the grounds of the United Nations headquarters in New York. Dame Hepworth,sculpted these pieces as a memorial to her dear friend Dag Hammarskjöld, a UN Secretary-General, who died tragically while in service.
- Wandsworth has continued to uphold its links to the plight of refugees through its involvement in UN Refugee week and events at Battersea Park that celebrate the diversity of art, music and culture that the borough enjoys. The park's 'Pump House' gallery has put on exhibits of artefacts and works that mark such occasions and an example would be the 2001 Refugee Council exhibition entitled "No Place", tackling issues of displacement and sanctuary.
- Individual Wandsworth people have also connected the borough to the work of the UN. Ernest Bevin, for example, was our local MP and Foreign Secretary, in 1945 when the UN was founded. He addressed the UN meeting in Paris in 1948. Other notable individuals include Lord Buds and H R King.
Wandsworth, Ian discovered, has a long heritage of connecting to the work and values of the UN, illustrating how citizens of Wandsworth are citizens of the world.
Listen to how Wandsworth Radio reported Wandsworth's links to the UN and read how a special commemorative UN Charter was presented to the Deputy Mayor of Wandsworth.