Saturday, 14 July 2007

Foundling Hospital and British Library

In previous years, Jackie and I would have spent this weekend at the Welwyn Garden City Kaleidoscope festival or at the Hitchin Rhythms of the World festival. Instead, we went on a coach trip with the East Herts Archaeological Society to London for tours of the Foundling Hospital at Coram’s Fields and of the new British Library. Despite the humid weather, this was very enjoyable.

I was vaguely familiar with the Foundling Hospital but knew little of its history and nothing of its connections with Hogarth and Handel. The hospital trustees could accept only 40 “foundlings” a year, yet usually had more than 100 applications. Their solution was to operate a random lottery to decide on entry (possibly the true origin of the term “blackballed”). The Hertfordshire connection is that the "Hospital" relocated in the 1920s to Berkhamstead.

Even better was the British Library, surely one of the finest modern municipal buildings in Britain. Absolutely beautiful. And the contents were wonderful too: Treasures of the British Library and an exhibition entitled Sacred of the Bible, the Qur’an and the Torah. Perhaps a destination for a Watford One World Forum outing?