Simon Charles Potter was a year above me at the long since closed Beaumont College. He has many claims to fame since those days, one of which is being a teacher of arts at Wimbledon College since I believe the 1970s. In earlier days he used to travel to the College by a motor cycle and side-car and we occasionally chatted on the road near the College on Wimbledon's Edge Hill and at an occasional Beaumont Union meeting or dinner.
He is also the author of several books and has just written a piece for the parish magazine Edgeways an extract from which reads:
On Tuesday 10 March, pupils from
Wimbledon College and Ursuline High
School attended the unveiling of the
Hanbury Drinking Fountain on
Wimbledon Village’s High Street, opposite
the Rose and Crown pub.
The ceremony followed a major
restoration led by Heritage of London
Trust, in partnership with Merton Council
and the Wimbledon Society. Over 100
young people in school history clubs,
including those from our parish’s schools,
have been involved with the restoration
through the Proud Places programme.
The Victorian fountain – now conserved,
gilded, and returned to working order –
stands as a striking example of Britain’s
nineteenth-century fascination with Greek
Revival architecture, shaping the country’s
public monuments and civic spaces.
The fountain was originally presented to
the public as a gift by Robert William
Hanbury, MP and President of the Board
of Agriculture. It first opened in 1860 on
the Strand before being relocated to
Wimbledon Common, near Hanbury’s
home. As part of the restoration, the
fountain has been relocated from the
Common to the bustling High Street to
serve more passers-by.
Probably the relocation of the drinking fountain to the Village from its former site on Wimbledon Common, was assisted by Merton Council recently becoming debt free but that is speculation on my part.
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