It has been all hush hush and rumours for a while about the Teddington situation. For those of you that don’t know, Teddington is the home of the Imperial Medical School’s sports teams for almost a century. It is a sports ground that is historic and means a great deal to the Imperial Medics past and present.
Having talked to many alumni and students it seems that everyone has been devastated by the news that all student activity will be suspended at Teddington after Imperial purchased a new sports site.
Dariush Hassanzadeh-Baboli – President of the Imperial Medics Union (ICSMSU) and Maredudd Harris the Clubs and Socs Officer sent the entire medical school an email earlier in the week …”The first time ICSMSU heard about the news was the same time as the rest of the students at Imperial College. Both the Faculty of Medicine and ICSMSU are unhappy and disappointed at the lack of warning, let alone consultation, with regards to moving ICSM Sports from their home ground of over 80 years. Such big decisions, that disrupt the history and traditions of our medical school, should not be made without the students being consulted.”
Since then, surveys and petitions have been abundant. My news feed on Facebook and twitter is covered with alumni and students standing up for the history of our medical school sports teams.
Teddington is wrapped in tradition and pride. Lord Beaverbrook, a consultant, bought the land in 1935 and gave it to St Marys (which later merged with other med schools to form Imperial). This was bought at the request of Lord Moran (the Dean of Medicine at the time!). Since then thousands of students have played on the land and have created memories that have been passed on through generations of sports teams. Even on the first day I went to Teddington in freshers I already began to get a sense of the homely feel of the grounds.
The prospect of travelling up to 2 hours from clinical sites in future years to get to a new sports ground seems like a bit too much. Doing sports already is a big ask for me, but when a massive commute (and thus expenditure on travel) is involved it’s just not going to happen. And this is probably true for a lot of students sadly. We should be doing everything we can to encourage sports not discouraging…surely!?
So now it seems everyone, old and new, is coming together to support the cause. Alumni from Imperial and Marys that are now located around the world are getting in touch to show their support. Everyone is coming together to keep a bit of Imperial that we all love and want to hold on to.
Imperial Medical School is full of an incredible heritage and history that doesn’t deserve to be destroyed. I really believe that the traditions of Imperial should be embraced and celebrated for ages to come.
#loveimperial #loveicsm #lovehistory #saveteddington
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