Ralph West Hall (or RWH) was my first place of residence when I arrived in London back in 1995 as a foundation student at the Chelsea College of Art & Design.
The decor was not fancy, and the rooms were certainly small, but adequete. The food was nothing to write home about, being pretty lame in fact, but hey, it was food that was still edible. Who can forget the Sundays where no food was served and we all had to troop over to the local grocers to buy food, in an attempt to cook. That was until someone had the bright idea of bringing over a rice cooker after the Christmas holidays, allowing us to heat up some food at least, besides cooking rice.
Oh, what about the only phone we had on every floor, and sometimes Christine would be on it for hours! We all got along, we made do, we made concessions for each other's eccentricities. Sometimes we had arguments, but we very quickly made up and forgot what we were fighting about. Never did we take things personal, because we all knew, we needed to get along. It was, afterall, a long year ahead for all of us and many of us will still see each other in our new BA programs.
I have made friends there that I still keep in touch with these years. Friends like Glen, Beth, Soko and Claire (my Northern Irish neighbour who walked to school with me some days). Some friends I fondly remember were Ali(stair), Philly(Phillipa), Laura, Christine, Sinead and Jung Ah. I wonder how they are now.
I remember summer particularly well for we would all troop down to Battersea Park to get abit of sun.
I certainly enjoyed my walks to college, across Battersea Bridge, through World's End that lead to Chelsea's foundation program campus.
Who can forget Fungus Mungus, the bar that served excellent mushrooms and reasonably priced beer.
And the absolutely stunning view of the setting sun in winter, with Mother Nature's multi-coloured skies providing a beautiful backdrop to the silhouettes of buildings and riverboat houses that peppered the Thames.
Or the fact that we used to pull out the light bulb covers that adorn Albert Bridge. :-P
Well, those were fun days indeed.
For posterity sake, I found a picture of Ralph West Hall, which showed the room where I used to stay for a whole academic year.
6 comments:
I am not absolutely sure, but I may have had your room in 2003-04. How weird is that?!
And I am also sad, and amazed, that the building has been demolished. It's a shame.
I was in RWH a month in summer, I send a lovely time there, I do not remembre which one was my room but It was at the 8th floor.
There is a FB page and group re RWH
https://www.facebook.com/Ralph-West-Halls-of-Residence-Battersea-442984045777829/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2417289434/
This blog post is mentioned on one of them.
BTW I had the broom next to yours but in 1984.
Thanks for the memories :-)
First gone in London 1979 ! So many fond memories and gatherings in each other’s rooms.
First gone in London 1979 ! So many fond memories and gatherings in each other’s rooms.
First gone in London 1979 ! So many fond memories and gatherings in each other’s rooms.
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