Murray House has a long and fascinating history. Established in 1937, with strong links to the Navy, the centre has moved several times, most recently in 1974 to the current site.
Using documents and records that have been kept in a locker in the centre for over 55 years (there's a hand written Minutes book from 1951), and the memories of people who have grown up with Murray House, we're going to try and reconstruct that history here. Please bear with us, this might take some time...
The Annual Report (66-67) and the Progress Report (1974) are all the more interesting in the light of changes that are taking place at Murray House at the present time - we are currently preparing a Business Plan which will help us modernise the centre and employ staff to run it, building on the huge commitment made by the volunteers who have run it in recent years.
Although the documents we've found so far will help in building a vivid picture of the centre's history, we could really do with the help of anyone who can remember the changes that have taken place since it's founding in 1937. If you have any memories of Murray House Past, please conatct us.
Some of these documents have many pages - look for the links at the bottom of each page to turn to the next.
* Building (and fundraising) progress report 1974
Murray House moved to a new building in Diana Street in about 1974. The new building was funded by subscription and cost about £60 000 pounds.
This is the front page of a progress report given to the subscribers. The inside of the report holds a list of subscribers which includes individual residents as well as private companies like Barclays Bank and ICI and charitable trusts such as The Chapman Foundation and the James Knott Settlement.
The list of subscribers is very long and very wide in it's scope - we're working on transcribing it - these people really knew how to fundraise!
* Certificate from Swimming Gala 1955
