| AdminHistory | The Stepney Jewish Girls' (B'nai B'rith) Club was established in 1926. The Club and Settlement included the Alice Model Nursery, the Girls Club and the Senior Club, the Beaumont Hall Old Age Pensioners' Club, the Play Centre, Junior Club and 10th East Stepney Guide Company. The foundation and development of the Stepney Girls Club and Settlement was the responsibility of the First Women's Lodge of B'nai B'rith. It was was chaired by Mrs Anna Schwab, and warded by Phyllis Josephine Gerson.
The club was based at Beaumont Hall, Beaumont Square. In 1937 they used the club room at Stepney Green Dwellings, Stepney Green and administration was based at Woburn House, Upper Woburn Place before the Club re-opened at 1 Beaumont Grove in 1938 and then 2-6 Beaumont Grove.
More about Phyllis Josephine Gerson (1903-1990) MBE, Justice of the Peace.
Social Work Administrator and Magistrate, Phyllis Gerson was born of German parents in North West London, going to school locally and then at Art College. Her first job was in a design office but she found it uninteresting and was attracted by an advertisement for a helper in a girls group meeting in a Stepney school. In 1927 she began work with a group of ten girls, and commenced a sociology course at the London School of Economics.
She took over as Warden of the Stepney Jewish (B'nai B'rith) Club and Settlement in the old Beaumont Hall, Beaumont Square and introduced classes for cooking, art, and sport. During her 45 years at the Clubs and Settlement (1928-1973) the small organisation grew into a large welfare institution of clubs and social services. The rented room in the old Beaumont Hall where she began her work was succeeded in 1938 by the new Beaumont Hall, Beaumont Grove, E1, where Queen Mary performed the official opening. The Jewish Clubs and Settlement gained a place as a recognised training centre for youth workers and social science students from this country and abroad.
When the war came, Phyllis Gerson helped escort 300 children to South Africa. Returning to London she became an air raid warden, and delivered food and gave other help to those sheltering in Stepney Green Underground Station. At the end of the war she left the club to lead the first Jewish relief unit and followed the army through Egypt and Italy and then on to Albania. For this work she was awarded the MBE in 1949.
On her return to the Jewish Clubs and Settlement, the Beaumont Hall Nursery was merged with the Alice Model Nursery. The new Alice Model Nursery and hostel for girls was opened by the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1955.
Phyllis Gerson was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Thames Division, where she later followed Basil Henriques as Chairman of the Juvenile Bench.
The voluntary activities that she undertook during her retirement include work as Vice-president of the Associate Jewish Youth, Governor of Stepney Green Comprehensive School, Honorary Secretary of the Alice Model Nursery, and the Jewish Welfare Board.
She is commemorated by Phyllis Gerson House, 2 Beaumont Grove, E1.
Source: 'The Tower Hamlets Connection: A Biographical Guide by Harold Finch', reference L9517, page 76. |