Devas Club

The Devas Club for Young People (the Devas Institute until 1970[3]) is a youth club in Battersea, south London, England, which provides sporting, educational and creative opportunities for disadvantaged youth.[4][5]

Devas Club
Named afterJocelyn Devas
Formation1884
FounderJocelyn Devas
Founded atLondon, England
TypeEducational institute (1884–1970); Club (1970 onwards)
Legal statusOpen
PurposeEducation; youth club; sports club
Headquarters2a Stormont Road, Battersea[1]
Location
Coordinates51.46492°N 0.15648°W / 51.46492; -0.15648
OriginsUniversity College, Oxford[2]
Region served
London
ServicesYouth education, sports, activities, events
Official language
English
Websitedevasclub.org

History

The Devas Institute was founded by Jocelyn Devas, a student at University College, Oxford,[2] in 1884, as a ‘Club for Working Lads’ with the aim of providing young men with job skills.[6] The club was originally called University College House and was in a room above a coffee shop in Stewarts Road.[7] Following Jocelyn Devas's death eighteen months after founding the club, in a climbing accident on the Matterhorn, his father offered a substantial endowment if his college friends would carry on the work in Battersea.[8] Oxford House helped the club early in its development.[9]

The Devas Institute was constituted first under a scheme set up by the Charities Commissioners in 1901, when University College Oxford and then Battersea Polytechnic Institute provided members of the Management Council for the Devas Institute.[10] The institute moved to larger premises in Thessally Road in Nine Elms in 1907. During World War I, the Devas Institute site was used as an air raid shelter.[11]

The comprehensive redevelopment of the Nine Elms area to build New Covent Garden Market prompted a further move, to a purpose-built building on Stormont Road near Lavender Hill in 1969, in a notably Brutalist architectural style.[12] It was renamed the Devas Club in 1970.[3] The club was reconstituted in 1974 by order of the Charity Commissioners under independent trustees.[13]

The main purpose of the institute's work was initially educational, but as this function became increasingly taken over by the London County Council, sporting and creative activities began to take precedence in the programme. A separate club for girls was started in 1960, which was later merged with the main activity of the club. The club maintains a small meeting space for alumni of the club ('old boys').

The club celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2014.[14]

The club today

The Devas Club is primarily targeted at young people between 11 and 19, with specialist programmes targeted at the age range 8 to 11. It aims to enable young people, particularly the disaffected and at risk, to reach their full potential as responsible, talented individuals and as active participants in the community.

The building includes a gym, a recording studio (the Stormont Studios[15]), performance space, cooking and computer facilities, a range of meeting and rehearsal rooms, and a basketball court on the roof. The club is a registered charity (Registration Number 1129419)[13] with the stated purpose of "providing a youth centre for the purpose of helping and educating young persons under the age of 25 years through their physical, mental and spiritual capacities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society and that their conditions of life may be improved."

The Devas Club has maintained close links with University College, as well as with the Devas family, over the years.[5] It has also developed a close relationship over many years with Wandsworth Council, who provide full-time youth staff to support the club's activities.

Development projects

The building is now rather dated, and no longer fully appropriate for a modern youth club. It has been the subject of a bid to turn it into a modern centre for sports and the creative arts for disadvantaged youth, as well as providing enhanced facilities for local community use. The bid was supported by Wandsworth Borough Council by means of a £0.5m capital grant as well as support for design fees. It will include extensively modernising and extending the facilities, as well as upgrading the building provide a more open, flexible and welcoming layout. The exterior walls will be insulated to make the building more sustainable, and a new terrace will be introduced on the rooftop. A large and easily adaptable performance space will be created on the first floor by altering floor levels in the gym.

The club received UK Government Culture Recovery Fund in 2020 for support during the COVID pandemic.[16] It has also aimed to reduce its energy use.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Devas Club". Wandsworth Arts Fringe. Wandsworth Council. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  2. Ockwell, Anne; Pollins, Harold (2000). "27: 'Extension' in all its Forms". In Brock, M. G.; Curthoys, M. C. (eds.). The History of the University of Oxford. Vol. VII: Nineteenth-Century Oxford, Part 2. Oxford University Press. pp. 661–688. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510177.003.0027. ISBN 978-0199510177.
  3. Gee, T. P.; Wild, J. H. S. (1979). "Social Work in London: the Univ. Connection". University College Record. Vol. VII, no. 5. pp. 251–259.
  4. Powley, Terry (2014). Getting On With It: A History of London Youth. London Youth. ISBN 978-0957087323.
  5. "Univ and the Devas Club" (PDF). UK: University College, Oxford. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  6. "Battersea youth club celebrates 125th birthday". www.thisislocallondon.co.uk. Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine, Wandsworth, This is Local London, 19 October 2009.
  7. Darwall-Smith, Robin (2008). A History of University College. Oxford University Press. p. 410. ISBN 978-0-19-928429-0.
  8. "Oxford youth club celebrates 125 years" (PDF). Lambeth Life. UK: Lambeth Council. 1 November 2009. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Lambeth Borough Council, London, page 15, 1 November 2009.
  9. Arnold, F. (1 April 1888). "The Oxford House and Toynbee Hall". The Leisure Hour: An illustrated magazine for home reading. pp. 274–279.
  10. House of Commons (1904). "The Devas Institute". Parliamentary Papers 1850–1908. Vol. 73. H.M. Stationery Office. pp. 305–308.
  11. Corkill, Claire; Kolonko, Chris (2020). "Devas Institute, 82, New Road (PRN: 10670)". Home Front Legacy 1914–18. UK: Archaeology Data Service. doi:10.5284/1059297. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  12. Survey of London: Battersea, pt. 2. Houses and Housing. University of London for the London County Council. 2013. pp. 129, 296.
  13. "Annual Review and statements of financial activities: Devas 2020/21". UK: Charity Commission. 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  14. Gee, Tim (Winter 2014). "130 Years of the Devas Club" (PDF). The Martlet. No. 2. UK: University College, Oxford. p. 12.
  15. "Stormont Studios". archive.today. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  16. Adkins, Frankie (16 November 2020). "Devas Club gets government financial boost". Wandsworth Times. UK.
  17. Hancock-Bruce, Matt (21 December 2020). "Battersea youth club looking to raise funds to reduce energy use". SWLondoner. UK.
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