EALING CIVIC SOCIETY PLAQUES

Our first plaque is a bronze pavement plaque which was unveiled on 23 February 2005 to commemorate the first branch of Waitrose then known as Messrs Waite, Rose and Taylor, which opened over 100 years ago in 1904 at 263 Acton High Street London W3 and is now occupied by The Babylon Pizza House. This plaque was jointly sponsored by Ealing Civic Society with the Acton History Group and Waitrose Ltd.

Our second plaque is a green wall plaque which was unveiled on 23 March 2006 to commemorate William Willett who was the inventor of Daylight Saving Time, which is known as British Summer Time in this country. It was erected at his former home at 16 Avenue Crescent Acton W3 and it was jointly sponsored by Ealing Civic Society with the Mill Hill Residents’ Association and Hamptons International who occupy William Willett’s former estate offices in Chelsea.

Our third plaque is a green wall plaque which commemorates Spencer Perceval the prime minister who was living by Ealing Common when assassinated in 1812. It was unveiled on 3 October 2009 by Liz Perceval, the great great great great grand-daughter of Spencer Perceval at All Saints Church, the Spencer Perceval Memorial Church and the site of Elm Grove, Perceval's home. It was jointly sponsored by Ealing Civic Society with All Saints Church and the John and Ruth Howard Charitable Trust.

Some ideas for further ECS Green Plaques are for:

Dame Margot Fonteyn who lived in Ealing as a child at 44 Waldeck Road and 3 Elm Road Ealing W5. English Heritage erect only one of their Blue Plaques for each individual and they already have a proposal for one at her former home in Kew where she lived after becoming famous. If this goes ahead, we might want to put up our own plaque in Ealing in addition.

Fred Perry who was a member of the Brentham Club where he learned to play tennis and developed his tennis skills there (but see below under English Heritage Blue Plaques). Other famous sportsmen who were members of the Club are Mike Brealey the former English Cricket Team Captain and Peter Crouch the International Footballer. Both of these may eventually become eligible for ECS Plaques which could be erected at the Club.

Ho Chi Minh the first President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was employed as a dishwasher at the Drayton Court Hotel on the Avenue Ealing W5 before the outbreak of World War One.

The NatWest Bank Building on Ealing Broadway W5 which was designed by Charles Jones as the first council offices for the Ealing Board before it became Ealing Council and moved to the present Town Hall on New Broadway, which was also designed by Charles Jones.

ENGLISH HERITAGE PLAQUES

There are four English Heritage Blue Plaques in Ealing for:

	Alan Blumlein, the inventor who lived on the Haymills Estate at 37 The Ridings Ealing W5		John Lindley, the Kew Botanist, at Bedford House, The Avenue , Chiswick W4
	Sir Michael Balcon, the film producer, at Ealing Studios, Ealing Green W5		Dorothea Lambert Chambers, the seven times Women’s Wimbledon Tennis Champion, at St Matthew’s Vicarage, 7 North Common Road, Ealing W5

Two further Blue Plaques may be erected in Ealing for:

John Compton the builder of cinema, cathedral and church organs, which has been approved for erection possibly in 2009 or 2010 at his former home at 37 Audley Road Ealing W5.

Fred Perry the last British Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Champion in 1936 at his former home at 223 Pitshanger Lane Ealing W5, if the submission by the Brentham Heritage Society with the advice and support of ECS is approved by English Heritage after the 100 anniversary of his birth in May 2009.

Also English Heritage is currently reviewing its earlier decision not to erect a Blue plaque for Nevil Shute, the novelist, at his former home at 16 Somerset Road Ealing W13.