Medical dates:

Medical character:

On 27th July 1927 the foundation stone was laid for the Young Leaguers' Union Hospital, which was to be built in the extensive grounds of the National Children's Home headquarters at No. 85 Highbury Park.  The funds for the Hospital had been raised by the Young Leaguers' Union, the junior branch of the League of Light fund-raising movement of the Methodist church.

The Hospital opened in 1928.  It had a central 3-storey block with a 2-storey wing either side.  As well as providing medical care, it was used as a reception centre for children entering the National Children's Home.

The building was later extended several times.

During WW2 the Hospital was used as a Wartime Day Nursery until June 1946, when the premises were returned to the National Children's Home.

It then ceased to be a hospital and became a residential nursery.

It closed in 1968.


Present status (August 2013)

After the residential nursery closed, the building was converted into a Day Nursery on the ground floor and a Family Centre on the first floor.  The remaining accommodation on the first and second floors was made into family apartments.

The new venture opened in September 1969.   The Legard Day Nursery and Legard Family Centre provided a service for local residents.  Socially isolated mothers and their young children were referred by Health Visitors, who thought they would benefit from mixing within a group but might not want to attend the kinds of activities at Mother and Child Welfare Clinics.  Health Visitors were present at the Family Centre and gave informal health education to all present.

The Nursery and Family Centre closed around 2005.

In 2008 the National Children's Home, now known as Action for Children, moved to new premises in Watford and the 3-acre site was put up for sale.

The former Hospital building was demolished when the site was redeveloped in 2010.