Do you remember these?!
Did you wonder why the above don't date from 1933? Presumably it was felt that no-one was really old enough in the school until 1937, for such responsibilities!
You can see an image of the other Honours Board, the one that commemorates those lost as a result of WWII, on the 'About' page; and you can see it for real in its new home, in the Harrow Weald Memorial Hall. The other boards are intact and safe with various members of the Association. Some of us read them every morning in Assembly when we should have been concentrating on other things. Those names really stayed in the memory.
We do have a rich and fascinating archive. A large selection of it is always displayed at the annual reunion in Harrow Weald, varying year by year and frequently with something 'new' that hasn’t been seen by most members before. There is always much 'oh wow-ing!' as people browse the display.
There are plans in hand to make sure that the whole collection becomes available for viewing, in a place where it can be preserved, with much of it digitised. As well as for us to enjoy now, the hope is that it will be of use to future historians.
Here are just a few of the large collection of photos.
The first was one that emerged at the last reunion, and caused quite a stir! It was well before bendy poles and soft landings, clearly! If you know more about this photo, do tell us. The second looks as if it's being done at some speed, real team work.
Also on a sporting theme, but more to highlight a much loved member of staff, is this next. 'Shove' enthusiastically supported all the school's sporting life, and was always central to Sports Day, as you can see on the 1961 film on this page, too, so the 'quote' attached is perfectly apt.
The following are a few early images of the indoor workplaces of the school.
And this one features Dr. F.R.Young (at the back, bow-tie! and taker of the Scout films), with the 1955 Lower VI physics class: names (beneath) carefully supplied by two of their number - thank you.
Front bench: Peter Heath, 2nd Bench L-R: Len Whitford, Colin Tripp (obscured behind Peter), 3rd bench L-R: Johnny Hall, Cliff Farrell, 4th bench L-R: Cyril Harris, Norman Beazant, Michael Owen, Back bench L-R: Tim Sullivan, Gordon Taylor, Ron Young, Anne Barker, and right at back by the chemical balance: June Hawkins
So, just a taste of what we have. Do come back again for a browse, as we try to change the photos reasonably often.
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An associated archive to which we have open access is that of the recordings of violinist and Old Wealden Derek Collier. He has often been affectionately remembered in magazine contributions by his peers, as he was asked to play for them in music lessons at Harrow Weald in the late 1930s/40s. Derek's daughter Suzie, herself a professional violinist, generously donated her father's recordings to the British Library Sounds Collection in 2011, to be available to anyone, and she has also given us permission to add a link to this, below. As well as the 116 recordings you will see that there is a 'blog' which gives more about Derek than the brief notes on the recordings page. The recordings are amazing, rescued from deteriorating discs, and Derek's playing is sublime. Also, if you love jazz, his grandson Jacob, Suzie's son, has many great recordings online.
https://sounds.bl.uk is the website, and if you click on the Classical Music tab you will go straight to a picture of Derek - fortuitously following Chopin alphabetically - and clicking on his picture takes you to his sublime playing. No wonder so many school friends remembered listening to him. Click on this link to go directly to Derek's collection of recordings.
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Back in 2000 a CD-ROM full of archive material was produced (see Events Past), and instantly sold out; but as technology has moved, we are now able to view the contents online, and also download it to our own computers, thanks to Old Wealden Pat Moloney 1964, who has generously shared the following link with us. There is more about this in the August 2020 Newsletter.
https://btcloud.bt.com/web/app/share/invite/KDx541Ycqh