St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 2 / Wardens

Left: Common Room, 1994. Back row (left to right): T. Holcure, E.R. Smith, G.R. Rigault, P.McGillycuddy,C.P.Hansel,C.L.Ricks,M.Flynn,R.McA.Hughes, P.A. Ely, L. Foster, L.A. Lyne, J.E. Bee, Fourth row standing (left to right): J.W. Gidney, D.N. Bramble, D.S.Wippell,P.J.Colvill,N.E.Grimshaw,A.F.Bowen,G.E.Fuzzard, G.A. Nagle, C.J.J. Johnson, M.I. Sellen, J.N. Tucker. Thirdrowstanding(lefttoright):J.M.Yeoman,R.A.L.Anderson, M.J. Hiner, C.W. Lane, M.H. Stockford, M. Webb, J.H.W. Quick, W.J.D. Sayer, M.J. Rosewell, A. Murray, J.A. Byden, T.A. James. Second rowstanding (left to right): D.M. Cundy, N.R. Quartley, C.F. Baggs, A.D.G. Wright, A.J. Kerr-Dineen, G.P. Boult, D.S. Moore, J.P. Webb, J.J. McPartlin, G. Taylor, J.V. Palmer. First row standing (left to right): P. Jolley, O.S. Bartholomew, R.D.Hill,D.Drake-Brockman,J.Hughes,W.M.Boswell,V.Abigail, P.Kitovitz, M.Reader, B.J.Pyper, E.T.Hunt, K.N.Jones. Seated (left to right): L.P. Morton, P. Brees, J. David, R.D. Aldred, M.S. Oxley,Warden Christie, M.D. Peregrine, J.A.S. Donald, L.K. Davidson, I. Crowe, J.A.N. Snell, R.E. Fletcher.

David Christie with the Sub-Warden, Tom James, c. 2002. They are looking at anold-fashionedcountryfayrewithstalls organisedby the Fifth Formafter GCSEs.

By 2002 there was another girls’ House, Avenue, under construction; David Christie had arrived at a school with eight Houses and when he left there were 11. He also gave the School more teaching space, always badly needed, by moving Segar’s out of their building in 2003 and into a new one adjacent to it, thus creating space for the English Department, which was opened by OSE Jon Snow. The new North Wall Arts Centre, in the inception of which Warden Christie played a major role, was taking shape by the time he left. It consisted of a brilliant conversion of the range of mainly Victorian buildings on the northern boundary of the School; at one time or another these had housed, in addition to the indoor swimming pool, the School Shop, the Gymnasium, the Armoury, the Archives, the Careers Department, the laundry, the changing rooms (‘Chaggers’), the Fives court, the Junior Common Room, and the lavatory block, known as the Crystal Palace. During David Christie’s time the School took over its own catering from a commercial contract company in 1996, and the improvement in the School’s food has continued ever since. By the new millennium teachers had dealt with a revised National Curriculum, League Tables, GCSE, AS Levels, re- vamped A Levels, Coursework, Modules, and many other changes imposed from outside. The structure of teaching in the School was constantly adjusted to keep up with it all. David Cundy, the quiet and highly effective Director of Studies, was replaced when he retired by Sarah Kerr-Dineen as Director of Studies and Ian Rowley as Senior Tutor. New subjects such as Drama and Sports Science were introduced. Through it all David Christie provided effective and discerning leadership. James Quick (former Housemaster of Apsley and later of Field House) recalled of David Christie, ‘What I found most endearing about him was that when it came to the crunch he was always on the side of the individual boy or girl.’

out of the School’s hands, but we gained revenue and excellent facilities, and this has proved a highly successful arrangement. The Links golf course was finished in 2000 at little cost and to the great improvement of that area of the grounds. In 1999 Kendall House was completed. It was a carefully designed and very comfortable new boarding house for boys.

subsequently Oakthorpe House became a boarding house for girls, while Macnamara’s was converted into a second girl’s House, followed by Corfe House in 2000. At this time there were still only a few fully co-educational boarding schools, and none in the Thames Valley, the Home Counties or London. St Edward’s had come a long way from its early days in the 1870s, when one of its debating motions was, ‘This House deplores the advanced condition of women at the present day, and earnestly hopes they will never have a vote at parliamentary elections’, carried by 12 votes to 11 – at least the vote was close. 1992 saw the first Astroturf pitch and 2001 a second – they replaced a field that had been a swamp for most of the winter. In 1999 the Douglas Bader Sports Centre was subsumed into a new, impressive and much larger sports centre, with full public membership as well as for the School’s use. Built over Simeon’s original outdoor swimming pool, it included two pools – one indoors and one outside – and a wonderful gym, plus the School’s own sports hall. The day-to-day running was taken

Right:The NorthWall opened in 2004.The buildings had been used formanypurposespreviouslybuttheindoorswimmingpoolstilllies beneath the theatre. The other original buildings were replaced by Dance and Drama studios.

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