The Building of St Edward's School: A Chronology (1870 - 2020)

P AGE N O : 59 1940 - Six air-raid shelters erected in the Quadrangle, in the Warden’s Garden and also in the grounds of Corfe House (the last two for St. Bede’s School, now resident at the School, see above). Electric light is fitted to all (December Chronicle) Purchase of 63 George Street ( later Middle Wa y) as a married quarter (Jack Tate list 1955) Erection of windmill to assist in drainage of the Lower Fields (Jack Tate list 1955). 1941 - School offers £600 (£45,360 Today) for the 5 acre field adjoining the Boat House from a Mr. Soden - it is hoped that the School Society might pay for this (Governors’ Meeting, November 1941). Mr Soden eventually accepts £650 (£49,140 today). The field is purchased by A.B. Emden (School Governor) who will lease it back to the School then leave it to the St. Edward’s in his will (General Purposes Meeting June 1942). 1942 - Lower One and the Canal Fields (24 acres in all) under the plough and sown with wheat. Beyond the pigsties each House has an allotment, which is worked before and after games. For three years these plots yield around 5 tons of potatoes and 3000 cabbages To make good the loss of the Lower Fields, School accepts Keble’s offer of their neighbouring sports ground at a ‘peppercorn’ annual rent for the ‘duration’ ( Actually one shilling ) Duke of Marlborough rejects the School’s overtures to buy the currently rented 6 acre field (General Purposes Meeting, February 1942). 1943 - Scheme put forward by the Governors to commemorate those lost in the Second World War. Three parts form the overall suggested plan (1) An Apsidal Wall behind the Calvary showing names of the fallen (2) Grants to enable sons of O.S.E. lost, to be educated at the School (3) A Memorial Library within a new building (July Chronicle). Details put forward in December 1944 Chronicle Third parcel of land at Wolvercote acquired by School - formerly called ‘Fair Close’ (Box 15) Original Scout Hut on the north west corner of Avenue Field taken over by the St. Edward’s Pig Club (100% Common Room membership) which prevails until 1957 when it is destroyed by ‘a spectacular fire’ (Hill, 1963) Any new building programme which is to be undertaken after the war should be discussed by the Warden and Fielding Dodd, Architect, ‘with a view to providing rough ground plans for any possible developments’ (Governors’ Meeting, February 1943). These plans include suggestions for a War Memorial Building which Mr. Dodd would design (General Purposes Meeting, November 1943). 1944 - A screen erected ( Harold Rogers design ) in Chapel between the Aisle and Memorial Chapel, given in memory of John Simmonds (O.S.E.) killed in action and in remembrance of all Alumni lost during WW2. In dark oak with three arched openings with curved spandrels; carved figures of St. George, St. Martin, St. Francis and St. Aldhelm in colour are the work of Harold Youngman (December 1944 Chronicle). Dedicated by the Bishop of Oxford, Kenneth Kirk, on January 28 th with the costs borne by the Reverend Arthur Macnamara, Simmonds’ original House Master A War Memorial Appeal first mooted with the full involvement of the School Society (General Purposes Meeting, February 1944) Recommendations by a sub-committee to the Governors in June 1944 state that after the cessation of hostilities the completion of the kitchens should have priority over any other new buildings, ‘with provision for domestic staff no less urgent and that a site for this purpose be allocated near Corfe House, so planned as to be used alternatively for 8 single or 3 married members of the domestic staff