For the last decade Emanuel School has participated in the annual Wandsworth Heritage Fortnight, which takes place in May and June. This year, our historically themed walk of the buildings and grounds was a sell out.

Touring the Chemistry laboratories
This year’s tour was particularly memorable as there were many Old Emanuels present, with leavers dating as far back as the mid-sixties, with the ‘youngster’ being Sam Barber. Sam left school in 2014 and was amazed by the building developments in only ten years. I remembered him well and it was lovely to have a catch up. In fact, Sam organised a rugby social media competition in which the prize was the Emanuel First XV meeting a few of the All Blacks rugby team.

Sam Barber
As well as a great collection of OEs, the rest of the group was made up of interested locals, those who have gone past the school on the train for years as well as ex-parents. It was lovely to see former long-serving Catering Manager Jenny Bonner with her husband Chris. The full historical tour is not for the faint hearted and takes a full two hours, with everybody having a fabulous time. I received some positive feedback via email:
Such a fascinating tour of Emanuel yesterday morning, amusing and comprehensive too. (Louisa)
“As much as we enjoyed seeing the school again and the changes and the memories, I really also enjoyed learning about the history. There were lots of points I was unaware of even though I had attended the school. The tour was organised perfectly and was very engaging start to finish. It was nice to finish off in the library and go through the items on display.” (Chirag, OE).
“I wanted to thank you for the informative and enjoyable tour of Emanuel School today. As you predicted, the ‘old boys’ provided a positive input with their memories of the school and the many changes since their time there. What valuable work you do unearthing the stories and threads that make up the history of the school.” (Annabel).
OE Simon James donated a very rare school golf tie and we also received a photograph from a 1985 Greece school trip.

Tie time
Tony Jones, School Archivist