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 sellout and once advanced bookings reached thirty we, sadly, had to start turning people away.
This year’s tour was particularly memorable as it was top heavy with Old Emanuels, dating as far back as the mid-sixties, with the ‘youngster’ being Sam Barber (he features in some of the photos), who left school in 2014 and who was amazed by the building developments in only ten years. I remembered Sam well and it was lovely to catch up with him. When Sam was the brains behind a rugby social media competition in which the prize was the Emanuel First XV meeting a few of the AllBlacks rugby team.
As well as a great collection of OEs the rest of the group were made up of interested locals, those who have gone back the school on the train for years and ex-parents. It was also lovely to see former long-serving Catering Manager Jenny Bonner on the tour 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, with terrific feedback being received. Some email comments:
“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, lots of points I was unaware of even though 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 also donated a very rare school golf tie and AS Ahmad donated a lovely photo from a 1985 school trip to Greece. AS took many photos when at school and we hope to have peek at them over the summer.
Mr T Jones, Senior Librarian and Archivist
