Two additions:

1 I found reference to the fact that a founding member of staff, JCE Wren, was a descendant of Sir Christopher Wren.

2 A new obituary:

GARDINER, Percy Alec. 1929-ca 1937. M.C., B.A. (French) (University College, London), MEd (Nottingham). b 15 November 1918, Stapleford; d 29 October 2008, Scarborough. 1939 enlisted Sherwood Foresters; commissioned 1942, Leicestershire Regiment, T/Capt 1945. M.C. gazetted 3 May 1945 for ‘gallant and distinguished services in North-West Europe’. Assistant Master, Ilkeston Grammar School 1948-1950, Manchester Grammar School, 1950-1954 (French, English and RI); Founder Headmaster. Boreham Wood Grammar School. 1954-1961. Head, Scarborough High School for Boys, 1961-1974. First principal of Scarborough Sixth Form College, 1974-1979. Organist, Scalbv Methodist Church for 25 years.

A new entry on the Obits page. Lewis Spolton was the uncle of ‘Jim’ Spolton.

Judy Fearn kindly scanned her father’s (G. Norman Fearn [1942-1949] school photograph by Panora. It was taken in September 1946 by which time, The Centaur noted, members of staff had returned after the war and a number of new and very familiar faces had been recruited. Those of us from the 1950s will be amazed by the youthful appearance of Freddy White and Froggy Marshall, for example. The photograph can be downloaded on the PANORAMAS page and enlarged in your browser. It can also be seen as a slow pan across the scene on YouTube – the link is on the same page.

Judy noted that her father has been reading The Centaur on the site with great interest.

From Nick Clifford has come the programme for a carol service held in December 1972. It can be found on the MISCELLANEA page.

GARTON, Geoffrey. 1939-1946. B.A., D. Phil. (Oxford, chemistry). b 6 October 1927, Nottingham; d 2016 Ramdsen, Oxfordshire. Governing Body Fellow and Bursar of Wolfson College, Oxford. Obituary: Wolfson College Record 2017.

Trip to Bouillon, Belgium, April 1962. Photographs by A.P.R. Brook

Thanks to Steve Brook, Alan Brook’s son, we have scans of the photographs APRB took on a trip to Bouillon in Belgium for Forms I-III in April 1962. The trip is described in The Centaur (Summer 1962, page 18). See Miscellanea page. More information on the career of APRB has been added on the Staff page, together with a link to a video of his commemoration service.

1. School Hymn. Garry Humphreys found a copy of the school hymn composed by J.B. Brocklehurst and first performed at the Commemoration Service held on 31 October 1958. The choir of which Garry and I were both members had the first opportunity to sing it in rehearsals and for some reason the tune has remained stuck in my memory. My daughter-in-law has now played and recorded it. She apologises for the acoustics (her Steinway lives in a converted stable) but I told her it sounded as if played in the empty school hall. You can find the recording as well as the score on the Miscellanea page.

2. “Paddy” Brook. Garry also found that AP.R. “Paddy” Brook had died in November 2021 at home in County Wicklow. Details have been added on the Staff page.

Photograph added (from Richard Field.

I found this framed drawing for sale on eBay. I have photographed it and uploaded it to the Miscellanea page. The label states it is by Dorothy Goodman, a Fellow of the Nottingham Society of Artists. It was commissioned by the Education Department for a booklet ( scan also be found on the Miscellanea page). published in October 1979. Written on the back: ‘Framed, October, – 1979 – J.C.G.

Thanks to Barrie Shelton (1955-1962] a number of new entries have been made in the obituaries page.

Thank to Martin Phillips who provided scans from France, we have three ‘missing’ copies of The Centaur uploaded and ready to view and/or download. They are No 69 Summer 1965, 70 Spring 1966 and 71 Summer 1966.

These are the first ones in a searchable pdf format (I will change all the others eventually).