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THE OLDFELD ASSOCIATION
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to: DICK RIDING,
Oldfeld House 1948 - 1974
From 1948 until 1974 Oldfeld House served as a boarding house for 15% of the pupils attending nearby Swanage Grammar School. It was unusual in that it was a mixed boarding school catering for a maximum of 50 pupils from the age of 11 to 18. The first housemaster was J.W.Turner, who was also headmaster of the grammar school. He was succeeded in 1950 by John and Pat Brigham. In 1954 P.Glyn Roberts (Grob) and his wife Dorothy took over the reins. They ruled the roost for 14 years until Grob retired in 1968. Former Oldfelder Arthur K. White (1948 intake) then took over and he was succeeded in 1971 by John Trythall. After the latter's somewhat hurried departure Grob was persuaded to come out of retirement in Wales to see the house through its final months before it and the grammar school were closed in 1974.
A total of 368 boarders passed through Oldfeld during its 24 year existence. Membership of the Oldfeld Association, formed circa 1972, reached an all-time high of around 90 in the late 1980s. With the formation of the SGS Association in 1988 the membership was absorbed into the Swanage Grammar School Association. Though SGS reunions have occurred regularly over the past ten years, Oldfeld Reunions have been few and far between. The last one was held on May 16 - 17, 1998, when 33 Oldfelders turned up, with people coming from America, Australia and New Zealand. A detailed report of this happy occasion appeared in The Swan Newsletter published early in 1999.
All of the photos below were taken in July 1974, the day after Oldfeld and the
grammar school closed their doors to pupils and boarders for the last time.
Details of the photos can be seen below.
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The east side of Oldfeld House and the main entrance door. Below right is the grammar school woodwork room, above which was the Arts and Crafts, or Playroom used by Oldfelders in wet weather. On the left is the raised tennis court.
One of the boys' dormitories on the north-east corner of the house - sparse wasn't the word! |
Inside the Arts and Crafts room. The last game of table tennis has been played and all the bicycles, normally to be seen hanging from the lower eaves, have gone. At the far end is the minute stage, rarely used in later years.
One of the boys' bathrooms, overlooking Forres School, the sea and the rising sun.
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