A Day in the Archive

It's always difficult to explain what we do in the Archive, but perhaps today will do as an example of the variety of activities in which we are involved. I started off this morning working on a booklwet for our pupils going on our annual M4 trip to the Ypres and Somme Battlefields, first thing this morning. The file had become corrupted and needed extensive alterations. It includes details of the Old Epsomians whose graves or memorials we can easily visit each year. There are about 155 Old Epsomians commemorated somewhere as a result of the First World War. A high point of the trip is visiting our own memorial in St. George's Church, Ypres. We dedicated this in a memorable service in 2001 on just such a trip with pupils.
The day included a very pleasant luch in Big School with Headmasters and Headmistresses from preparatory schools. Stories included something about our founder, John Propert, about Francis Oldaker, our outstanding stained glass artist, one of whose windows was above us and during a quick trip outside to give blood, I met two OEs who remembered the glider well from the 1950s.
Now I am awaiting helpers to work on the exhibition for Founder's Day, 'Forty Years On' centred round extract from the Holman House Books harvested by Don Armour. We will show some photographs from that era in the hallway of the Drama Centre, which people can see on the way to my talk on Epsom's Medical Tradition (which will be at 11.30 am in the Drama Studio).