Library Comments
| Comment 1 | |
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Situated above the entrance to the School via the steps where our many School photos were taken, the library centred itself over the Head's study, and the office where Miss Blake worked. The door into the library was to the left of the Homework Pigeonholes; opposite Miss Smith's office, and the male and female Staffroom doors. According to Terry McCroakam, the library was converted to a Staff Room when the school became Comprehensive. |
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It must have been an interesting change to a mixed-sex facility for those long-serving members of Staff who had only ever occupied the male or the female Staffrooms. I wonder how their behaviour changed? Anyway, I never saw this, so my memories are of a squeaky wooden floor, several large wooden tables, bench seats within the windows with shutters, and an overwhelming sense of cosiness and pleasant sunlight. We had 'Library Periods' during our Upper School days, when given homework could be researched and completed. This was the time when one could meet friends from the other forms who didn't necessarily take the same subjects. There were usually appeals for "Quiet!" until we all settled down, and the continuation of this rested on the control of the teacher who sat at the desk to the right of the door against the far wall. It was a novelty to sit facing, and sideways-on to other pupils, as in normal classroom lessons the desks were arranged in rows facing the teacher at the front - except, that is, in the smaller groups of the Sixth Forms. Each pupil had a library ticket (-or maybe more) and when one wished to borrow a book, there was an after-school period of time when the Library Prefects were on hand to lodge the ticket from the book into your named card/ticket, and you were given a specified length of time for the loan. The Library Prefects, usually fourth-formers, also catalogued new books, and kept an eye on repairs, stocktaking and overdue loans, and prepared an annual report for publication in the School Magazine. The main drawback to concentration in the library was the pleasant view from the four windows. A selection of mature trees and colourful shrubs set in the land which sloped away down to the distant road, guaranteed interest and movement whatever the season, but as the front of the school was away from playgrounds and classrooms, it was the tranquillity and peacefulness which encouraged reverie. | |
| Comment 2 | |
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Judging by these few Library reports, some of the Library Prefects seemed to become both proprietorial and censorial during their terms of office! They remind us of the existence of the County Library section, and I remember that there were separate borrowing procedures for the County Library books. |
| I recall nipping down into the library in the village looking for A-Level reference books when an essay had been given for homework, and those with a free period straight afterwards had hot-footed it to the library and cleared the shelves. Never any luck there, though, as our requirements were too specific. Some of the satchel-stretching tomes with authors such as 'Peake' (RK students will know), and 'Gregg' and 'Thompson' (History) resulted in a lop-sided gait only recognised by other Sixth-Form sufferers who also staggered home burdened by these reference books. When the sac. was 'dumped', the 'carrying' shoulder would 'float' higher than the other, and the person would lean slightly to one side to compensate for the imaginary load! Did many of the boys graduate to brief cases when they became Sixth-formers? Sheila Kelsall | |