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A local history and genealogy site for Wimpole, a village and parish in South Cambridgeshire.
Curated by Steve Odell.

Home     Wimpole Park School     Junior Pupils Group c1951  
Arrington School (c1949)
Intake Pupils Group - Wimpole Park School - Summer Term
A local history and genealogy page for the Parish of Wimpole.
Wimpole Park County School was a temporary community school set up after the Second World War on the Wimpole Hall Estate, Cambridgeshire. The school ran from 1948 to 1955, until Bassingbourn Village College opened.
Intake Pupils, Wimpole Park School c1949
Intake Pupils (Wimpole Park School) - Arrington School c1949
Photograph courtesy of John Pearce.
Image © Copyright 2000-2020 John Pearce and the Wimpole Past website.
Image donated by John Pearce
Names as remembered by John Pearce, Denis Tokley and
Rosalind Manning.
This image was taken in the playground of Arrington School about 250m north of Arrington village on the west side of the A1198.
"I think it is the new intake for 1950 or 1951. Miss Whitmore is on the left of photo so I presume we were about to change schools" [from Arrington to Wimpole Park.]
Back Row (left to right): Teacher Miss C Whitmore [later married Sam Edwards), Richard Manning, David Miller, Richard Strauss [father a tutor at WPTC], Alan Goats, Nigel Hall, (boy), (teacher) [on teaching practice from Wimpole Park Training College].
Third Row (standing left to right): Stanley Tokley, John Sellers [see below], Lynette Parish, Ann Senior, Rosalind Manning, John Pearce, Anita Pryor [father a tutor at WPTC], (boy).
Second Row (sitting on chairs left to right): Joyce Taylor, Michael Northrop, Valerie Miller, John Chapman, Wendy Hall, Patsy [unknown surname].
Front Row (sitting on mats left to right): Kenny Bonfield, Joan Taylor, Clive Smith, Cathy Hammond, Frank Standen, Sheila Starling, George Clarke, Trevor Patterson.
Not in the photograph (presumably not at school that day): Cherry White, Peter May [father a tutor at WPTC]
Please contact the website if you have any other Wimpole Park or Arrington School pupil photographs, information, memories or can help with missing pupil names.
On the 3 December 2017, John Sellers wrote:
"My name is John Sellers (DoB 27/03/1942). The group was at Arrington School, and I am the ‘boy’ in the photo standing in front of Miss Whitmore and beside Stanley Tokley. I was recovering from a head injury at the time, which was the reason for the pudding basin haircut! I believe the year was 1949. Sadly, my mother died of cancer in May that year. My father was a lecturer at the Emergency Teachers Training College, Wimpole Park. When the college closed in 1950 my family re-located to Cambridge where I went to Brunswick School and then The Perse School.
"I left school in 1960 having gained a commission into the Royal Navy and was selected for aircrew training. For the next 32 years I served in the Fleet Air Arm flying various types of helicopter and the Jetstream aircraft. Towards the end of my Service I was appointed MBE for services to Naval Aviation. It was all great fun, but when I reached my ‘sell by date’ (50th birthday) in 1992, and by which time I was a Lieutenant Commander, I had to retire.
"My first civilian job was Bursar at Douai School; an Independent School attached to a Benedictine Monastery situated in Berkshire. For the next 5 years my boss was a monk! In January 1998 I moved on, to work for Guide Dogs for the Blind Association as the Administration Manager at the Guide Dog Training Centre in Wokingham. In 2002 I moved on again to become Property Manager for James Cowper Kreston Accountants, responsible for the firms six offices located around the southern counties.
"I retired in 2012, just after my 70th birthday.
"I am married to Felicity, we live in a village close to Newbury, and have two adult children – Christopher and Juliet.
"I was fascinated to find so much about the personal stories and history relating to Wimpole Park, and thank all who have contributed to such an interesting site."
Wimpole Park School - Home Page
Pupil Group Photographs - Index Page
Wimpole Park School - Short History
Memories of Wimpole Park School
   by Alan Jordan (Acting Head 1950-1951, Head 1952-1954)
Wimpole Park School Rounders Team (1953)
My 'Old Wimpole' Childhood - Wimpole Park School Remembered
   by Irene Bruce (née Lowe)
Arrington Memories (George Reynolds via Guestbook)
Wimpole Park School c1952
Wimpole Park School c1950s
Image contributed by John Pearce
Image © Copyright John Pearce and the Wimpole Past website. All rights reserved.
This page was last updated: 21 August 2020


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