Worksop College

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Worksop College
Motto Semper ad coelestia
Established 1890
Type Independent day and boarding school
Religion Church of England
Headmaster Gavin Horgan
Chairman of the Governors C J D Anderson, MA
Founder Canon Nathaniel Woodard
Location Worksop
Nottinghamshire
S80 3AP
England
DfE number 891/6001
Staff 157
Students 458
Gender Co-educational
Ages 13–18
Houses 8
Colours Navy blue, black and gold
Publication The Worksopian
Former pupils Old Worksopians
Affiliation Woodard Corporation
Website www.wsnl.co.uk/

Worksop College (formerly St Cuthbert's College) is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils aged 13 to 18, in Worksop. It sits at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England.

Origins

Construction began in 1890 on St Cuthbert's College with the sinking of a well and laying of a foundation stone. Cuthbert's College would be the last school to be personally opened by Woodard himself; Worksop College was officially opened on 5 September 1895. The land on which the school was built and the (now) tree-lined drive were donated by the Duke of Portland. In the beginning buildings were scarce, with only the Great Hall and East Wing complete - with a temporary chapel also in place. St Cuthbert's chapel which stands today was opened in 1906 after Lord Mountgarret made funds available. Mountgarret did not live to see the finished building; the new building was opened by Lady Mountgarret in 1906. Original plans for the College chapel had included a large spire, however these plans were scaled back due to lack of funds. Cuthbert's College was renamed the Worksop College by Fred Shirley during his time as Headmaster.

Houses

As with the majority of independent schools, Worksop College is split into houses. There are a total of 8 houses which are currently open and one which has closed.

Boys' houses:

  • Mason House (formerly Cross, opened in 1895)
  • Pelham House (formerly Fleur de Leys, opened in 1895)
  • Talbot House (formerly Crown, opened in 1897)
  • Portland House (opened in 1948 when Prep moved to Ranby)
  • Shirley House (opened in 1925)

Girls' houses:

  • Derry House (opened in 1978)
  • Gibbs House (opened in 1986)
  • School House (opened in 1930, closed in 1986, re-opened in 2007)

Closed house:

  • Mountgarret (formerly Lion, opened 1895, closed 1993)

Talbot House

Talbot House can trace its roots back to 1897 when the Crown Dorm was opened to cater for the growth in pupil numbers at the College. Crown Dorm later became Talbot House (named after Revd. Arthur Henry Talbot provost 1897–1927).

The current housemaster of Talbot House is Ian Parkin who started his role in September 2012.

Talbot remains the only boys house to have been located away from the main College buildings - it was located in the current location of School House from 1965 until the mid-1980s. Talbot is currently housed in the former School House quarters.

Mason House

Cross Dormitory opened in 1895 and originally contained 45 boys. In 2006 it was renamed to Mason House after David Ivor Mason.I think that someone should challenge this entry because it was called Mason when I was there and I left in 1965.

Pelham House

Originally known as Fluer De Leys Dorm, Pelham House obtained its current name in 1925 and was named after the Duke of Newcastle, a significant benefactor to the College. Pelham can boast the founder of the Samaritans Chad Varah as their most famous exponent. Housemaster is T.P.Larkman.

Portland House (Motto: Craignez Honte)

Portland House is the newest of the boys houses at Worksop College and was opened on the former Preparatory School wing which by the time Portland had opened moved to a separate site at Ranby House School. The name Portland is derived from the Duke of Portland who was a founding benefactor of the College.

Shirley House

Shirley House was named after Worksop College headmaster Fred Shirley in 1925. The house became co-educational in 1991 and reverted to an all boys house in 2008.

School House

Originally a boys house (opened in 1925), School House is now an all-girl day house. The house actually closed in the 1980s and was only re-opened as recently as 2007. The house is currently situated in the old Gibbs building located at the at north-west of the main school.This building has been renamed the Meynall Building. The building was originally opened in September 1965 as the new Talbot House building. As prefabricated building with a flat roof it was said to have a life span of 40 years!

Derry House

Derry is an all girl house. It is situated near the Great Hall and usually holds around 50-60 girls.

Gibbs House

Gibbs House is one of the girls houses of the college. Gibbs House has recently been refurbished and now occupies a purpose built facility on the former site of the 1st XV rugby pitch. The new facility cost in excess of £2 million.[citation needed]

College buildings

Worksop College has many fine buildings including:

  • The Great Hall, the centrepiece to Worksop and the first building to be completed. One of the largest rooms in Nottinghamshire, its hammerbeams are spectacular; the original design was based upon Westminster Abbey.
  • The Chapel, opened in 1906. The structure was based upon that of Westminster Abbey and the ceiling contains many passages of Latin verse (specifically these are the words of the Te Deum).
  • The East Wing, the first wing of Worksop to be opened, was blessed in 1895 by the Bishop of Southwell.
  • The Squash Courts were once lit by natural light, but the former roof has now been replaced by a mezzanine ceiling. The courts are an excellent example of early squash courts. The balcony is particularly noteworthy as the courts were designed in back to back format which is quite rare.[citation needed]

The Dorm Run

The Dorm Run was first run in 1896 and was traditionally always run on Shrove Tuesday, however this tradition ceased in the 1950s. The current Dorm Run course is a 3.6 mile route through Clumber Park. Although the course is relatively short from a cross country perspective, it is notoriously difficult due to the undulating terrain. The current Dorm Run record is held by Jack Buckner who ran 18:35 in 1980.[citation needed]

Rugby

Rugby was first introduced at Worksop College in 1921. In the early days many College players were capped by the England Public Schools XV - the first being George Laing in 1930. Laing was also 'invited' to play for Blackheath upon completing his studies at Worksop.[citation needed]

The finest seasons of rugby were enjoyed in the late 1930s and early 1940s where the college remained unbeaten for a number of years.

The appointment of England and British Lion Jeff Butterfield in 1954 as a master at the College, quickly led to a surge in success. In 1960 the College rugby sevens team captained by D.E. Tarbatt and coached by Butterfield, reached the final of the Roslyn Park competition, narrowly losing out to Belfast Acadeemicals in the final.[citation needed]

Hockey

Hockey has been in existence at Worksop since the late 1920s, it was probably originally introduced due to the sandy nature of the soil on Sparken Hill which led to superbly drained pitches.

Worksop College has produced a number of international hockey players:

  • Adam Dixon (Shirley 2003–2005) captain of England under-18s 2005, current England and GB
  • Rob Trem (Shirley 2009–2011) Wales under-18's 2010–2011 and Wales seniors 2011–present
  • Ollie Willars (Portland 2005–2009) current England and GB
  • Joe Morrison (Mason 2008–2010) Scotland under 23s 2010–present
  • Matt Parker (Pelham 2009–2011 England under-18's 2011
  • David Overton (Pelham 2009–2011) England under-18's 2010–2011
  • Sam Dixon (Shirley 2004–2009) England under-16's 2005 and England under-18's 2009
  • Dave Jones (Mason 2006–2008) England under-18's 2007–2008
  • Stephen Lawrence (Portland 1998–2003) captain of England under-18s 2003
  • John Grice (Pelham 1994–1999) England under-18's 1999 and England seniors 2003
  • Graham Anderson (Pelham 1996–2001) Engand under-18's 2001
  • Sam Ward - England indoor hockey team 2014
  • F.T. Hopkinson (Mason 1929–1934) England seniors 1939.

The College has also produced two international female hockey players:

  • Holly Brown (Gibbs 2005–2010) England
  • Anissa Korth (Gibbs 2009–2011) Germany under 18

Athletics

Worksop has a fine athletic tradition, having produced a number of international athletes over the years:

England Schools champions

  • P.R. Brunyee (Talbot 1951-1956) - intermediate boys 110y hurdles champion 1955 and senior boys 120y hurdles champion 1956
  • M. Lambley (Shirley 2001-2006) - junior boys hammer champion 2002, senior boys hammer champion 2005

Junior AAA champions

  • W. Heath (Pelham 1926-1931) - 100y and 220y champion 1931
  • W.B. Thompson (Mountgarret 1949-1954) - 200y low hurdles champion 1954
  • J.R. Buckner (Talbot 1975-1980) - 1500m champion 1980

Senior AAA champion

  • J.R. Buckner - 5000m 1986 and 1992, 10k road 1985

Olympians

  • J.R. Buckner - Seoul 1988, 5th place 5000m and Barcelona 1992, semi finals 5000m
  • T.C. Buckner (Talbot 1976-1981) - Barcelona 1992, semi-finals 3000m steeplechase

Commonwealth/Empire Games

  • P.R. Brunyee - Cardiff 1958, heats 120y hurdles
  • D.M.W. Griffiths (Mason 1954-1960) - Perth 1962, heats 880y and mile
  • J.R. Buckner - Edinburgh 1986, silver 5000m
  • T.C. Buckner - Victoria 1994, 5th 3000m steeplechase
  • M. Lambley - Delhi 2010, qualifying hammer

European Championships

  • J.R. Buckner - Stuttgart 1986, champion 5000m (championship best performance)
  • W.R.G Foster (Portland 1971-1975) - Helsinki 1994, 31st marathon

Other representatives

  • M.P. Hay (Mountgarret 1968-1973) - GB under 23 decathlon 1975
  • S.T. Lewis (Shirley 1988-1993) - Wales junior 3000m steeplechase 1993
  • S.D. Heggie (Portland 1989-1994) - GB Under 23 400m 1994

History

The Shirley years

Worksop was known as St Cuthbert's College until Shirley himself decided to change its name in 1925. Under Shirley the school prospered and a huge building programme was undertaken - the Sanatorium, Squash courts, Eton Fives courts (replaced in the 1960s by the chemistry department), staff houses, Old Theatre, Art School, West Wing and the top proportion of the North Wing were all completed. Shirley's plan was to turn Worksop into the Eton of the Midlands. Such was Shirley's influence, the then Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald attended 1934 Speech Day. By 1935 when Shirley left for King's Canterbury, pupil numbers had risen to 500 and the school had created a good reputation amongst English Public Schools.

The 1950s & 1960s

The 1950s and 1960s were another period of growth for the College. New buildings that appeared at this time included the gym (now demolished), swimming bath (opened in 1954), Churchill Hall Theatre, Chemistry Department and Talbot House (now School House and language department). A new rugby pitch was leveled in 1954; Jeff Butterfield led a Worksop College XV to victory against Worksop RFC in the opening match.

1980 - present

The 1980s and early 1990s were difficult years for Worksop College with pupil numbers falling (as in most public schools in the UK) and little school development took place. An extension to the Churchill Hall was made in 1981 which would form the newly established Craft and Design Centre. Roger Knight was appointed head in the 1991. Knight departed the College in 1993 to take up a post with the Marylebone Cricket Club and Roy Collard was appointed as headmaster. Not long after Collard started as head, Worksop celebrated its centenary and HRH The Princess Royal opened the new school ICT centre. Other recent developments include the increased provision of ICT facilities, refurbishment of dated boarding accommodation, new teaching facilities and the new Sports Hall (opened 2003). In addition, in the last few years, there has been the construction of two astro pitches which allow hockey to be played at a high level. A new girls boarding house was opened in early 2007.

A new Headmaster Gavin Horgan, formerly Deputy Rector of Glasgow Academy, arrived in September 2012. At the same time the prep school came directly under his overall leadership, being renamed Worksop College Preparatory School, Ranby House.

Notable Old Worksopians

Former students of Worksop College are referred to as Old Worksopians. See also Category:People educated at Worksop College.

Notable staff

  • Alan Old - England rugby fly half 1972–1978
  • Frank Dick OBE - Former British Athletics Federation Director of Coaching and motivational speaker[6][7]
  • Herbert Jacob - England rugby wing 1924–1930[8]
  • Jeff Butterfield - Captain of England rugby team in the 1950s
  • Ken Farnes - England fast bowler in the 1930s
  • Nick Gaywood - England Minor Counties cricketer
  • Roger Knight - Former secretary to the MCC

References

  1. ↑ Who's Who 2004, page 3, (A&C Black: London)
  2. ↑ Richard Bacon at visitnottingham.org accessed 11 August 2007
  3. ↑ at Telegraph Onlne accessed on 7 October 2011
  4. ↑ at ESPN accessed 7 October 2011
  5. ↑ http://www.englandhockey.co.uk/news.asp?itemid=21658&itemTitle=Men%27s+centralised+training+squad+unveiled&section=22
  6. ↑ TES accessed on 7 October 2011
  7. ↑ frankdick.co.uk accessed on 7 October 2011
  8. ↑ ESPN accessed on 7 October 2011

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