Early Days at Ingmanthorpe
by
Anthony Bickersteth
1945 - 1949

I was interested in Graham Deacon’s contribution to the Wenningtonian Newsletter of July 2002. He described himself as a “Wennington Hallian” and spoke of his “happy and enjoyable” three years at Wennington Hall. I have never visited Wennington Hall but remember, years ago, stopping for a moment at Wennington station and noting how beautiful was the Pennine country through which the train passed.

Graham left before the move to Ingmanthorpe Hall but those of us who arrived at the School just after, (September 1945), will remember those youngsters who experienced both venues and found the move hard to accept. I recall one boy declaring “Old Wennington was the real Wennington. This place will never be Wennington to those of us who know both places.” People like this, the crossover people if you like, spoke of “Old Wennington” with great affection. Everything was so good at Old Wennington - what a pity the School ever moved...

It is said to be a sure sign of old age when memories of long ago are vivid and recent events hardly register. For some reason I seem to remember those early days at Ingmanthorpe particularly well, although some of my contemporaries might put me right on detail. When I first met Kenneth with my parents at the end of August 1945 it seemed that the hall at Ingmanthorpe was cluttered with boxes and packing cases of all sizes as he explained that the School was still moving in.

It was a curiously shambolic time. There were no proper classrooms and all lessons had to take place in the rooms of the main building which of necessity had to be multi-purpose, (with the possible exception of art and woodwork). Yet we survived and there was a lot of fun to be had in the house and grounds which were definitely never designed to be a school. I remember the wonderful see-saw contraption half way to the wood, which had two see-saws one over the other in a figure X which also turned around on its own axis. What fun we had until the day when the whole thing began to fall apart under the continuous strain of so many children’s indulgence.

Staff during that first term were as follows:-       

Kenneth	Science
Frances	English Lang. & Lit.
Louis	Art
David	Maths.
Peggy	History
Foster	Geography
Frank	Woodwork
Edith	Matron

Then, in the early spring of 1946 it all began to happen. We came to realise that to the School authorities the status quo was clearly not acceptable. The grounds of Ingmanthorpe were peppered with magnificent beech trees which had been maturing for many years - and then there was the wood with many fine trees as well. Although not a gold-mine it was clear the School was sitting on a ready resource - and so the woodcutters moved in. Trees were felled on every side and tractors churned up the soft earth dragging the timber to where it could be loaded onto huge transporters which took it away. What excitement there was when the most massive tree of all, right next to the gym, was in the process of being felled during break one morning. The whole school went on strike and refused to leave until the tree came down. Attendance at lessons was nil and Kenneth came out to see what was going on. Admitting defeat he said we could remain, (we would have done so any way), until the tree was down. As it happened, it was some time in falling as extreme care had to be taken to ensure it did not damage adjacent buildings and particularly the gym. What a wonderful rending crash it was and it fell exactly where they wanted it to. I should mention that not all the trees were felled and care was taken to employ a thinning process where a clump of beeches was particularly dramatic.

Continued...