Wennington School Association

Reunions, Archive Weekends, and other Events

 

NEXT REUNION

Saturday 22nd - Sunday 23rd
September 2012
Parish Church Centre, Thorner.

Thorner is between Leeds and Wetherby not far from the A58, A64 and A1 ( see map ).

Either bring a picnic lunch and meet at the Parish Church Centre at 1pm or meet in 'The Fox' - the pub half way down the main street - at noon. The AGM is scheduled for about 2pm.


Again there will be a meal in the evening to which people are asked to make a contribution.
Accommodation available at Belinda's (also camping), B&B's, and caravan sites in the area.
 
NO EXCUSES THIS YEAR OR IN 2015!!!

If in doubt (or for more information) contact Pat:
secretary@wenningtonschool.org.uk

NEXT ARCHIVE WEEK

Monday May 14th to Friday May 18th, 2012

Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre, Toddington, Gloucestershire GL54 5DQ.

Directions

The 2010 PETT week held in May was intense, exciting, enjoyable and fulfilling. Two days were spent with Chris Bradley learning the process and creating digital stories using photographic material from the archive. It took almost the whole of one day to to decide which aspects of Wennington life would best describe the ethos of the school and be most interesting for a first attempt - and who would create the stories. Seven people wrote and recorded individual scripts with everyone else helping to select the photos. Then came the highly technical process of editing the audio tapes and inserting the photos at the relevant places. By 4 pm on the second day, when Chris was supposed to leave, we were nowhere near to having a finished product so, unfortunately, one of the stories had to be shelved. The rest were completed thanks to Chris staying an extra hour and a half. We would like to have improved on the quality of the photos but this just wasn’t possible in the time. The story tellers are Tom James, Pat Mitchell, Sam Doncaster, Wendy Harpe, Stuart Humphrey, and Richard Pemble.

To view the film and discover other archive material CLICK HERE (make sure your sound is turned on!.

For photographs from the 2010 "Week", CLICK HERE.

 

Christmas dinner 2011

Monday 5th December 2011
NOON

Bradford Catering College

All welcome inc. wives, friends, acquaintances, lovers, etc. etc.  Booking essential.  Contact David Long   valid@talktalk.net

RSVP?:
secretary@wenningtonschool.org.uk

THORNER REUNIONS...

2009

Click a picture to see a larger view.

 


2005

on 17th/18th September at Thorner

Prior to this year's reunion a member emailed asking if it would be possible to have a special reunion to celebrate 30 years since the school's closure. At the time I thought that no Wenningtonian would ever want to celebrate the school's demise, but thought instead that it would be a good idea to celebrate the fact that the Association has survived thirty years since the school closed in 1975. It was not possible to organise anything 'special' so in the last newsletter I said that every reunion is special and those who attend make it so.

This 30th year was no exception - in fact over the past two years attendance has increased, with people who had not attended since leaving school taking the plunge - for some quite an awesome experience, meeting people after nearly fifty years!

For those who are still trying to pluck up courage here are a couple of comments on the weekend.

"I just thought I'd drop you a line to say how much I enjoyed the reunion - after the initial walk through the door! It's hard when you've not been for a number of years to take the plunge, but everyone made you feel welcome and part of it all. I shall certainly come again! We stayed longer than intended and enjoyed Paddy's presentation" - Margot (Walton) Smeaton

and this from our Thorner resident landlady who puts people up overnight providing you are willing to sleep on the floor or in a tent in her field.

"After the evening meal on Saturday Paddy Butcher gave us a good overview of his work in Banda Aceh for Oxfam earlier this year. Photographs helped - projected onto the wall after some bother with a computer with a mind of its own. We finally switched off the girls' dorm light at towards 1am. Breakfast on Sunday lasted until 11.15am and we did a local walk - seeing as far as the Kilburn White Horse nearly 40 miles away. Nine of us shared a lunch of leftovers from the previous evening meal - very much appreciated". - Belinda Swift

So to all those who would like to come but are fearful of doing so - it is nowhere near as painful as going to the dentist! See you next year!

Pat Mitchell
secretary@wenningtonschool.org.uk

 


 

Archive Weekends

Held at the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive, Study and Conference Centre in Toddington, Gloucestershire (see: http://www.pettrust.org.uk / http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk)

2007

Pat Mitchell Reports

 

 

2004

Bank Holiday, May 28-31, 2004
"Outstanding weekend and company" - John and Denise Pentith


Wenningtonians in Archive

Stuart Humphrey, Andy Peers (back to camera), Helen Kirkup, and Pat Mitchell accessioning, sleeving, numbering and talking about photographs; Paddy and Lydia Butcher scanning Wennington School Magazines and Annual Reports into computer. Off-shot, Tom James compiling photograph database, Sam Doncaster copy-photographing Kenneth Barnes postcards and photographs, Jonathan Adamson editing videotape, Ernie Thomas, Katy Pentith, John Pentith and others supporting, contributing, and shedding light, with more friends joining for evening meals and conversation.

 

18th – 21st November 2004

AIMS & OBJECTIVES:
(As before), to collate the written and photographic material in the archive’s possession, and enter it into a computer database, identifying, where possible, any of the people involved. And, of course, to have a damn good natter and enjoy ourselves.

 

SEE:

Stuart Humphrey's

"Wennington School weekend at P.E.T.T., Toddington, Gloucs 28—31 May 2004"
(with photographs)

and

SEE:

Stuart Humphrey's

"Wennington School weekend at P.E.T.T.,
Toddington, Gloucs 18th through 21st November 2004"

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