The School Tour

Stepping onto the No 14 bus felt a little sneaky since Trinity pupils weren’t allowed onto the No 14 bus – that privilege being reserved for the Grammar School girls.  I felt particularly aggrieved at the time since I lived just off Barrack Road, and on the No 14 bus route which would have made my journey to school that much easier, instead of which I had to walk across the Racecourse, often chased by a manic dog! 

We were treated to a whiff of nostalgia or did Northampton Corporation Buses always smell that way.  5d and 4d tickets were issued from the ticket machine.

Entering the school grounds much higher up Trinity Avenue was odd.  I lost my bearings because you didn’t have familiar landmarks to latch on to.  We learnt that the only piece of the old Trinity High left was a not attractive and seemingly pointless sloping piece of tarmac.  We were shown the all-weather tennis courts (ours were on the main playground I recall), rugby pitches etc.

Jane Chatburn, an ex-Trinity pupil and now librarian showed us around the school.  I think the biggest shock was the fact that keys were needed everywhere!!  Even to switch on the lights.  A switch card system is operated by the pupils to enter the school building and they have to assemble in the morning in one particular area.  Whilst the school is a church school, it recognises all faiths.  This was of course what the old Trinity High did, without realising it.  The only difference was that Roman Catholics, Jewish pupils etc assembled elsewhere in the school and joined school assembly for the notices.

The big school bible which most of us who were prefects had to read from, after following Buzzer with fear and trepidation into school assembly is now in the school library, which at present is much smaller than the old one.  I asked about the spiral staircase which was quite revolutionary in our day, only to be told that attempts to save it had been in vain.  The present library moves to a new part of the school after December and will be very much bigger.  The corridors seemed gloomy; there were lots of psychedelic posters welcoming you to Humanities, the English Department or the room housing state of the art gym equipment.  I seem to remember we knew where all the departments were without hand-painted posters. 

There was a Chess Tournament going on in the school at the time so we were limited in what we were able to see inside.  Nevertheless, I feel we got a flavour of how the new school will look and operate.  It will be interesting to see how the school has developed if another school tour is available next year.  On behalf of the ‘boys and girls’ on board I would like to thank Mike for the trip down memory lane, Jane for the tour and Ian for the whole day.

Maureen Kirby (Tarlton)