PREFACE

Gaynesford High School and surrounding area 1979

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This is the first volume is a three volume set published by the St Helier Historical Trust under the title of Estate of a Nation. The works represents the fruits of over ten years of painstaking research by a small group of social anthropologists, lead by Professor Arbutnot Hardarce FR Hist Soc. and Dr Christian Maynard, Chair of Modern History of University College, Oxford.

The place: Gaynesford High School sited in Welbeck Road, Carshalton was one of several similarly designed building on the St Helier estate a large low level housing estate built in the 1930s. With more than 50,000 properties, the estate was for a long time the largest non-flatted estate in the UK. Designed in response to the need for inexpensive housing for Londoners it was one of the leaders in the suburban revolution. Despite its reputation as a “council estate” only a relatively small number of council properties, approximately 12,000, remained by the time of our story. Many more would be taken out of council control (after a fashion) by the Thatcherite 'right to buy' scheme which was announced in 1980. The school was renamed "Wandle Valley" and redesigned for special needs pupils in 1985. During the change the west wing was demolished and the playing fields reduced to make way for a new road (Blake Close) and residential home (Gaynesford Very Sheltered Accommodation) and private housing

The estate boasted 12 schools initially known by their number (Green Wrythe Lane was number 9 school for example) and only later named. Gaynesford. It was not one of the original buildings but was formed of two schools, Welbeck Road Seniors School and Welbeck Road, infants school, the were amalgamated in the early 1960s in Gaynesford High School a mixed which fitted easily into the so-called comprehensive system.

The Series
The series is an ambitious one attempting to provide an accurate record of life in the later part of the twentieth century. It makes extensive use of historical data both the archived records of the time and the documentation and memories of the people who were present at this time.

The first volume entitled “Unacceptable Terms” offers a view of life in one of the nation's secondary modern schools as seen through the eyes of one of its pupils, Ronald Thomas Cook. It is based largely on his extensive collection of personal diaries and notes, which he continued to keep throughout this period. We have extensively updated this edition using material recently made available to our researchers. Cook an almost paranoid obsessive diarist continued to update this notes of the period throughout his life mainly through the recollection of other Gaynesfordians thus providing an almost unique perspective on the time and place. The second, "The Bewilderness Years" will be published soon and records events during the Univeristy years of Cook and Johnson, while the third as yet un-named episode will focus on Cook's often amusing sojourn into local politics.

The editors would like to offer their thanks to the estate of the late Helen Orme, former headmistress of Cook's school and to the heirs of Anthony Raven, English Teacher, of the same school for allowing access to the private papers of both these individuals. Diane Downham Popovic for access to her extensive photo collection and our particular thanks go to Mr Mark Powell, one of the few surviving members of the school, for his invaluable recollections and insights.

This edition of our researches has been published in 'blog' form and where possible will include links to locations on the World Wide Web where additional or supplementary information can be gleaned. We would like to express our gratitude to the University Information Technology Team for making this possible.

AJ Hardacre
CF Maynard
University College, Oxford.

"A moving target is harder to hit!"
Unofficial motto of the Gaynesford Prefects 1979-80

Note: This blog has been designed to be read from the top down, enjoy!