Month: August 2024
Last month I was contacted by an OS whose father took part in the 400th anniversary celebration walk up Winder. The special day saw hundreds of boys and staff summit the fell. A pupil recorded the poignant occasion in a contemporary Sedberghian Magazine report:
A bare hill-top with mists sweeping over it. A crowd of school boys in shorts and shirts, dimly discernible through the mists as one approached. A master bids them remember the founder of the School and those who have gone before them. A couple of hymns are sung and the blessing of God invoked. Then there is complete silence, while the mists grow thicker and we realise our unity with each other, with our predecessors, and with those who are to come after us.
Unlike today’s walks that are captured on social media and viewed across the globe, no photographs were taken of the occasion, making the vivid description all the more valuable. The only other primary source record of the walk stands in pride of place on the side of the Memorial Lodge, now Speckled Hen Nursery, next to the School gates. Every boy and master who climbed Winder on 25th July 1925 signed their own name on a sheet of heavy card that was framed and mounted on the walls of the lodge. The inscription ‘signed on Winder’ makes clear that this was a considered move, planned in advance to create a permanent record of that special day in the moment, as the boys themselves reached the top of the fell.
As the School and the OS community plan the celebrations for our 500th year it is vital to think both of how we will celebrate this momentous anniversary, and of how we will capture the excitement, energy, comradeship and pathos of our celebrations with those who come after us. The archive collection is the gift of those Sedberghians who walked before us. We must always consider our legacy.
Katy de la Rivière
Archivist
The Tye Trophy highlights some of the best farms in the North of England and recognises the contribution of farmers to conservation and environmental improvement.
Bainbridge Farms were the Overall Winner & Northumberland Area Winner.
Simon and Claire Bainbridge of Bainbridge Farms, Donkin Ridge, Cambo, Morpeth farm 1,650 acres with 180 suckler cows and 1,300 sheep and grow early crop silage.
Their conservation efforts at the organic farm have included replanting hedges and have resulted in many species of birds taking up residence, including oystercatchers, lapwings, curlews and cuckoos.
They also provide education access and have a school room.
Read the full article on the Yorkshire Agricultural Society website HERE.