‘We Are Seven’

A charming journal, documenting the exploits and adventures of seven ‘new’ boys who joined Sedbergh School in 1945 and became firm friends, has been digitised and published so it can be shared with a wider audience.

The brown leather book embossed with the title ‘We Are Seven’ describes the group’s explorations and achievements over a period of five years, and is illustrated with many striking black and white photos.

The first outing was to Turshaw Spout, a high waterfall on Holme Fell. The adventures chronicled over the next five years include the discovery of further waterfalls, bathing pools and caves, as well as the numerous camps ‘The Big Seven’ made among the fells. Touchingly, the pupils also take pride in recognising and celebrating one another’s individual achievements in sport, academics and societies.

School Archivist Katy de la Rivière picks up the story:

‘This album is one of my favourite items in the archive. Our collection includes many wonderful photograph albums that have been created by past pupils and staff, but this volume is truly unique, recording photos of the boys’ adventures alongside first hand prose accounts of life at School in the post war years. The writings record the warmth of the relationship between the boys in a manner that is tremendously special. The gruff shyness of teenage boys is nowhere to be found, instead a sweet ‘Swallows and Amazon’s’ quality pervades the writings, although without the implied peril. It has been a great pleasure during my time at Sedbergh to meet the surviving members of the ‘Seven’, and some of the descendants of others. Development Office Researcher, Emily Rowe Rawlence’s work to digitise the album has allowed us to share the album widely and it has already travelled the globe in digital form, being enjoyed by the children and grandchildren of the boys featured in its 140 pages.’

The journal finishes with the following epilogue:

“It is our hope that these Annals will reveal to their reader some of the happiness and pleasure which we seven found in our schooldays.
That happiness and joie de vivre was due in no small measure to the kind indulgence of our Housemaster on the one hand, and the Sedberghian way of life on the other.
These two factors combined to show us the opportunity we had of making the most of our mutual friendship. We took that opportunity with seven pairs of hands, and exploited it to the full in the study, on the playing field, and among the fells.”

Their explorations may have taken place seventy years ago – in a different era – but the spirit of adventure, ambition and kindness remain very much alive in the School today.

Members of ‘The Big Seven’ were:

David Byrd, Rodney Dodds, Ian Gardner, David MacInnes, John ‘Giles’ Shaw, Alan Spinney, Archibald Turnbull.

Explore the digitised version of ‘We Are Seven’ below:

Guest article written by Development Office Researcher, Emily

Rowe Rawlence who earlier this year scanned and formatted the ‘We Are Seven’ album to make it available to a wider audience.