Bilborough 1957-2000
Portrait of a College

Preface

Bilborough 1957-2000, Portrait of a College tells the story of the founding of the second-to-last grammar school opened in Nottingham, its metamorphosis into sixth-form college and its further development to meet the needs of the students in the new millennium. Here you may read how the Forster Elementary Education Act of 1870 shaped education provision in the city and how, more directly, the Butler Education Act of 1944 led to the opening of Bilborough Grammar School; how the grammar school built a strong reputation for academic and sporting achievement under the dynamic leadership of Dr Harry Peake; how Ivor Williams consolidated these strengths in a changing social environment; how Charles Martin master-minded the transition to thriving sixth-form college; how Gordon Brown orchestrated proceedings prior to and post Incorporation and finally how Martin Slattery fine-tuned operations to ensure that the college retained its independence.

Whose Speech Day address was 'badly received'?
Who* argues that his appointment was a 'fiddle'?
Who were the ten 'Golden Boys' of 1962?
Who* had two haircuts on one day both paid for by the head?
Who reminded us to 'Mind Your Head'?
Who* served as Student President in two consecutive years?
Who played rugby, and cricket, and hockey for England?
The answers appear in Bilborough 1957-2000, Portrait of a College, with its 26 appendices of facts and figures and dates.

As you will see from the list of Contents, over fifty scribes have produced articles for this history, and while wishing to express my gratitude to them all for their contributions, may I especially thank those who wrote on particular themes at my request. In editing the articles, I trust that I have not altered the sentiments which contributors sought to convey. A list of staffing appears in Appendix Y and biographical details of a few contributors have been collected together in Appendix Z.

May I acknowledge too the assistance given by Christine Peake (for making available valuable sources), my wife Judith (for proof reading), Denise Ottewell (for reprographing the original version) and a myriad others who have supplied information. Last, but not least, I will for ever be indebted to John Martin, who was a mere slip of a lad when I first met him in 1962. Today, 38 years on, he is much bigger than I, and very much greyer!! For fully six months John has displayed the patience of Job in advancing my knowledge of computing techniques, and he has shown infinite care in first correcting and then polishing my efforts to convert the simple paper version of this book into the finished web product.

Potential contributors were sought via letter to friends and to friends of friends, and via the good offices of the Nottingham Evening Post, BBC Radio Nottingham and Pam Eyres on BBC Radio 2.

As one writer reminds us, 'Memories are idiosyncratic, often eccentric, even prejudiced .....' and it follows that two people witnessing the same events may, at 30-40 years distance, have different recollections of those events. Perhaps keep this thought in mind as you read the following pages.

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* Contributors

Preface to the original paper edition.

Mike Robinson
18th September, 2000

URL: https://bilboroughgrammar.tripod.com/1957-2000/preface.htm