FROM THE MAGAZINES
MUNDELLA OLD SCHOLARS ASSOCIATION
MARCH 1950
Perhaps the matter of most vital interest to the Association during the year has been the Nottingham Development Plan. Four members of the Association led by Mr. Jack Westmoreland, along with four members of the Mundella Parent Teachers' Association, were received by the Sub-Committee for Further Education and were each allowed to state their case.
They were told that the Committee were not prepared to enter into any discussion, but that the deputation would receive a sympathetic hearing and due consideration would be given to the matter. This deputation was received in October 1948. It was not until October 1st 1949, that I received any further communication from the Director of Education. In a letter dated September 29th 1949, he said that the matter had been discussed and the Education Committee had come to the conclusion that their previous decision to turn Mundella into a school for boys only, and to have other accommodation for the girls, should hold.
This decision has come as a great blow to all Mundellans, past and present, and although everyone realises that this cannot become an accomplished fact for a number of years they are determined for the sake of all Mundellans of the future to do their utmost to reverse this decision. All members of M.O.S.A. realise that unless we can do this it will be the end of our Association as it is now constituted. I do not think that either the boys and girls or men and women of Mundella could contemplate an Association of one sex only.
I think that I am expressing the feelings of many Mundellans, both past and present, when I say that those who have made this decision have not fully realised that they are destroying something which has contributed much to the corporate life of this City and which is a unique and proud possession. I am sure that all Mundellans are thinking not so much of themselves as of those who will come in the future. They would honestly and sincerely wish for future generations something which they have tried and known to have enriched their own lives. I think as Old Scholars of Mundella our aim during the next year should be to convince quietly but firmly, those who have made this decision that they have made a very large retograde step in the development of this City.
MARION WOOLLATT, Hon. Sec
SEPTEMBER 1951
It is with great pleasure that we are able to tell all our Old Scholars that Mundella is to remain as a co-educational grammar school. We all felt that it would be a tragedy if Mundella were swept away and its tradition lost. However, we can now " Go Forward " with renewed hope. A new building, incorporating the War Memorial and the contents of the present library, will rise in a few years' time on Bilborough Road.
We all sincerely hope that the boys and girls who eventually attend the new school with all its added amenities will carry on the best traditions of the old School. All Old Scholars would like to think of Mundella going on from strength to strength, making a contribution to the life of the city which has granted it new life. We hope that it will continue to turn out men and women prepared to serve the community wherever their work takes them.
FEBRUARY 1956
MOST of you will have read in the local papers of the Education Committee's final decision not to transfer Mundella to the new Grammar School at Bilborough now in course of erection.
Whilst on the one hand many old scholars will feel disappointed that their old school will not be able to enjoy the amenities which naturally appertain to a new school, I feel sure that on the other hand an even greater number of Old Mundellans are rather pleased that the School's continuity is being preserved in the present building. Undoubtedly, this school has built for itself a great tradition as a mixed Grammar School, and to most Old Mundellans that tradition will for ever be vested in " the building on the Embankment."
Now that the Local Authority has apparently finalised the City's Grammar School plans, it is hoped that the body will take immediate steps to equip the older and traditional Grammar Schools with amenities equal to those provided in the newer ones.
The provision of an adequate stage for play presentation would surely be an absolute ' must ' in any programme for re-equipping Mundella. Our school, by the very fact that it is a mixed grammar school possesses obvious advantages for play production which are denied to other single-sex schools. Yet since the War years both the School Dramatic Society and the Old Scholars' Dramatic Society have practically been in cold storage owing to lack of adequate stage facilities. The hopes of both Societies have been kept alive by the promise of the stage at the new school, which under the new plan will not materialise. It is earnestly hoped, therefore, that the Education Committee give this matter their prime consideration.
Editor's note: if anyone has any further articles from old School magazines concerning this matter, please forward them to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thank you.