Monday 14 October 2013

RCCS Jacket hangs

Passing through Digbeth's trendy custard factory shops, I saw my old school blazer in a shop window.  Well, it wasn't mine - I've still got it, but was chuffed the old blazer could be seen as a fashion accessory.

I was even more pleased to see the old school uniform being put to good use in Malawi by some old RCCSians:

Thanks Tasha Elizabeth
I was never that proud of wearing the old uniform - could be something to do with the 'Queer boys' taunts the jacket attracted, but this summer I passed by Ripon with the family, and couldn't help popping in school to show my kids.

The school had closed the year before.  It was kind of eerie walking around, as it felt like it had been open one day, the next day abandoned, with everything just left where it had been.




The new gym I'd watched being built out of my dorm, the boot locker of my nightmares (I used to wake up in a cold sweat being drawn to a monster in the basement only to find it was the person in next bed snoring), all just left.

I did a bit or web search to see what had happened.  Since I left Ripon, the choir had taken on girls, and the Cathedral Choir School had become one of the first Choir Schools to have a female headteacher in 2000(?!), which caused a parent revolt forcing Mrs. Cave to resign after only one term.  Eventually debts caused the school to close, after a failed merger with Cundall Manor (one of Stephen Fry's old schools he wasn't expelled from).

A sad end to a school which I'd been happy in even if, looking back, it was a bit like a Joanna Trollope novel.  Anyone knows what did happen to the 'Phoenix School', what the choir is like now, or have any other sitings of that dashing school blazer, please post.

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