Dear Old Augustinians and Friends.
After years of preparation, we will be publishing our archive on the website on Monday 15th April.
The Archive will include all our school magazines going back to the first edition in the Winter of 1886 to when the school closed in 1995. We will also be publishing other books and documents, such as Monastic and Scholastic Century and school prospectuses.
There are some fascinating stories to read. Too many to mention! One example, during the first World War a couple of boys who were sheltering in the school during a Zeppelin raid were caught drinking from a bottle of wine by one of the Priests. When hauled in front of the headmaster for their drinking offence, they were asked where the bottle of wine was – they replied that the priest who'd confiscated their bottle of wine, had drunk its contents; another example, during the Second World War, the story of the evacuation move from Ramsgate to Madeley Court in Huntingdonshire and the rationing that followed.
In another, just before the school left Ramsgate, one boy mysteriously fell ill one morning and was sent by Matron to the local hospital. After tests and being kept under observation, he was remarkably well enough to go home by the end of the school day (having sadly missed his double Latin Class).
The disapproval of “cuddling in the cloisters” during the experimental year was noted where our school shared the Westgate premises with the Les Oiseaux Convent School girls in the early 1970s but then in 1995, the sad closure of our School and the “courage of the Ursulines” to take in our boys to their school to form the new Ursuline College.
May we take this opportunity of thanking all our members who without their subscriptions and donations, we would not have been able to afford this project (there is still time to join the OAs and donate!).
Particular thanks must go to our Archivist, Peter West, who has spent many hours over many years to bring this project to fruition, along with the support of OAs Committee Members and to our web manager and designer, Paul Littlefield, for taking the final steps to make this archive go live on our website.