| Great Ayton's Friends School shock closure
Then in 1997 villagers of Great Ayton were stunned to learn that the Friends
School on the High Green was to close. Dwindling pupil numbers had given the trustees no other option but to close the
doors at the end of the current term. In a letter to parents, chairman Robert Campbell explained that 37 of the
school’s 200 pupils had withdrawn from the school recently and with school
fees ranging from £855 to £1550 this loss of revenue could not be sustained by
the new intake.
The school’s 28 teachers and 22 staff will lose their jobs and the school’s
grade II listed building and its 30 acre estate will be put up for sale.
Mr Campbell, whose family had been associated with the school for 40 years, told
parents it was a very distressing situation. He blamed financial pressures for
the decision and assured them that, if there had been any chance of securing the
future of the school, the trustees would have taken that chance.
Six years ago the school adopted a commercial edge. It changed its name to Ayton
School and appointed a marketing manager to promote the school’s facilities to
the general public, a move that signalled hard times were around the corner.
The Friends School, one of only eight Quaker schools in England, has been an
important part of Great Ayton for 156 years. It was established in 1841 by
Darlington Quaker Thomas Richardson, who chose the village because it was his
mother’s birthplace. He set it up as a boarding school for 16 children of Quakers whose parents had
married outside the movement. Soon the number rose to 200.
The Quaker philosophy is liberal, tolerant and pacifistic (there had never been
corporal punishment in the school), and presumed a strong sense of individual
inner discipline. Pupils were drawn from all over the world, a third of them from parents working
abroad.
One of the driving forces behind the school’s development was the late Evelyn
Nicholson who was appointed headmistress in 1938 a post she held until her
retirement almost 30 years later. Miss Nicholson, who was described by one
former pupil as “a force to be reckoned with” was a former pupil of the
school. She died at the age of 85 and the cherry trees in front of the building
on the High Green are her legacy. She never married.
John Reader who was headmaster during the same period described her as a women
of great energy and vision.
Now - the Friends school estate was finally sold to Wimpey Homes. But any fears
the village might have held for the future of its unique school building, were
quickly allayed by the builders.
Working in conjunction with English Heritage and The Georgian Society, the
company has established a development which is highly sympathetic to the local
style and surrounding architecture. Many of the school’s original features
have been retained and the local wildlife and landscapes have been carefully
managed
Wimpey has built 63 exclusive properties on the original site. The styles vary
from the farmhouse family homes, to charming cottages and traditional
three-story town houses.
In the Richardson School Hall, 21 apartments ranging in price from £120,000 to
£200,000 offer the benefits of modern living, yet combine them with 19th
century originality. Such was the demand for these exclusive properties, Wimpey
adopted a sealed bid auction. Only eight apartments are now unsold.
Kevin Thubron, Marketing and Sales Director, is thrilled with the standard of
this development describing it as the company’s flag-ship.
This article originally appeared in the Easter 2001 issue of Now
& Then Magazine
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