Although still nowhere near as advanced as our immersive virtual reality 360 video, this 1993 prospectus has come a long way from our first black and white prospectus in 1960.
We love this aerial photograph taken from the back of the prospectus. Completed in 1992, you can see just how new the Everett extension looks.
Who remembers the summer production of Oh! What a Lovely War? There is a great article about the production with lots of pictures in The Court. You can also read the review of the performances from The Henley Standard in our online archive too.
Hans Wells-Furby retired from Shiplake College after more than 30 years service to the School. Read the School's farewell tribute to him from The Court, here:
It seems difficult to imagine Shiplake College without Hans Wells-Furby; to many people who know the College and its history the two must seem almost synonymous. His time here, even allowing for a brief absence, virtually spans the thirty-five years of the institution's existence, and there can nowhere be an Old Viking who does not have some tale, some memory of HEW-F. To a large extent Hans wrote the history of Shiplake, and this in more ways than merely his publication Wish and Fulfilment, authoritative as that official history is. He came to Shiplake in May 1960 after teaching for three years at Bablake School, Coventry. Before that he had read Modern History at Exeter College, Oxford, of which institution's affairs he was always a keen observer. Hans said that his only regret about Oxford was that he did not see Bannister break the four-minute-mile barrier, having elected to watch a fairly ordinary day's cricket in The Parks instead. It was cricket that remained a passion for him during his time at Shiplake; he started the College club, running it until 1966, and continuing a devotee of the game thereafter. In the summer of 1961 he took over the Headmaster's house of forty-three boys, on a housemaster's annual allowance of £100! In 1962 Hans married Margaret, a doctor. The years 1966-9 saw a brief absence while Hans ran a small school in Blackheath, but he returned to Shiplake and soon afterwards took over Everett House. In 1980 he followed the late Mike Gilliatt as Second Master, leaving Everett in 1982 and taking over the Old Viking Society. Nobody who met him for long would doubt what was Hans' subject - he was (and is) a devotee of the muse Clio, with a knowledge of history that is both wide and deep, and a concern that pupils and colleagues should share this with him. His fund of anecdotes, stored in a capacious memory, ensured that classes seldom went away without entertainment and, more importantly, having learned a great deal. Hans was fond of saying that he himself had been taught history by men who had served in the Great War, and that he knew himself to be a link in the continuity that would pass on the knowledge into the next century. Family prosopography and local history were not below his scholastic interests and the walls of Tudor Cottage were hung with illustrations of the deeds HEW-F in valedictory mood of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, in which he had a particular interest. Yet this interest in history did not mean that HEW-F dwelt in the past. As Second Master he was very willing to entertain new ideas about the running of the College, while at the same time preserving fiercely the traditions on which it is founded. He hated such modern phrases as "the kids" to refer to the pupils, and equally disliked "teachers" for members of the Common Room. Both punctilious and punctual, correct to a fault and perhaps occasionally a little forbidding to those that did not see the glint in his eye or know him fully, Hans possessed both deep compassion and a passionate attachment to Shiplake College and all that it stands for. It was a measure of the esteem in which he was held here that the College calendar in the month before his retirement was packed with valedictory dinners for HEW-F as Governors, Common Rooms and pupils made their farewells and feted a career spent in worthy service. Hans retires to his holiday home a few miles from the Dorset coast, where he and his late wife spent much of their spare time. He says that he will miss most of all, having a cricket ground on his doorstep and the presence of many good companions at Shiplake College.
Shiplake College Senior Common Room 1993
In the Easter holidays, a small minibus made up of 11 pupils and staff attempted the three peak challenge – to set foot on the highest peak in England (Scafell Pike), Wales (Snowdon) and Scotland (Ben Nevis) all within a period of 24 hours. The Henley Standard reported on their challenge (below) and there is a lovely, lighthearted article on page 53 of The Court about it too.
Also in 1993:
- The Hockey Club were treated to a coaching session with Olympic gold medalist and international hockey star Sean Kearly.
- Six senior boys from the College spent a month in Kenya off the beaten track after their A Levels as part of the summer expedition.
- The sailing club had its most successful year to date. Read about it in The Court (pg 89)
