Over 125 years of history

On 14th January, and again on 19th January 1876, the following notice appeared in the Nottingham Journal - "Mr A G Savile BA (Hons) will open his school at Grosvenor Villas, Forest Road West on Thursday 27"' January. Terms and references on application". That was the foundation of the School and presumably the origin of the name. A list of addresses, started in 1897 by Mr Savile's successor, the Rev Charles Kirsopp, contains a note that Mr Savile later took over the boys from Tudor House School (Messrs Porter & Jones). Tudor House School was still going in 1880 however, as it was advertised in the Journal that year. By 1881, Mr Savile had moved the School to 107/109 Waterloo Crescent. In the Nottingham Directory of that year, the house is described as a Day and Boarding School under the names of Mrs Savile and Mr S G Savile. Mr Jones was by then running Bexington School in Waterloo Promenade. Mr Savile does not seem to have kept any records - at least none have survived.

Of all the schools Grosvenor played in the 1880's, only one remains today which we believe may be found on the north side of the river. The schools included Standard Hill Academy, Tudor House, Chestnut House, Mount Vernon High School, Spondon House, Nottingham High School, Forest Hill, Bexington and University School.

The Rev Charles Kirsopp took over the School in 1897 and was Headmaster until he retired in 1919. He was a man who was always immaculately dressed in charcoal grey. Colonel Douglas Morrell (1902-1907) recalls that he was the epitome of good manners and punctiliousness. He remembers that Mr Kirsopp used to tap on the window a minute before lessons were due to begin with a gold pencil. The boys in the vicinity would shout "time" and everybody would rush to the cloakroom and the dark stairs to their respective classrooms.

He also recalls the occasion when three delinquents had been warned to report to the Headmaster's study five minutes before afternoon school for the punishment very usual in those days.

None of them was anxious to be first in so they decided to toss for it, expecting the Head to be in the study already. Much to their consternation he swept by from behind and, glancing at them, said "alphabetical order gentlemen please".

The boys played French cricket and football in the yard at their break times with a wooden ball. There was also a game known as 'Bottling up'. This consisted of the more aggressive senior boys forcing the juniors up a steep passageway beside the house and bottling them up by kicking a ball at them.

Some of the seniors had pointed toes on their boots (in those days most boys wore boots) which caused the ball to rise and strike the victims, we are told, in a variety of inconvenient places! This game continued until the School moved from Waterloo Crescent, but without the aggressiveness and the wooden ball. In fact it is recalled that both seniors and juniors derived great pleasure from it.

The boys used to arrive while Mrs Kirsopp was having breakfast in the dining hall. As they passed the window where she sat they always raised their caps to her. This tradition has been continued ever since and boys to this day, when passing the dining room window at Edwalton Grange, raise their caps to that window.

C B Brookes joined the staff in 1901 and became Headmaster in 1919 soon after his return from Prisoner-of-War Camp in Germany. He was a firm disciplinarian who was very fond of the boys. His great love was cricket, with good fielding his fetish. He would stand the top 22 boys in a line and slog balls to a prodigious height for them to catch. Any boy who flunked a ball of difficult length was called out and sent to the end of the line where he received a further six balls until he learned the art. As a result, at that time, the School was a brilliant fielding side and won nearly all its matches by its fielding, but very rarely scored many runs.

The School was always given an afternoon off to attend Goose Fair.

Mr Brookes would take the boarders down to the Forest where they usually enjoyed themselves immensely. If he met any day boys there he would plunge his hand into his trouser pocket and bring out a handfull of coins which he would distribute liberally amongst them. When it was unfit for the Juniors to play games he would take them for walks along Elm Avenue. He would hide coins in the crumbling mortar of the stone walls which the Juniors took great delight in hunting out. A keen Oxford man, he expected all his senior pupils to wear a dark or light blue rosette on Boat Race Day when all work stopped so that they could listen to the race.

Unlike his predecessor, but more like his successors, he was not renowned for his sartorial elegance, preferring, in his spare time, to be jacketless and with a collarless shirt. Despite this he would order from James Bell of Nottingham two charcoal grey suits every year.
In the end Mr Wood Senior went up to Grosvenor from James Bell to discover just what was happening to all those suits. In disbelief he discovered a wardrobe full of the suits, many of them unworn. CB's relaxation consisted of chopping kindling from a vast pile of wood in one of the cellars and fishing.

Included on his staff were two keen cricketers - G S Robertson and J T Oldershaw.
On the occasion of the Fathers' Match which was played on the Old Nott's Amateur Cricket Club Ground, which is now the site of the modern wing of County Hall, members of staff used to play on the same team as the boys. This tended to tip the balance in favour of the boys. In fact, between 1920 and 1939, the boys lost only six times - there being one draw due to bad weather. On those occasions Mr Brookes provided two vast containers, one of strawberry, one of vanilla ice cream which always went down terribly well with the younger members of the school who did not make the team. One of the schools which Grosvenor played during Mr Brookes' era was Southwell Minster. On these occasions the school team travelled to Southwell in a coach and four driven by a Mr Crabtree. Judging from the photograph in the hands of the School, a popular stopover was the hostelry in Thurgarton.

The seasonal annual crazes were indulged in by the boys, such as conkers in the Christmas term, marbles in the Easter term and the racing of Dinky Toys down an inclined passageway beside the School in the Summer term. Putty and lead were added to the cars to add to their momentum.

Mr Brookes was described by one of the domestic staff at Grosvenor as "kind but eccentric". He took meals at a long table in the classroom/dining hall. There he carved huge joints of meat to be served by the boys themselves. While there was a degree of monotony in the diet, everything was well prepared and cooked. Every pudding eaten was "with or without" rice pudding. During evening periods of correcting and supervising boarders, Mr Brookes made frequent visits to the cellar to refill a large enamel jug from a barrel of beer he kept there.

On Sunday, 3rd September 1939 Mr & Mrs Oldershaw, who had joined the staff in the early Thirties, boarded a Skills coach, together with seven boys from the Prep department, numerous livestock, including 20 canaries and set off for South Clifton Hall, north of Newark. As soon as the Prep department arrived at South Clifton Hall, a football pitch was marked out and a cricket wicket was put in preparation for the following summer. In the meantime, Mr Brookes and Miss Margaret Goodall continued until the Spring to run Grosvenor School proper at Waterloo Crescent. Finally, Mr Brookes closed the School down and set out to South Clifton Hall with the five remaining senior boys. While at South Clifton, the School accepted two girls - the first to enter the School.

The winter of 1940 was very severe and parts of the Trent froze over at South Clifton. Later there was extensive flooding and all the fields quite close up to the School and the village of South Clifton were flooded.

These, in turn, also froze over and when the floods subsided, the fields were left with huge sheets of thick ice providing the safest outdoor natural skating that was possible. Before the flood water froze over, the senior boys constructed a raft of old cans and planks and one intrepid boy, Clower, attempted to punt himself across one of the fields. It ended with a ducking and he was lucky to swim to the bank quite easily despite the cold.

In 1940, the School was brought back to Nottingham and opened at 1, Selby Road, West Bridgford with seven boys from the old School and seven new boys. Mr Brookes was forced to retire through ill health. J.T. Oldershaw took over as Headmaster. Mr Brookes died in 1944.

The cellar at 1 Selby Road was converted into an air raid shelter with an escape hatch and two triple bunks to accommodate the boarders. There were few occasions when it was actually used - the boarders preferring to watch the Boots factory blazing and the various other buildings burning in Nottingham from an upstairs window. The nearest building to be extensively damaged by bombing was at the junction of Loughborough Road and Wilford Lane.

The School moved to Edwalton Grange on 31st December 1945 when numbers reached 99. Up to a short time before that Edwalton Grange had been used as a convalescent home for soldiers.

RJD Oldershaw joined the staff in 1958 and became Headmaster in 1964. Numbers steadily increased to around the 120 mark over the next 15 years. In the early 60's the numbers dwindled to the 90's and then slowly built up again to between 150 and 160. Girls were first officially admitted in September 1974. Since 1979 the numbers have been in excess of 180.

1976 was the School's Centenary Year. A number of functions were arranged and an ad hoc committee of parents convened in that year saw the beginning of a very active Parents' Association. This has involved parents very much more in the School and they have been of enormous help over the years, not only in raising sums of money for the purchase of expensive pieces of equipment, but they have also organized various functions for the benefit of the School. Parents run a very successful Second Hand Uniform shop and have now taken over the responsibility of running a shop for new school uniform. They help to entertain visiting sports teams and assist staff on School visits.

In 1964, a Science Laboratory was opened in memory of Tim Oldershaw (1940 - 1964). In 1979, parents and friends of the School subscribed to a Memorial Classroom to Mrs Waveney Oldershaw, the late wife of RJD Oldershaw.

Computer Studies were introduced in 1983. An additional classroom, an Art room and a Junior School Library were added in 1986. Design Technology became part of the curriculum in 1988.

Between 1969 and 1984 annual trips were made by the top forms either down the River Wye by canoe or, more sedately, along the Oxford Canal from Rugby to Banbury and back.

In 1989, Grosvenor became National Champions at 7-a-side hockey. Over the subsequent twenty years the U11 and U13 sides have had much success regionally and nationally being Midlands champions on several occasions. Most recently the U11 side were Midlands champions in 2006.

During 1991-1994, RJD Oldershaw and CGJ Oldershaw shared the position of Headmaster with the latter taking over the role in 1994.

After a kind donation from parents, the Blatherwick Anderson IT suite came into operation in 2000. The school has seen much development with the building of a new science laboratory, kitchens and music rooms in 2001. In 2005, a new classroom and seminar room were added to the bungalow.

In 2002, the school celebrated its 125 year anniversary with a Summer Ball in the garden. Much fun was had by all.

In 2004, the school built on their success of the Year 3 residential trips to Eyam Village by instigating our World Challenge Leadership and Outward bound program for all children above the age of 7. In 2008, Year 8 canoed across Scotland from Fort William to Inverness. The same year, the Year 6 adventure resulted in much media interest when they formed a human arrow to point the air ambulance to the correct direction to make a rescue.

In 2006, Africa came to Grosvenor in the form of an African hut/ gazebo for the use of the children in the garden in memory of Miss Jan Dormer, the Geography and PE Teacher who died unexpectedly and suddenly.

In the summer of 2008, 4 of our boys won the prestigious Independent Schools Stowe Putter golf event.