A message from Baines Alumni Secretary regarding the school archive  School_Archive.m4a

When we were considering a fitting memorial to celebrate 300 years of education at Baines School, we felt that a stone monument or a plaque may not adequately convey, or be a real reflexion of the feelings that people have about the School. Throughout its long history, Baines has never been about splendid buildings and facilities but about pupils and staff working together for their mutual benefit.

We feel that a more fitting tribute to the School and to the people that have been the essential part of it, would be :- to secure and preserve our existing archive material, to make contact with and collect more material from past pupils and staff and to use modern technology to make the material accessible worldwide to those who would be interested in the story of Baines School .

Many who have attended, taught or worked at the school have very fond memories of their time there and we want to collect these memories of the events, the characters, the friendships, the happy times and the very sad times and to share them with the present Alumni and leave them to be read and hopefully enjoyed by those who will carry the School into the future.

We have already brought together a large collection of material which is now securely housed in the recently opened James Baines Room We use the room as a work-shop for our research and drop-in centre where we can welcome past pupils and staff for a friendly cuppa and a gentle wander down memory lane. We have a Facebook site which has over 300 members; a few of which are overseas. We have just opened this website to encourage and broaden the membership of the Alumni to include all who have been pupils or have worked at Baines School; as we value all who have made a contribution to its development.  It is hoped in the future to have a more professional looking site.

As we have started to work with the archive material we have been stuck by how fortunate we are to have a number of items which have contributed to our knowledge of the school and the foundation ; and may, in many ways, be quite unique.

• In 1908 the Headmaster T.D. Whittington started the publication of the school magazine The Poultonian. Initially it was published 3 times a year and in the early years it reads more like a chronical of school life rather than a disparate catalogue of pupils’ work. Luckily, up to 1960 the early copies of the Poultonian were bound into volumes and we are delighted that we have all the volumes in good condition and almost all the individual copies, in one form or another, up to the present date.
• At about the same time as The Poultonian started publication, an Old Boys Association was formed and through this organisation was fostered the continuing involvement and interest of past pupils in the school and even today the organisation still has a loyal membership.
• The third element was the mammoth task undertaken almost 100 years ago by, Arthur G Pagett, who was at that time a master of the school, who researched and wrote The History of Baines’s Grammar School. This was at a time long before the internet and being almost 300 pages long, we can only the imagine the work and effort that went into bringing together the information. The book was published in 1928 by public subscription and we have several copies are held in our archives. Many of you will know Pagett as the writer of the words in the school song.

We recognise these are small steps, but they are important moves towards our ultimate goal. We would love to hear from you so please get in touch on one of our sites and help us to build the community of Baines School Alumni

The archive is only one part of the story; we can use the archive to 'fill in the gaps'. For example, one of the FPA, Robert Wright has researched all the names on the school 1914-19 war memorial; no mean feat. We now have a full history of where each member died, what regiment he was in and where he was born and signed up,   This is an incredible piece of work.

Other developments with the Archive include a full digitised version of the Poultonian, the school magazine from its earliest editions in the 1900s to date.  We are also creating a oral history of the school (Baines Voices) where former members of the school community can record their memories of school life.

We are always looking for 'new' material for the archive.  So if you have any to donate or you wish to have them scanned and then the original returned to you please contact the Alumni. 

From time to time we will show images that you may be able to shed light on.  For example in May 2020 a page on the school pavilion will be shown.  In June 2020 we will be answering the question of why the school bell is on the back door of the school.   

Not much has changed in over 100 years.  The 'new' section on the end of this building is now the school archive and James Baines Room.