A.O.S.A. 2000 ANNUAL REPORT
Wall plaque on the Station Road
entrance to Rawdon House,
unveiled by
The Right Hon. William Hague
14th May 1999
“On 14th May 1999, Rawdon House was officially opened by William Hague, as the first show home of the Wimpey development of the site of the former Friends’ School, Great Ayton.” This bald press statement ushers in a new phase in the life of a building which holds so many memories for so many Old Scholars. I found a reference to it as Chestnut House (p120 Ayton School Centenary History) when Ralph Dixon (1866-1895) moved out so that it could be converted into the new sanatorium. Later, it became the home of Frank Rivers Arundel (1896-1913), his wife and their three children, Ruth, Philip and Hugh (the family depicted on the cover of the 1999 Annual Report). Ruth, very sadly, died in childhood, and Frank and Alice Arundel gave the Ruth Arundel Music prize in her memory. During the headship of Herbert Dennis, Chestnut House was renamed Rawdon House, after the closure of that school in 1921 and the transfer of some of its pupils to Ayton, and it became the home of Leonard Stapleton (Rawdon School’s final headmaster), his wife, Margery, and their children, Barbara and Brian (p131 Ayton Centenary History). I had a wonderful hour-long conversation with Barbara Bellingham (Stapleton) a few weeks ago. (She told me about her battle with Parkinson’s Disease - she is unable to write, but can phone when she has the energy). She also told me about playing hockey, aged four, with her brother, Brian, in Rawdon House’s back yard, and about boating on the lake. After the Stapletons, Rawdon House became home to John and Mary Reader, when they were first married. Later it was the home of single male members of staff; Peter Hall, Terry Wiltshire, Jasper Kay.
Rawdon House and the boys' schoolroom
from within the grounds, October 1999
Later still, it was the home of Anthony and Lesley Barley and their family, then Chris and Suzanne Scaife, followed by John, Judith & Jonathan Ard. Whilst my children were at Ayton (1981-91), the two downstairs rooms were made into a single large room, which became firstly a staffroom, with the music practice rooms above, then the sixth form centre. Dorothy Dawson (Easton 1947-53) and I were teaching as members of the peripatetic music team, during the last years of the school. In the final term, our rooms were in desperate need of painting and refurbishment. I had my piano refurbished, to keep my spirits up, and found, at the auction, that I couldn’t let anyone else have it, so I bought it and use it now teaching here at Oneholmes. When the school closed, Rawdon House was empty, sad, neglected and cold; Dorothy and I wept as we left ...
On a lovely, warm, sunny day on 14th May 1999, I walked with Robert from the village to Rawdon House, where we joined a gathering of representatives from local organisations, including Ayton Old Scholars and the School Committee. We stood and chatted whilst William Hague, the Ayton MP, arrived and dealt with the gathering of photographers and reporters. There were brief speeches from him and from Ronnie Baird, the Wimpey representative, and then the brass plaque was duly unveiled. I felt full of trepidation as I walked up the path from Station Road and went into Rawdon House, but I immediately felt that there was a friendly atmosphere, and that Wimpey have created what will be a wonderful new home. The plan of the house has been changed only in that the single big room is now a sitting room and dining room. The kitchen is beautiful and is where the old kitchen used to be, and the upstairs is quite remarkable. I met the young architect responsible and thanked him. My tatty teaching room at the back has become a bedroom, and the room over the archway has become a lovely two-level bathroom and a wide landing, leading to the third bedroom in the roof space. The front room upstairs is the master bedroom with a lovely en-suite bathroom. Rawdon House is now ready for the next stage in its life. Wimpey have retained its name, and are using Firbank, Pendle and Swarthmore to name the new buildings. It is no longer Ayton School, but I feel very glad that Ayton School’s lovely buildings are once more loved and cared for, and that new generations of people will experience the peace and tranquillity which we all found in the buildings and grounds of Ayton School.
Jane Campbell (Bye 1953-60)
Rawdon House and the boys'
schoolroom from Station Road,
PS Dick Dennis and I were at Ayton in October 1999 for a committee meeting, and we took the opportunity to visit Rawdon House and the new school environs. The house has, indeed, been most tastefully refurbished and is now warm and welcoming. However, as I looked around, I felt completely disorientated. I did not recognise the staircase, nor the layout of the rooms, and it was only when we tiptoed onto the boys’ playground and I saw the house from the front, that I found my bearings. The part of Rawdon House which I remembered, was the large room at the top of the stairs that led in from the door next to the ‘boys’ schoolroom’ - a sixth form room from the late-1940s to mid-1950s, together with the small room at the bottom of the stairs on the right which, during the same period, was home to the boy prefects. Mary Banks (1932-38) remembers the latter as the masters’ common room, and the big room at the top of the stairs as the First Form classroom. These rooms are currently being used by Wimpey as offices, and will be sold as a one-up/one-down cottage.
Gill Jackson (Hinds 1950-55)
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