Head boys go back to Worthing HIgh School classroom
THREE former head boys of a Worthing school have gone back to the classroom this week.
David Cooling, 72, Hugh Mooney, 72, and John Hooper, 70, were consecutive head boys of Worthing High School for Boys between 1955 and 1957.
They spent two days at desks in Worthing College, Bolsover Road, to study the archives of their old school, which was founded in 1924 in Broadwater Road, now the Durrington campus of Northbrook College.
The men were all captains of rugby and members of the Old Azurians' Association of old boys, which still holds its annual dinner in Worthing.
Preserving records
Hugh Mooney, who started the project and now lives in Cambridge, said the aim was to catalogue, copy and preserve the remaining records of the old school to make them available to all.
This year is the 61st anniversary of him starting at the school in 1948, while he was living in Brunswick Road.
"I heard the honours boards were put up in the foyer when the old school moved to Worthing College in the 1960s," said Mr Mooney.
"So I decided to go and photograph them. They weren't there.
"They had been taken down in 1973 and could not be found.
"But there were other records of greater interest.
"I found a register of pupil admissions, teachers' records, school photographs and correspondence."
Mr Mooney, Mr Cooling, from Chichester, and Mr Hooper copying the admissions register, which lists all boys who went to the high school with a note of what they did on leaving.
Old Azurians' toast
The register of teachers were of particular interest to David Cooling, whose father was a popular teacher of French and English. David's older brother was also head boy.
John Hooper, who is a deputy judge and coroner, took on the correspondence, while Hugh Mooney helped with the copying and scanning of the material.
Hugh said he would use some of the records when he proposed the toast to absent friends at the next dinner to be held on April 24 at the Windsor Hotel, Windsor Road.
There will also be a display of some school records, now dubbed the Azurian Archive.
Hugh hopes the archive will find a permanent home in Worthing Library, which already holds some school records, including a complete set of the termly magazine, The Azurian.
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Weather for Worthing
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
