Gallery

The Association has a wide range of photographs and publications, etc., from many stages in the life of the School, and we are beginning the process of adding as many as we can to this section. Keep checking back to see what’s new – and please share your own memories with us, too!

What’s new?

Click the links below to see what we’ve added recently

“When we are Married” (1968)
“On the Street where you live” (The Vinefields) – Bury Free Press feature from 1988
The School Song – Sheet music, words and translation now available
Henry IV – Part One (1967)
Austrian Holiday 1961 – another cine film from Paul Lilly
Some Reunion Pictures
“The Merchant of Venice” (1966)
‘The Burian’ Magazine archive – 1921-1969 (final year) now available to read
“Why you should have a Labrador” by Charles Garland Hamel-Cooke

There is also an extensive set of KEGS photographs and documents collected by Clifford King on his “Flickr” page https://flic.kr/s/aHsmfWjXRP (some of which also appear here in the Gallery).

We are always keen to collect more. If you have any photographs or documents of your own (not those which have appeared in newspapers or are the work of professionals – we must observe copyright rules), we would love to include them if we can. Please send them to Clifford cliff.vale@btinternet.com and we will include them here as soon as possible.

All common types of image files can be accepted. If you are scanning, please use a setting of at least 300 dpi to get a good quality result – even higher if the image you are scanning is smaller than about postcard size. Camera images should be at least 1600 x 1200 pixels if possible. If in doubt, please send them anyway, and Clifford will contact you if there is a problem.

The School Song

The School Song sung by Old Burians at the 2017 Reunion Dinner (Chris Hamel-Cooke at the piano)

All together, now … (the recording begins at the second refrain)

Saved from oblivion!

The School Song was written at the time of the 1907 Pageant in the Abbey Gardens, with words composed by A. W. Ward, D.Litt., Master of Peterhouse, and old boy and Governor of the School, and set to music by Mr Charles Ganz. It was performed by the boys during the Pageant to accompany the story of the founding of the school, and was subsequently sung on many occasions, becoming a part of school life.

It seems hard to believe, therefore, that the original music can no longer be found, and recent performances have had to rely on the ability of people like John Ottley and the Hamel-Cooke brothers to play it from memory. It was therefore in danger of being lost in the mists of time. However, we are most grateful to our Chairman, Charles Hamel-Cooke for committing his memories to paper and producing a transcription of the music. You can view/download a copy below, as well as the Latin words and their translation:

Click above for the Sheet Music

Click above for the Words, translation and more background information

‘The Burian’ Magazine archive

We have now uploaded all of the copies of ‘The Burian’ magazine that are readily available – the archive now covers the years 1895 to 1903, then a gap, and then 1921 to 1969 (the final year of publication). Click here to read the magazines (opens in new tab). If you can help us to track down some of the missing earlier issues, we would love to hear from you, please.

“On the Street where you live” – Bury Free Press feature from 1988

We are grateful to Pam Pitts, a friend at the Cathedral, for this cutting from the Bury Free Press from Friday, 13th May, 1988 – an interesting brief history of the Vinefields area, and how it all changed in the 1960s when major housing developments took place.

Click on the picture for more detail (opens in a new window – you can then zoom in).

Click here or on the picture above to view the films.

We are grateful to Paul Lilly for these cine films taken in 1961-63. The first gives a snapshot of school life at the time, including the boarders preparing to leave for the obligatory Sunday morning service at the Cathedral, Sports Day and a demonstration of the “rope trick” – a method of reaching the dormitory/study block without being observed by the Headmaster, the Housemaster or the Prefects on duty! The second was taken during a school holiday to Austria in 1961.

‘Bob’ Elliott’s Photograph Album

Click here to see Clifford King’s article from “The Old Burian”, 2018

“When we are Married”

School Dramatic Society production (1968)
Click here to view the photo album (opens in new tab)

“The History of King Henry IV – Part One”

School Dramatic Society production (1967)
Click here to view the photo album (opens in new tab)

“The Merchant of Venice”

School Dramatic Society production (1966)
Click here to view the photo album (opens in new tab)

“Amahl and the Night Visitors”

School Dramatic Society production (1968)
Click here to view the photo album (opens in new tab)

“Murder in the Cathedral”

School Dramatic Society production (1968)
Click here to view the photo album (opens in new tab)

The end of 400 years of Boarding

Address given by the Headmaster, Mr R W Elliott on the occasion of the final attendance of the boarders
at the Sunday morning Service at the Cathedral (July 6th, 1969).
Click here to read (opens in new tab)

Reproduced in the final issue of “The Burian” magazine, October 1969, Mr Elliott’s talk includes some fascinating facts and anecdotes relating to the history of the School. This marked the end of the 400-year-old tradition of boarders attending the Cathedral service (inevitably – it was the end of the boarding house).

“Why you should have a Labrador” by Charles Garland Hamel-Cooke

(click the picture)

Miscellaneous

We are currently preparing much more material for the Gallery section, and the aim is to organise it into separate categories (Form Photographs, Dramatic Society, Sports, “Burian” Magazines, etc.) which will be appearing over the next few months. The items below have been here for some time but we hope they may still be of interest until we can offer a wider selection.

King Edward VI Dramatic Society Productions

A selection of photographs from productions directed by Don Tapster during his two periods as Head of Art, 1955-1958 and 1963-1969 (see above for photo albums of selected individual productions).