Launch of "Grey Friars - the Seven Lives of a Special Site"
Liz White I was so pleased to attend the launch of this second edition of the book on Grey Friars, that Joan Gurney has written with Alan Skinner, who was the principal of the Adult College there, for many years. (Left - Joan and Alan, at the launch, in July) It is a fascinating book and has enlarged upon their first very interesting one. Copies can be purchased for £19.95, from Grey Friars reception, or online, via greyfriarscolchester.co.uk, clicking on "History". I also won one of the raffle prizes in aid of Colchester HomeStart - lunch, or dinner for two, at Grey Friars!
Below is a slightly edited transcript of Alan's speech at this event. It covers a lot of Grey Friars' history!
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Alan Skinner
In thinking of the many "spaces" within this complex of hisroic buildings, a well-known saying comes to mind: "If walls had ears, what stories could they tell?"
This range of buildings has had a population of many thousands, over its 100 years of hosting educational opportunities - and, of course, the whole site had a significance prior to that, all the way back to its enclosure by the town wall, after Boudicca's army destrpyed Roman Colchester, for the original Grey Friars was the whole rectangular plot of over 10 acres, within the north-eastern corner of the town wall, now encompassing Castle and Roman Roads.
One particular set of walls which would hold some interesting tales is the small space accessed by the door behind the bar... It was the confessional booth, for the Ladies of Nazareth, who established their convent and school here, in 1904, by joining together and occupying the three Georgian houses: Hillcrest, Grey Friars, and All Saints House. In there, the nuns could confess their sins.
I first knew of Colchester in the 1950s and 1960s, as a tourist from my home in war-damaged east London. I first knew Grey Friars, itself, when coming here for meetings, but my direct connection started in earnest when I was the principal of the adult college, fro Local government changes eventually shifted all the power over education to County Hall, Chelmsford.m 1983 to 2005 - a 22-year tenure, and I didn't part with it voluntarily! The County Council had to make my post redundant, to get me out of here - but that'a another story!
It is sad that in closing down our college, the County Council was cancelling something homegrown in Colchester - for the award-winning adult community college dates back to when Grey Friars was made the headquarters of the Senior Evening Institute, by the Colchester Borough Council Education Committee, in the 1960s. Obtaining Grey Friars meant that what were once evening classes in schools became an all-day, plus weekends opportunity for people to learn, opening up facilities to everybody, 18-80+.
One thing I've always been aware of is the fact that the words "Grey Friars" mean much more than just a place name, or a location - they conjure up connections between people, going back centuries: not the least being the elderly gentleman who turned up at reception, in the early 2000s, saying, "Can I look around, please: my grandfather lived here, in the early 1900s?" He turned out to be the grandson of Dr Edward Liveing Fenn, who sold the house to the Ladies of Nazareth, to form their convent school. I've used a lot of material from his family archive, in the first section of our book.
When the County Council closed down our college, no one felt it more deeply than Joan and I. My direct connection was a mere 22 years; Joan's went back to her childhood, for she first came here as a pupil in the prep department, in 1938. She eventually taught in local secondary schools, and returned to Grey Friars first as a student, then a part-time deputy principal, eventually serving as one of our most prominent senior tutors, in a number of lynchpin roles, notably heading the Health and Fitness department, which, incidentally, won national awards for the excellence of its swimming teaching programme - even though the only water in Grey Friars was in the Convent's holy water psicina, in Hillcrest, the college loos, and the canteen sink!
In an attempt to cope with our loss, she, I, and other former staff, governors and students formed a charity, which we optimistically called Learning Never Stops, to continue to encourage and support lifelong learning in the town. We were soon to lose not only Grey Friars, but also the Learning Shop, which we had set up in partnership with the Institute, University, Sixth Form College, Borough Council Economic Development Department and others, next to Jacks (Remember Jack's famous stores in St Nicholas Street, just off the High Street?
Right) As a result, there would be no accessible town-centre presence for information about lifelong learning.
We tried to compensate by setting up an interactive website, listing all types of learning post-school, running Festivals of Lifelong Learning at the Moot Hall, and Firstsite; taking stalls at events like Castle Park festivals, and the Tendring Show... and, of course, we published a number of books. When the County Council put Grey Friars on the market, in 2007, our charity applied for permission to open up these empty and abandoned buildings to the public, during the National Heritage Days festival. Little did we realise what that would grow into! After a protracted, and sometimes difficult negotiation, County Hall eventually agreed - provided we paid for the caretaker's overtime, and took out our own public liability insurance!
We were overwhelmed with interest. We set up an exhibition on the site's history, and rook guided tours around vert forlorn-looking abandoned buildings. It took ages to get each group around, with anecdotes from many participants recalling their schooldays here, and lots of questions about the various stages of development of the buildings (which the hotel staff still experience). They stood in groups around the exhibition boards, reminiscing about their various connections, and constantly saying things like, "Well, I didn't know that!" People repeatedly said we should record and publish the information.
This led to the original edition of this book, plus a website, which still exists, and is updated, regularly. Our book, and the website, are not the only examples of people writing, or talking about Grey Friars. The website's most recent upload is a documentary showcasing what Grey Friars meant to local people, made for us in millenium year, by the Signals digital workshop - another local educational charity. Their personal stories are very revealing. The magazine of the CCHS Alumnae has many articles on members' time in these buildings.
Academically, the late John Ashdown-Hill (left), famous for research on Richard lll's discovery in another Grey Friars, in Leicester, has a section on this Grey Friars, in his fascinating book on medieval Colchester. John was warmly supportive of our project, and very kindly read through, and advised me, before the first edition of this book was published. Grey Friars appears in an historical novel about the Siege of Colchester, during the Civil War, written by a former Grey Friars tutor, Clare Hawkins.
Ofsted have invariably written about Grey Friars, highlighting their observations of the community within these walls, as well as Grey Friars' presence in the wider community, heaping praise on the interaction between college staff and students, and marvelling at the loyalty and commitment of all participants.
Baroness Helena Kennedy (Right: official portrait, House of Lords), an eminent barrister, author, and broadcaster, wrote a hard-hitting government report on the state of post-school education, in the 1990s, which, in its analysis, famously paraphrased the old saying, "If at first you don't succeed", to finish, "you far too often don't succeed". She was the inspiration for our setting up the Learning Shop co-operative, in millenium year. She wrote, "Grey Friars is a special place. It should be on the grand tour of every new education minister. Grey Friars is
the exemplar. It should be celebrated, strengthened and emulated, around the country". That was in 2004: most ironic, as our demise commenced a year later!
Another comment made throughout the event in 2007 was, "I hope it won't be turned into flats!" and this is where the present owners of Grey Friars came into the picture, and Colchester is so lucky to have OMCI (OMC Investments Ltd) as part of our community. They are no ordinary development and investment company. They specialise in historic buildings, and also have a philanthropic purpose, through a long-standing foundation which, among other things, runs a training college for disadvantaged young people, teaching traditional crafts. Their students have contributed to some of the refurbishment work, here. Not only did OMCI save the architectural heritage of these buildings, but they have also been significant in supporting aspects of community life in Colchester, starting with their wholehearted support for our charity's activities.
The book which followed the original Heritage Open Day exhibition was very well received, and eventually sold out, and the hotel management asked for permission to reprint - which gave me the opportunity to add further to the work Joan and I had done, by including material sent to us by others joining the co-operative social history project. Grey Friars have funded the whole process, and will continue to care for the archive, making it available every September, during the national Heritage Open Days festival.
This is all very satisfying, as this is the only remaining project from our charity, which sadly ran out of resources, and closed, 5 years ago.
The annual Heritage Open Days exhibitions and tours attract a wide age range. At last year's, we hosted three generations of one family, all of whom had their own distinct connections with these buildings. This hotel attracts people to Colchester, from all over Britain, and, indeed, the world - as did our Summer Schools. Can you imagine the turmoil in the college office, before the days of internet banking, when they had to cope with bookings from Europe, and even Japan, and South Africa!
Summer Schools were taught by leading exponents of the arts, crafts, literature, foreign languages, and many other subjects - including Colchester's rich local history, with eminent local historians as the tutors. So that part of our curriculum lives on through this book, and the annual Heritage Open Days exhibitions and tours, supported by the hotel - and long may it do so. Grey Friars is, of course, a wonderful example of architectural excellence, but equally important is its relevance to the people of Colchester, through their experiences, as a result of being in and around these buildings, and I end with grateful thanks to the directors and staff of the Grey Friars Horel, and OMCI.