On Wednesday 12 March, we celebrated School Archives Day by opening up the archive and inviting staff from the school to come and take a look. The Development Office was transformed into a mini museum, displaying photographs, publications, examples of recent donations and items from the school's past.

The Churcher's College archive began officially in 2005 when former Deputy Head Gill Clarke dedicated her time and knowledge of the school into collating and cataloguing various sources of material documenting events from over 250 years. At that time Gill also co-authored 'The History of Churcher's College' alongside the late Donald Brooks (Headmaster from 1973-1985). From its inception the archive has existed to gather, catalogue, communicate and preserve the history of our school. As there was no formal archive in place prior to 2005, only a few packages and envelopes that had been in the Heath Harrison House cellar, many school records had unfortunately disappeared however a thorough account of the school’s history still remains.

The archive is housed next to the Development Office in the Coach House, opposite Ramshill. Although modest in size, the archive provides a wonderful and colourful history of the school and is a hugely valuable resource. Over the next few years we hope to make the archive much more accessible and engaging for alumni, pupils and staff. 

As well as preserving archival records for posterity, the archive helps us to engage with Old Churcherians, sparking nostalgia and strengthening connections with the school. We host visits from OCs, or their families, and respond to a number of different enquiries. We accept donations to the archive, and have recently acquired some interesting items including a painting by former Headmaster, A.H.G. Hoggarth, and a boater from the 1940s all of which are held in perpetuity in the school's archive. Items from the archive are frequently showcased at alumni reunion events and for special projects, for example the 300th anniversary. More recently, the school celebrated '100 years of rugby' when rugby related photographs and memorabilia were displayed dating back to 1924! OCs were delighted to see themselves and their classmates in photos of the rugby team spanning the years.

As well as being custodians of the physical archive, the Development Office also manages the digital archive which can be accessed through Churcher's Community. Here, visitors can read all copies of the Churcherian dating back to 1913 and access many photos and intersting stories from Churcher's past. We also produce regular 'Throwback Thursday' posts on the alumni Facebook and Twitter accounts - a job made easier by delving into the archive and finding a relevant photo or article to post relating to a current significant event or date in the national calendar. In recent years we have welcomed the help of volunteers to the archive. Katie Cushen, a parent, and OC Ted Herrington (65) with his wife Jackie have all been involved in archival work, for which we are very grateful.

On Wednesday 19 March Catherine Massie, who oversees the school's archive visited the School's History Club. The club of appoximately 10 students meet regularly and is led by History teacher Chris Akurst. It was the first time the archives had been presented to the History Club and gave the students a wonderful opportunity to hear about the work of the school's archive. Artefacts including a school shoe from the 1800s and a Pewter Platter from 1690 made by Adam Churcher of Petersfield (Richard Churcher's brother) were shown to the students of the club.

We have lots of ideas and plans to develop the archive over the coming years, which we hope will bring the archive to life and ensure it continues to be useful resource for future generations to come.