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Although the grounds of Epsom College are indeed beautiful,as alumni that is not what draws us back to our old school.It is the people; teachers, tutors, former classmates, coaches...Meeting old and new friends with a shared educationalexperience often gives us tremendous insight into just howfar we have travelled since our school days.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this WilsonReunion. It is a celebration of theHouse, many generations ofWilsonians and the extraordinarycontinuity of Housemasters,Housemistresses and tutors. I amespecially pleased to welcomeour most senior Wilsonian, DrGeoffrey Grogono who arrivedat the College in 1936, as thethird generation on his mother’sside and second on his father’s to come to the College.

I hope you enjoy this book,which is a brief history of Wilson,largely from the perspective ofprevious Housemasters and Housemistresses. It may serve asa reminder of how important your educational opportunitieshave been and the importance of preserving them for future generations.

To commemorate this special occasion, the Trust hascommissioned a painting by Andrew Roberts (W 1987-92) of the interior of Wilson, which will hang permanently inWilson. Please consider purchasing a limited edition print ofthe painting. All proceeds will go directly to the GeneralBursary Fund. I hope you enjoy the day.

A NOTEF RO M T H E H E A D M A S T E R

MR STEPHEN BORTHWICK

Andrew Roberts

“Possibilities”

British students of anatomy. Wilson’s practical skills and brilliant anatomical drawings (his motherhad been a successful amateur artist) enabled himto become a member of the Royal College ofSurgeons on his twenty-second birthday, aremarkable achievement.

He was head-hunted by Jones Quain, one ofthe most famous anatomists of the day, to becomehis chief assistant at University College, where hehad charge of nearly four hundred students by1835. In those days anaesthetics were unknown(Liston’s first use of chloroform was not until1846); Wilson’s “steady hand and calm nerve”

were certainly valued. His careerflourished and he took on anincredible work-load; lecturer inanatomy and physiology at theMiddlesex Hospital, consultant at the Marylebone Infirmary,extensive research for andpublication of articles in the newfield of dermatology, as well asbeing sub-editor of The Lancet.

Despite modern teenageobsessions with hygiene,generations of Wilsonians, boysand girls, are probably unawarethat Erasmus Wilson’s most

successful publication (1845) was: “Healthy Skin:A popular treatise on the Skin and Hair, theirpreservation and management.” Seven editionswere published by 1866 and it helped to promotethe building of many Municipal Baths and topopularise sea-bathing.

An extensive private practice and shrewdinvestments, particularly in new gas and railwaycompanies, brought Wilson considerable wealth.Always generous in treating the poor free ofcharge, he became a major philanthropist: he paid for the restoration of the 10th centurychurch in Swanscombe, Kent, where he was to be buried in 1884, endowed a hospital in Margatefor the treatment of skin diseases, and set up

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Houses in many schools are namedafter benefactors, national heroesor role models; Sir Erasmus Wilsonwas all three. Although he was born in 1809, thesame year as Charles Darwin, he is relativelyunknown; it is time to set the record straight.

Erasmus Wilson acquired his unusual first namefrom a Norwegian grandfather and showedprecocious scholarship, briefly at Dartford GrammarSchool and then with a series of private tutors.Determined to follow his father, a naval surgeon,into medicine, he was still only sixteen when hetook up residence in a small London school ofanatomy (few hospital schools of medicine existedthen). He also studied in Paris, where more liberallaws allowed a cheap and plentiful supply ofcadavers for dissection; the notorious activities ofBurke and Hare highlighted the difficulties faced by

Sir Erasmus Wilson

B I O G R A P H Y O F SIR ERASMUS WILSON

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professional chairs in London and AberdeenUniversities. He also gave generously to The Royal Medical Benevolent College, as EpsomCollege was then known, laying the foundationstone for Wilson House on 11th October 1872.Completed at a cost of £5,058 it was where allour Headmasters lived until the 1960s, and earlyWilsonians were charged higher fees in recognitionof the special care they (allegedly) received. Asimilar sum was left to Epsom College in his will,and a massive £209,617 to the Royal College ofSurgeons, by reversion after his wife’s death; theyhad no children.

Erasmus Wilson also achieved fame inother ways. Firstly, he showed great moral courage in risking his career at a sensational inquest into the death of a soldier after a brutal flogging. Whenthe army doctors closed ranks, arguingthat death had resulted from illnesscontracted prior to the 150 lasheswith the cat-o’-nine tails,Wilsonemphatically disagreed, standingalone against the establishment.He convinced the jury, which

recorded a verdict that“by means of the said

flogging …the deathwas caused”. Widely

publicised, this trial ended the punishment offlogging in the British army.

Secondly,Wilson became an enthusiasticEgyptologist after travelling to the OttomanEmpire to research the therapeutic benefits forskin diseases of Turkish baths. He campaigned forthe shipping to London of an ancient obelisk, apair to the one in the Place de la Concorde. In1877, a unique casket was designed, in which thiswould be towed from Alexandria, but the cablesnapped and six of the crew were drowned.Wilson refused to accept that the obelisk was lostand paid £10,000 from his own pocket for it tobe retrieved.That was how Cleopatra’s Needlecame to the north bank of the Thames.

Now better known to the general public,Wilson was showered with honours in his lastyears, becoming President of the Royal College of Surgeons and of the Royal Medical Society of London. He was knighted in 1881 for his“munificent gifts for the support of hospitals andthe encouragement of medical study”. So muchfor worldly honours: the Wilson House motto, hisown, suggests that Erasmus Wilson, like othergreat Victorian Christian philanthropists, had thingswell in perspective. “Expecta Cuncta Superna”may be loosely translated as: “Look to all that iscoming from above”. BY ROGER LANE

M I C K WA L K E R H O U S E M A S T E R TO 1 9 4 9

DARRELL WILKINSON 1933-1937

My Housemaster, J P Walker, knew Dom BernardClements, a wonderful monk from BurnhamAbbey, I think as it was then. He came from timeto time to give profound and stimulating sermonsat Evensong and would come back later to ‘Mickey’Walker’s room at Wilson, where he overflowed

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into a chair, monks robes around him. Some of us would be invited to ‘sit at his feet’ while eatingsome of Mickey’s hoard of Cox’s. A delightful few minutes.

At other times a few of us might be invited toMickey’s room just to listen to music from his

gramophone with its huge hornlike speaker and fibre needleswhich he would particularlysharpen to give the best sound.It was there that I first heard

some great music such as the second pair ofBach’s B Minor Mass and was overwhelmed by it.An introduction to so much more.

I B MACKINTOSH 1938-1944

I started at Epsom College as a boarder inSeptember 1938 aged 12 and was there for sixyears. My Aunt Cathy reminded me in later yearsthat she came with Mum to bring me to theschool where they met Mr ‘Conny’ Berridge theHousemaster of Hart-Smith. She told me that Ithen said “you can go now” showing I was not toooverwhelmed by being away from home for thefirst time. I was a Foundationer for whom uniformwas provided free by the school. However, Mumhad her pride and had provided me with one suitof uniform to start school with, although I wasvery soon taken to the ‘Wardrobe’ where a ladymeasured me up and found me the right sizeclothes from her large store, some of which wassecond hand from others who had outgrown auniform not yet worn out.We had one ‘best’ suitfor Sundays and another for every day. We had astriped blazer, rugby and cricket kit.

School uniform at Epsom consisted of a greyflannel suit, black lace-up shoes, a white shirt witha separate stiff starched linen collar and black tie.House Prefects were allowed a striped tie withhouse colours, school prefects one with the schoolcolours and there was a tie for boys awarded 1st

XV rugger or 1st XI cricket colours. Below theSixth Form the stiff collars were of the roundedstyle at the front, secured by a front and back stud– sixth formers could wear pointed collars. It washard for a new boy to do up his tie properly, andif your front stud showed you were told you hada ‘new boy’s privilege’. We had a clean shirt twicea week and socks and underwear appropriatelybut a clean collar three or four times a week. Allclothing was marked with one’s school numberand also with Cash’s Names, and clean linen waslaid out on our beds by one of the ‘skivvies’. Someboys would communicate with them throughnotes under their pillow. When a prefect, Iremember a note being found left by a boy calledSwindell – I remember him only for that. We usedlast names between ourselves – I was never calledIan, often Mac, but some boys had nicknames.

I do not remember having a cap, because wenormally never went out of the grounds exceptfor a cross country run as all the sports fieldswere in the College. Perhaps at certain times inthe afternoon when you were not on compulsorysports I do remember going to the shops in FirTree Road. I had a trunk which went ‘luggage inadvance’ by rail for the holidays three times a year.But I don’t remember having a tuck-box, whichwas a small wooden box 1’9” x 1’2” x 1’0” forbooks and hobby items, but not tuck as such.Mine may have gone in my trunk. Some boysbrought some tinned food which they could cook for themselves on a gas ring on afternoons

Wilson House 1920s

M Walker 1937M Walker 1937

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when ‘brewing’ was allowed – I never brewed.The first autumn, 1938, we helped to dig

trenches for air-raid shelters because war wasexpected with Nazi Germany.That threat soonabated and war was not to come until thefollowing August, 1939.Those shelters were never used though we did get air raids.Wecarried gas masks everywhere for the first fewweeks of war and then that stopped. I was nowout of Hart-Smith into Wilson House under ‘Mick’ Walker who was to become a great friend.Mick was a Latin and Greek master and he tookme for Greek and I did Ovid with him. It was inhis classroom that I had carved my initials IBM on about nine desks for which I was caned byFinnegan the head prefect of the house.

At the beginning of the war the dormitories ofWilson House were relocated in the basement,very crowded together, and extra timber propswere installed to support the floor above.Thismay have lasted 18 months or so before wemoved, but not upstairs again. Forest House wasthen closed for the rest of the war and so Wilsonmoved into the Forest dayroom with its ‘ptoyces’

and their dormitories above the Forest diningroom.We remained there until I left.

Wilson was attached to the Headmaster’shouse.The new Headmaster H W Franklin had ayoung daughter, whom I woke up one eveningwhen singing in the bath and Mick had a complaintthe following day; I was only rebuked for it. Wehad a hot bath in the evening twice a week, but aquick cold bath every morning in the summer.After games we had only a splash at a row ofwash basins, there were no showers.There wasfagging which included making toast for prefectsand last-minute waking up of senior boys in themorning. Each house prefect had a fag to runerrands for him.

During my first year the Epsom Derby was avery exciting time.Thousands of coaches, motorand horse, converged on the roads outside, visiblefrom where we changed classrooms for lessons.I remember small aeroplanes drawing adverts forBile Beans in the sky. A school roll-call was heldoutside the chapel every two hours to preventany boy slipping out to the races.That was the last Derby run at Epsom until after the War.

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It was sixty years ago that I took over Wilson, andnearly thirty years since I left Epsom for nominalretirement in Dorset. Readers are therefore asked

Wilson Athletics team 1938 withT Finnegan back row centre

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to excuse both a failing memoryand the use of such expressionsas ‘take over’.That was how I sawit after seven years in the army,though the reality was perhaps

not quite as simple. Happily, I have been able tokeep in contact with the College and also withthe House up to the present day. Mark Salusburyand Roger Lane were colleagues while I was stillat Epsom, and it has been good to get to knowRob Worrall, Debbie Parsons and Kirsty Adams.This has helped to keep some of the memoriesalive, as have some most enjoyable occasions fromtime to time in the company of Wilsonians of the50s and 60s.

I am thus aware of the major developments thathave taken place in Wilson since my appointment inJanuary 1949. A flavour of life in the House as it stillwas in my early years is given in the recollectionsof two Old Wilsonians in this booklet. Neitherrefers, however, to the lack of privacy, whichapplied in all areas of life for every member of theHouse, all day and every day in term time apartfrom three Sunday exeats. It was accepted then,along with the cold dormitories, primitive ablutionsand terrifying fire practices down the Daveyescape, but it was the issue to which all subsequentimprovements were principally directed.

There was one exception. Just inside the frontdoor was the study of the Head of Wilson. Itspossession was a unique privilege, and much envied– not least because of its gas fire. In ‘free’ hours itoften became a common room for the HousePrefects and selected friends from other Houses,but at other times he alone had some privacy.

For others there were no studies. HousePrefects made do with curtained alcoves in thecorners of the two dayrooms; all others, from theUpper Sixth downwards, had one locker (no lock)for books and personal possessions. During prepthey worked six to a table, where also they couldread or write at other times.The Senior DayRoom on the ground floor had window benches,for which in due course the luxury of paddedseats were provided.

Everyone slept in one of five dormitories, morethan in most other Houses at the time.The largestwas the junior dormitory of twelve, on the firstfloor. Each was in the charge of a prefect, exceptfor the smallest occupied by the four seniormembers of the Upper School. Ablutions werehand basins on a bench down the middle of theroom; hot water was carried from a large sink on the landing, or from the bathroom. A rotaallowed one bath per week just before bedtime,supplementing the showers in the Box Room.

R Goddard R Goddard

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With beds as close together as regulationsallowed, the maximum strength of the House atthis time was 42.Wilson was thus the smallest of the boarding houses, by some 6 to 10 boys –sometimes a challenge for the selectors of houseteams in the major sports.This limitation onnumbers resulted from Wilson’s original foundationas the Headmaster’s House. Although J W Wilsonwas appointed as Housemaster just before the firstWorld War, successive Headmasters continued tolive in the southern half of the building until 1962.

In August 1949, two terms after my arrival inWilson, Jill and I were married. Before the war, anyhousemaster of a boarding house who wished tomarry was obliged to give up his house. (The firstexception to this was Maxwell Phair – appointedto Fayrer in 1940 but away on war service from1941 to 1945 – who married Venetia shortly afterhis return.) The principle had been accepted bythe Council but at the time no house had suitableaccommodation or could be adapted. So ‘No.7’,the College dwelling in Longdown Lane beyondthe old Armoury, became the family home. MyHouse Tutor, Bob Fallows, occupied my formerstudy and bedroom, and for the next fourteenyears I commuted during term time between myhome and a study in the House.

Hugh (R 65-70), Alison and Graham (P 72-77)were born in No.7. After some years, when themild disturbances of their early childhood were inthe past, we found enough space to take ‘lodgers’in a spare bedroom.The Bursar provided a

washbasin and college beds for three selectedmembers of the Lower Sixth, who arrived whenprep was over and left in time for ‘first roll’.Thismay or may not have been accounted a privilege,but it increased the strength of the House to 45.

In 1962 came the first big change. HenryFranklin, Headmaster for 23 years, retired, andDuncan McCallum became the first occupant ofthe present Headmaster’s House.Wilson acquireda Library, formerly the Headmaster’s ‘house study’,and conversion of the second floor bedroomsinto three further dormitories began. During theschool holidays of 1962-63 studies were built inthe rooms on the first floor (I planned the originallayout of these on graph paper) and hand basinswith running water were installed in all dormitories.During the same year extensive alterations weremade on the ‘private side’ in preparation for aresident married Housemaster.

In September 1963,Wilson House tookpossession of its new quarters. The much enlarged changing room and showers were nowin the basement, and the old Box Room hadbecome a games room.The Library had morecomfortable chairs and a quieter environment,and all members of the Sixth Form had at least ashare in a study.These were cramped by presentday standards, and everyone was still in dormitoryaccommodation, but the improvements werenevertheless substantial.

At the same time my wife and I and our three

R Goddard and A ParkerR Goddard and A Parker

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children moved into our quarters at the far end,to enjoy the spaciousness of the Victorian housedesigned for earlier Headmasters.Whether ourmove was everywhere counted among theimprovements I cannot say, but it undoubtedlymade the running of the House much easier andpleasanter for me – despite my becoming moreaccessible for the occasional emergency duringthe night.

Many of you will have read in the OE Magazine for 2007 Jonathan Maitland’sentertaining recollections of Wilson in the 70s,where he described his House as a “grey, loveless,macho boot camp”, with images of “deeply sinistershowers” comparable to a morgue, toilets inferiorto “khazis in a Victorian prison”, and “a suburbanGuantanamo Bay” regime. All tongue in cheek,naturally, but one wonders what furtherexpressions he might have found had he been a Wilsonian in the 50s.

So back to 1963. Following the expansion ofthe boarding accommodation, the capacity of theHouse rose to 56, a figure which was achievedgradually over the next two years. Any effect on achievements in the major sports was notimmediate, but signs appeared, such as the verysuccessful junior rugger and cricket sides of themid 60s. In every year, Wilson had distinguishedindividual athletes, cricketers and rugger players.Minor sports always provided successessomewhere.

To mention just two: in both senses the House dominated the Fives courts below theWilson Steps until the courts fell into decay,and incidentally rifle shooting which producedtrophies in most years, and not a few members of the VIII. Academic success was taken forgranted, and Wilsonians of these years have gone on to distinguished and fulfilling careers inthe professions, the services, commerce andelsewhere; as of course have those of latergenerations and of both sexes who inherited thesame traditions in vastly different surroundings.

M Salusbury

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DOC YOUNG

My arrival at Epsom in 1969 to teach Biologycoincided with Mark Salusbury taking over asHousemaster of Wilson and a year later I becamehis House Tutor. After six years at University as anundergraduate and PhD student, I wondered whatI would find.This was the time when the anarchicfilm ‘If ’ had just been released; would the studentsbe rioting and shooting their housemaster andothers? I need not have worried. Whilst thephysical conditions were spartan to say the least,the atmosphere of the house was most civilisedand welcoming.

More recent Wilsonians would be surprised atthe difference in living conditions. My ‘flat’ – wellactually two rooms off a corridor – had no kitchenand the bathroom facilities were shared with theboys! On making gentle enquiries of the then

Bursar I was told in no uncertain manner that Ihad the pick of the tutor flats and that “he hadnever had a problem sharing bathrooms when hewas in Africa”!

The height of luxury for the junior dayroomwas the building of ‘ptoyces’ to give each boy alittle personal space. But then up to the chill ofthe unheated dormitories. On really cold days thebreath froze on the blankets. But the joy of beingable to slide all the way down the banisters fromtop to ground floor. Sadly this fun was ruinedwhen bolts were screwed into the rail at strategic intervals.

The glory of the house was the library – a fineroom liberally furnished with books and muchvalued. Perhaps this was a reflection of MarkSalusbury’s love of all things literary. I suspectsome members of the house could be puzzled byhis classical quotes and allusions, but none couldmiss his quiet concern for all and his desire thatthe talents of each member should be nurtured.Music and drama flourished and the Epsomianmagazines for the period record the success ofmany individuals in squash, gymnastics andathletics.The Oxbridge roll of honour over thisperiod is liberally sprinkled with Wilsonians.

L P Hartley wrote in ‘The Go-Between’ that“The past is a foreign country: they do thingsdifferently there”. Certainly looking back thirty-fiveyears, it is easy to see how very changed thephysical environment has become; but I am surethat the warm, friendly and generally very civilisedhouse society of the time will always flourish.

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Penelope (Penny to Wilsonians) and I moved intothe House with two young daughters in 1974; wesoon got used to enjoying the extra space – andthe quiet. All that was to change on the first dayof term!

We had wondered how sound-proof the formermaids’ quarters were, then still all dormitories; wesoon found out when the morning ‘fire’ bell rang –not very. And when the first boys returned frombreakfast (morning routine dictated that sheets andblue blankets, so uniform and institutional, werestripped back before and beds smartly remadeafterwards), it was like a herd of elephants aboveour bedroom.The lino on the floor didn’t help tokeep noise levels down either and there were nocurtains to alleviate the Tom Brown’s Schooldaysappearance of ‘the dorms’. Present pamperedgirls, snug in their colourful, personalised duvetswould surely mutiny at the thought of living insuch spartan conditions with no form of heatingprovided. One of Penny’s first tasks was to makecurtains in order to make this area warmer, inevery sense. Radiators took longer; water freezingin tooth mugs overnight was not unknown.

HM Owen Rowe

However, all schools were looking to improvefacilities in Boarding Houses and Epsom swiftlyrealised that parents now expected less austerity.

Parents were also aware of the academicbenefits that would come with study bedroomsand Wilson was ear-marked for up-grading in1978.The then HM, Owen Rowe, came to assessthe situation during afternoon school on the dayof our House dinner/soiree.To my embarrassment,we heard drunken burbling as we approachedone study. I opened the door quietly to find theoccupant with his back to us, wine bottle in hand. Oblivious of our presence, he raised a glass (thank heavens, it was empty!), sipped, spatand proclaimed: “Chateau (he named a seniorcolleague)…no, this hasn’t aged well…too bitter…an unpleasant after taste”.We retreated quicklybefore he pretended to sample Chateaux Rowe orRocky and found fault with them, while I persuadeda sceptical HM that this was a rehearsal for therevue. Later, Jonathan Maitland, now a TV presenter,then an enthusiastic performer, successfully

repeated his inventive sketch with witty characterassassination masquerading as fantasy wine-tasting.

Such evenings were always fun and gave achance for very varied talents to expressthemselves. Penny, who had initiated these biennialsoirees, also encouraged those with artistic talentto display their paintings in a ‘mini-Tate’ gallery downthe long corridor to the study passage.We aredelighted that Andrew Roberts, whose early workswere displayed there, has been commissioned topaint a picture of the House.We held play-readingson a semi-regular basis and they were surprisinglywell-attended even after the generosity of parentshad enabled the House to acquire a state-of-the artTV. We knew that some “were only there for thecakes”, but many were encouraged through theseevenings to audition for parts in school productions.Wilson combined with John Potter’s Granville forseveral outstanding House plays and we knew wehad much to live up to when we went solo with‘Oh What A Lovely War’. It was a fitting climaxwhen our final production of the challenging ‘TheStrong Are Lonely’ was extensively rewritten anddirected by a member of the Upper VI; I’m sure allthose who were involved in all these plays stillremember them vividly.

Others will have equally vivid memories,perhaps of sporting triumphs, although, as a smallHouse compared to Propert and Fayrer, theywere fewer than we would have liked. Many willremember John Odell’s excellent part-songs, oftento his own distinctive and original settings, or the

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John Odell

Roger and Penny Lane

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time when we bought our own printing press and began to turn out Christmas and invitationcards. As that petered out with the growingpopularity of computers and desk-top printing,the House became entrepreneurial in other waysby participating in the Young Enterprise Scheme,forming a new company each September and goinginto voluntary liquidation each June. Althoughvoluntary, this attracted 100% participation fromU4s and Lower VI and provided an invaluableintroduction to business methods; at various timesthe companies organised Barn Dances, DancingClasses and Self-Defence Lessons, as well as sellingtuck from the Day Room windows every Saturdaybreak once the College Shop stopped providingthis service. Share-holders doubled their moneyyear by year and, with the profits cut up into thirdshares (charity, House Funds and a share-out toparticipants) there were no scandals of excessivebonuses going to fat-cats.

For fifteen years Wilson House was very centralto our lives and to those of Helen and Catherine.They are both married to teachers and we havefour grand-children. I look forward to re-meetingmany Wilsonians of vintage 1974-90 and, of course,to meeting others older or younger even if yourpriorities on this unique and brilliantly organisedoccasion will be in renewing friendships formed inour shared House. Penny sends her apologies –sadly, she had agreed to run a Barn Dance to raisefunds for our village church roof on this very dayand couldn’t change it. We would love to hear yournews, so please write to:The Stable Cottage, StaffordCourt,West Stafford, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 8AA.Sorry, we technophobes would prefer to restrict oure-mail address.

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Rather like the current period, 1989/90 saw thebeginning of a recession.Whilst various families

experienced difficulties, the House numberremained, throughout, at its maximum of 58 and there was ample evidence of Wilsoniansdeveloping, discovering and deploying a range ofskills that proved to be of benefit both to theHouse and to the College.The Honours Boards(which remain on display) were added to liberallyand the sense of purpose, nurtured for 15 yearsby Roger and Penelope (Penny) Lane, showed nosense of flagging. Erasmus Enterprises continued,plying its Tuck Shop trade through the Day Roomwindow on a Saturday morning and producingmugs to commemorate the Queen’s visit in theNovember of ’89. (My sitting room was elected asthe ‘pre-reception foregathering area’ for the ‘B List’guests, such as the Mayor and the local M.P. Thelatter disappeared to my study to phone DowningStreet, re-appearing some thirty minutes later totell me he had just had a tour of the House, shownaround by “a chap in a towel, who seemed quite

Wilson House 1994-95

Right: Queen’s visit.

Below: R Worrall

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unfazed” – the Head of House, who had justemerged from a shower in the Box Room!)

The Box Room: ‘spartan’ would have been anappropriate adjective in the late 1960s, let alonethe late 1980s! Thus began the first campaign tocontinue the process of modernisation. A processthat, towards the end of my time, produced theNew Wing set over and beyond the Games’Room.This enabled us to reduce both Dormitorydwelling and multiple room sharing.

Then came the bombshell! The decision toembrace co-education demanded that a suitablebuilding to house 13-18 year old girls was needed.Wilson was the obvious choice.We were to stoptaking M4 boys and, thus, to wind down over aperiod of four years. Inevitably, this was anunsettling moment. However, once the dust hadsettled, there were only two families who decidedto transfer to alternative Houses and “the WilsonSpirit” came to the fore. When it came to our last

year, the recruitment of several new Lower SixthFormers and of an Eastern European Scholar inthe Upper Sixth brought our year group numberto 16 and we moved into The Terrace, as ‘WilsonBoys’. It is a matter of considerable pride thatseveral trophies were won and that even betterthan anticipated A Level results were achieved,ensuring that all 16 secured University placeswithout difficulty.

Thus, one era of College history came to aclose, leaving behind it a rich legacy to helpDebbie Parsons pioneer the co-education that has become a firm cornerstone of the College’scurrent success.

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In September 1996,co-education at 13+ began when twelve girlswere admitted into TheTerrace House, next toWhite House, in rooms

which had been converted from bursarial staffaccommodation. Initial fears about whether the girls would be robust enough to cope in apredominantly male environment were, in somemeasure, quelled by a reassuring note fromAdmissions Staff which read, “This little girl is 5 ft 8!” Miss Dawson (as Doc Young called her)towered above the boys in her year and keptthem in order.

During the summer of 1997 a furtherexpansion of The Terrace took place and additionalrooms were incorporated to cater for growingnumbers. With thirty-four girls, a move intoWilson became imminent the following year.

I moved into Wilson House withmy husband David in August, 1998,a newly-wed, with four stepchildren(plus a cat called Duncan and a rabbit

Debbie ParsonsDebbie Parsons

Rob Worrall’s last boysRob Worrall’s last boys

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called Fudge). My colleagues said I was bravetaking on four step-children.To the contrary, myhusband was far braver taking on sixty-threethirteen-to-eighteen year old girls, fifty-seven ofwhom were under sixteen.

One of his first tasks was to install a new doorbell to my study with a light system: Green = enter;amber = she won’t be long; red = someone’s inthe study, come back later… anything to save hisfrequent trips to answer the doorbell.

The girls quickly discovered how helpful it was to have a man in the house for shoe repairs,emergency brace repairs, fixing fuses and evenextracting a butter knife that a girl had accidentallydropped down her plaster cast! David’s banoffeepies and birthday cakes became legendary at the18th birthday parties and House social events, asdid the cornflake packet game.

The importance of the girls setting the righttone in all areas of school life was emphasised.A school uniform was introduced for 13+ and 16+girls to bring them in line with the boys (gone were

the long skirts of White House days).The mantra“Smart not tart” became a well-worn phrase.

“Thought for the day” became a regular feature,as did the End of Year assemblies on “The goodfruit salad” and the girls enjoyed supporting thework of the School Charity, once raising moneyfor Task Brazil by cooking pancakes in theHousemistresses’s kitchen for anyone in the schoolto buy! Even visitors to the school were queueingto buy freshly made pancakes. It was before thedays of Health and Safety and Risk Assessments!

By September 1999, the day girls from Wilson moved to the Terrace under Miss EveJardine-Young and later established Raven House.The Terrace was renamed Crawfurd House andHelen Paulett was appointed as Housemistress.

The refurbishment and modernisation ofWilson continued.The day room was convertedinto a common room and the large dormitoriesinto smaller ones, with the creation of more singlestudies and a computer room.The infamous ‘boxroom’ was converted into an additional commonroom and showers were added to the first andsecond floors. A decking area was also made toensure that the House had a small ‘garden’ area.

Wilson girls built on the successes of Wilsonboys, adding three Heads of School to the HonoursBoards, trophies for the choral competition, all themajor sports and CCF, (including Sergeant Major)in addition to gaining several Oxbridge places and putting on a very memorable House play.However, the one trophy that continued to eludethe House was the chess trophy, in spite of TessaBrisbane and Lizzy Day’s attempts!

The popularity of “Harry Potter” did much to

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far, with recent full boarders arriving from the Far East, Russia and Zimbabwe.

Keen to socialise and display theirmany talents, the tradition of Wilson

Soirees was renewed in 2008 to a packedaudience of nearly 200. Sporting successremains strong, especially in Cross-Country and Netball and the girls alsodelight in house-based activities andcompetitions, utilising the library forevents such as Pumpkin-Carving, Quiz

Nights and Dinner Parties.However, whilst the House may have

undergone a makeover both in looks and usage of space, we remain keen to preserve manyfeatures of its historic past.The beautiful woodencarpentry remains in the library, the old bellremains heartily rung by each new M4, and theFirst World War memorial to former Wilsonians

hangs proudly on the first floor corridor.The colours and cries of voices may have

changed over the years, but the Houseremains proudly Wilson through

and through.

encourage boarding and the numbers of weeklyboarders reached an all time high. As I left Wilson,Epsom College was preparing to open its fifthgirls’ house and the number of House Tutors hadrisen from one to four.

I handed over the reins to Mrs Kirsty Adams,who, as Resident Tutor of Wilson, was admirably equipped to lead the next generation of Wilsonians.

K I R S T Y TO D HOUSEMISTRESS 2007 TO PRESENT

In my brief tenure so far, another ‘face-lift’ hasoccurred within Wilson.The old basement showerswere replaced by a 6th Form ‘Snug’, Mrs ‘K’ andher team moved to the old PC room (which inturn relocated to the old games room). Cries of“we want pink!” were met with the arrival of new duvets upstairs, whilst the beautiful red andblack tiled floor downstairs provided inspirationfor the redecoration of the Common Room andLibrary. Undoubtedly though, one of the mostpopular additions must be the new ‘PenthouseSuite’ bestowed to the Head of House.With en-suite shower (and bath!) coupled with abeautiful view of the Headmaster’s garden, it islovely to be able to reward those who work sohard in running the House. Ironically its firstoccupant was immediately promoted to Head ofSchool but in gracious Wilson spirit ‘surrendered’it to the new Head of House after only one term!

Wilson girls continue to come from near and

Kirsty Tod

Linda Keeley, Housekeeper

Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England No: 4009200.Registered Office at Epsom College. Registered as a Charity No: 312046

Epsom College Development Trust • College Road • Epsom • Surrey KT17 4JQTelephone: 01372 821042 • Email: development@epsomcollege.org.uk • www.epsomcollege.org.uk