Giles Marshall has kindly provided us with a few words on the school’s new archive space. 

We finally have a small but dedicated Archive Room, thanks to the generosity of Old Sutts in our recent Big Give campaign.  It is oddly situated, being the old changing room of the gym and swimming pool, and has been marvellously transformed thanks to the renovation genius of premises colleague Paul Doherty, but at last we have a dedicated space where interested members of the SGS community can browse through some of the public archive material.  This includes all of the Suttonians, a range of school photos, headwear, ties, a mass of unconsidered paper trifles, register books, staff rolls, unsorted file boxes of Governors' meetings and PTA meetings.  It is a treasure trove of school history, currently being filleted by two Year 11 students for inclusion into the next Suttonian Archive Section (arguably the modern magazine's finest feature). 

The core of the archive was originally brought together by former headmaster A.P.W.Collins for ease of research for the school's Centenary year, and a centenary sketch portrait of him adorns one of the walls.  Also on the wall is the historic photo of the school's swimming pool opening; a reminder of what was in that now-tarmacked space just beyond the archive door, the venue for years of lively swimming galas and life-saving lessons.  The space is still there, still unused, in case any wealthy benefactor fancied supporting the next swimming pool fund? 

Meanwhile the Archive Room will be gradually sorted, organised, used and even added to, with every expectation that the student role of Assistant Archivist will become more coveted than that of a mere Head Student (but we'll keep a note of them for posterity anyway).