Buried Treasure at Prior Park College

18 May 2017

Maintenance teams at Prior Park College uncovered an array of historic and nostalgic items whilst taking up some floorboards in the boys’ boarding house last week. An area of St Paul’s boarding house is being developed to reintroduce Junior boarding (age 11-13) to the College this September, currently boarding starts at age 13+. Amongst the items discovered are empty cigarette packets (smoking used to be permitted if a student had a letter from their parent), tins of ale and grapefruit, Pepsodent toothpaste packaging, match boxes and even a risqué for the time cover of the 1937 Film Fun magazine, complete with an advertisement for the ‘latest’ Greta Garbo film on the reverse.

Two items of particular interest are a newspaper from 6 May 1945 announcing the imminent German surrender and a letter written from a mother to her son the day after the shooting of President John F Kennedy. Carole Laverick, head of Prior Park alumni, tracked down the recipient of the letter who is now 66 and living in London. “It was an emotional phone call. Richard wept when I read the letter aloud as his mother is no longer with us. He remembered the occasion with great clarity – the shock felt at the President’s sudden death and the prayers said by staff and students in the College Chapel.”

The items are now on display in Mansion House and prospective families will be able to see them at Prior Park’s Boarding Open Morning on Saturday 6 May, 9:30-11:00am.