Gilberd in the News - 1968-1979

Over the last few years we have shared a lot of material about the history of the Gilberd with visitors to this website. In additions to the many photographs you will find here, we have also published a great deal of surviving documentation. For example, you can view a collection of school magazines and bulletins by clicking on the highlighted links and the school logs can be found here. 

We are now making available press clippings about the school from the Gazette and Standard, which date back to 1968. We are able to do this because one of the reporters at the Gazette, who had previously worked with us on a story, allowed us to take photos of the clippings which were held in their archive. 

It is fair to say that the school features only occasionally in the local papers before 1979. That all changed when the future of the Gilberd became a politically charged issue.

You can explore all the content from 1968-1979 HERE, but we would like to cover a few highlights. 

One of the earliest stories in the archive, from January 1969, was about a 'playing field civil war'! It seems someone at County Hall 'dropped a major clanger' as the Technical College had been given permission to build an extension on their playing fields. (If you click on any of the press clippings below you will be able to read a higher quality version of the article.)

In November 1972, the Colchester Education Committee decided that the Gilberd would no longer be a selective school. It was the start of a long and bitter fight...

In 1977, the Gilberd made the case that it should be treated the same way as other selective schools and allowed to retain a sixth-form. At this point all of the selective schools in the town looked set to lose that status...

By May 1979, a campaign led by Roy Tolley was underway to try and stop the Gilberd from becoming a comprehensive...

In October 1979 the campaign to 'save' the Gilberd was looking to the Prime Minister for an intervention...

Parents seeking to retain the Gilberd's selective status took their fight to a critical meeting at County Hall in Chelmsford on the 23rd October 1979...

It was at this meeting that county councillors decided to adopt a 'bilateral' compromise for the Gilberd - you will note below that the newspaper even kept a record of the vote count supporting this proposal. This would see the school operate with two selective streams and six non-selective streams...

Unfortunately, this compromise pleased absolutely no-one!

As the year came to a close, opposition to the bilateral proposal for the school was building...

In our next article we move into the 1980s as the fight for the future of the Gilberd intensified...

If you have any photos or documentation connected to the school that you think would be of interest to others please don't hesitate to email eddiesphotos@icloud.com and we will endeavour to share them here. 

Eddie and I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our visitors a merry Christmas and a happy new year!