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A local history and genealogy site for Wimpole, a village and parish in South Cambridgeshire.
Curated by Steve Odell.

Home     Training College (Home)     Students (Session I)     Students (Session III)
Students 1948-1949 (Session II)
Alumni of Wimpole Park Training College
Emergency Teacher Training College, Wimpole Park, Cambridgeshire.
A local history and genealogy page for the Parish of Wimpole.
College Crest - Arms to the Gown Students and Cromwell Court, Session III, 1949-1950)
This page will list all known students who attended Wimpole Park Training College in Session II (from 3 July 1948 to 29 July 1949). The intake for the 13 months of Session II was approximately 250 (mixed) students.
The list will be compiled (slowly!) from Yearbooks, College Magazines, Programmes, Google searches and outside contributions. I do not pretend the list is complete.
My thanks to Rosalind Bolton (née Manning), daughter of WPTC Tutor F E Manning, for college information and some student names. (August 2020)
I would welcome all information on (and images of) alumni of Wimpole Park, as well as career highlights of those who studied there. Please send any additional contributions via the site Contact Page.
[Above: Wimpole Park Training College students, grouped in front of 'Cromwell' Court, Session III, 1949-1950. Image courtesy of Mrs Belton (nee Freer).]
The following table of known students has three columns:
Column 1 is alphabetical by surname. Forename(s) and nickname included where known.
Column 2 indicates Session attended (if known):
(I) 1947-1948, (II) 1948-1949, or (III) 1949-1950.
Column Three is any known additional information:
Information in [square brackets and italics] is known college connections such as [Cromwell Court], [President of Students' Union], [Choral Society], cast members or participants in WPTC theatrical productions ["Othello"], sports [Football Team] [Rugby Blue] for the year. This column could also have additional information, images, and submitted contributions on a student's subsequent educational career and/or significant life highlights.
70+ years on, there may be some confusion between enrolled students, members of staff [and their spouses and children who often lived on site and participated in activities] and even named pupils from Wimpole Park School, where the source material does not make the distinction clear. An example of this would be a named cast appearance (as a child) in a WPTC theatrical production's printed programme. To avoid future confusion, I have included such names as known (in greyed-out text) and identified their connection with WPTC if known. Please let me know if you spot any badly misplaced names.
In the first instance, please send any corrections via the site Contact Page.
Session II - Known WPTC Students (List In Development):
Tom Ashcroft (II) ["Merrie England"]
James Askew (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
M E Atkinson (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
J A Austin (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Barbara Bailey (II) ["Love and Learning"]
Cecily Bardle (II) ["Villa for Sale"]
    (left to right) Doris Whitehead, Margaret Jopling, Helen Boyd, Betty Barnes and Pam Ford, outside Cromwell Court. [Image courtesy of Doris Whitehead]
I Barrow (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Ralph E 'Eric' Barras (II) ["Swineherd"]["Saloon Bar"]
Irene Bennett) (II) ["Merrie England"]["Foolishness of God"]
J Bennett (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Alec Blackmore (II) ["Rope"]
Robert Bones (II) ["Othello"]["Androcles"]
Nora Bounds (II) ["Othello"]["Rope"]
Joann [Joan] Agnes Bowman (?) Born near Sevenoaks, Kent in 1922. After experiencing the bombing of London during World War II, Joann joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. She was attached to the Royal Signal Corps where she became an intercept officer, intercepting German radio messages during the operations at Bletchley Park. In later years she enjoyed giving talks about these experiences to schools and other groups.
    Joann Agnes Bowman (1922-2011)
    After the war she enrolled at Wimpole Park Training College, and graduated as a teacher in the then experimental English Secondary Modern School System.During a trip to the United States she met and later married Fernand Schlaeppi, who came from Switzerland. She thereafter lived in America. She died at High Point, North Carolina on the 30 June 2011.
Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (II) [Rugby Blue][Captain of Cricket Team]
    Edward Ricardo Braithwaite, author of 'To Sir, With Love'
    E. R. Braithwaite (1912-2016). A Guyanese-born British-American novelist, writer, teacher and diplomat best known for his stories of social conditions and racial discrimination against black people. During World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot. After Wimpole Park, he went on to attend Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, earning a master's degree and a doctorate in physics. He was the author of the 1959 autobiographical novel "To Sir, With Love", which was made into a 1967 British drama film of the same title, starring Sidney Poitier.
He became Guyana's permanent representative to the United Nations (1966) and the ambassador to Venezuela 1968).
He died in America at the age of 104.
(See also his Wikiwand Bio for an expanded life story)
May Brazier (II) ["Love and Learning"]
Louise Brown (II) ["Othello"]["Androcles"]
Marwood Eric Brown (?) Ex-57th Tank Training Regiment being demobbed in 1946 as a full sergeant. He trained as a teacher at Wimpole Park Training College, then specialised as a mathematics teacher at St Peter's College, Saltley, before taking up his first teaching post. This was at Nelson Street primary school in Birmingham. He then worked at Smethwick Hall Secondary school, Shirelands Secondary school, Pheasey School in Staffordshire and then at Barr Beacon Comprehensive School in Walsall. He initially served as Barr Beacon's head of lower school and then became deputy head. Mr Brown served on Birmingham City Council for nine years as a Labour councillor representing the wards of Ladywood, Nechells and Saltley for the Labour Party. He died in September 2007 at the age of 91.
Rose-Mary Bullen (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School Pupil.
Doris Burrows (II) ["Othello"]["Saloon Bar"]
Joan Burrows (II) ["Swineherd"]["Love and Learning"]["Saloon Bar"]
W G ['Butch?] Butler (II) ["Rope"]["Saloon Bar"]
P Chamberlain (II) ["Othello"]
Primrose Charter (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School Pupil?
John Clark (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
Freda Collins (II) ["Foolishness of God"] Author of?
Margaret Colly (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
Eileen Cook (II) ["Rope"]
Romain Coolus (II) ["Love and Learning"] Author of?
Queenie Cooper (II) ["Foolishness of God"]["Saloon Bar"]
Richard "Dick" Crack (II) ["Othello"]["Claudia"]["Saloon Bar"]
Margaret Dawson (II) ["Merrie England"]
Barbara Drake (II) ["Merrie England"]["Swineherd"]["Foolishness of God"]
Graham Edwards (II) ["Rope"]["Foolishness of God"]
Gladys Elsmore (II) ["Merrie England"]
'Jimmie' Epps (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
Joyce Exelby (II) ["Androcles"]
Phil Fisher (II) ["Rope"]
Marion Fletcher (II) ["Merrie England"]
Audrey Foster (II) ["Foolishness of God"]
Wilfred Franklin (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
W [Bill] Fribbens (II) ["Othello"]["Rope"]
Tony Geerts (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
S Gibbons (II) ["Othello"]
Victor G Gilbert (II) ["Merrie England"]["Love and Learning"]
Eric Gittins (II) ["Othello"]["Androcles"]
Pat Goodwin (II)
 ["Merrie England"]
Sacha Guitry (II) ["Villa for Sale"] Author of?
E H Hammelburger (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Don Harrison (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
R 'Ray' J Harvey (II) ["Merrie England"]["Saloon Bar"]
E Hately (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Cyril Headley (II) ["Rope"]
Leslie Heaster (II) ["Othello"]["Rope"]["Love and Learning"]
J 'Jim' Hemmings (II) ["Othello"]["Claudia"]
P Hodgson (II) ["Othello"]
Daisy Hughes (II) ["Othello"]["Saloon Bar"]
P Humpheys (II) ["Othello"]
M Hunt (II) ["Merrie England"]
Nell Hunt (II) ["Foolishness of God"]["Claudia"]
V 'Vic' Johnson (II) ["Othello"]["Saloon Bar"]
J Jolly (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
David A Jones (II) ["Merrie England"]["Saloon Bar"]
M Jones (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
    (left to right) Doris Whitehead, Margaret Jopling, Helen Boyd, Betty Barnes and Pam Ford, outside Cromwell Court. [Image courtesy of Doris Whitehead]
Donald King (II) ["Othello"]["Merrie England"]
D M Kippen (F) (II) [Hobson Court]["Merrie England"]
F E Latham (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Pat Longcraft (II) ["Othello"]["Saloon Bar"]
Vera MacIlvenny (II) ["Foolishness of God"]
L McHugh (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Mary Malzer (II) ["Androcles"]["Foolishness of God"]
Arthur Mansfield (M) (II) ["Othello"]["Merrie England"]["A Midsummers-Night's Dream"]
    Joan Marais (right), in front of Wimpole Hall. With Doreen Digby (left) and C Houghton (centre). [Image courtesy of Mrs Peers (nee 'Pixie' Taylor)]
Donald Maxwell (II) ["Androcles"]
C May (II) ["Othello"]
Betrram Millwood (II) ["Androcles"]
H Moll (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Steve Moore (II) ["Villa for Sale"]
Joyce Morrison (II) ["Rope"]["Merrie England"]["Foolishness of God"]["Claudia"]
Margaret Munro (II) ["Merrie England"]
E Neilson (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Vin Nolan (II) ["Androcles"]
Dennis Paine (II) ["Othello"]["Saloon Bar"]
V Pethybridge (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
C Peters (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
F A Phillips (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Stanley Pitt (II) ["Androcles"]
John Poupart (II) ["Androcles"]
Richard ("Dick") Presland (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School Pupil.
P Quin (II) ["Othello"]
Patricia Reid (II) ["Androcles"]["Merrie England"]
Frank Reynolds (II) ["Claudia"]
George Reynolds (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School Pupil?
Ronald 'Ron' E Richardson (II) ["Rope"]["Claudia"]
Lilian Riley (II) ["Othello"]["Merrie England"]["Villa for Sale"]["Saloon Bar"]
J Roberts (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Hazel Roper (II) ["Othello"]
Winifred Scott (II) ["Claudia"]
Geoffrey Senior (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School Pupil. Son of WPTC Tutor Mr Senior.
Barbara Smith (II) ["Villa for Sale"]["Saloon Bar"]
Evelyn Smith (II) ["Swineherd"] Author of?
W Morton Smith (II) ["Rope"]["Claudia"]
John C B Snelling (II) ["Rope"]
Chris Southgate (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]["Claudia"]
B Speakman (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Rita Stanley (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
Shirley Steer (II) ["Love and Learning"]
Gladys Steffen (II) ["Othello"]["Foolishness of God"]
George Stephens (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
A H Stewart-Jacks (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
R C Stewart (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Elva Sutton (II) ["Othello"]["Villa for Sale"]
Derrick Tassie (II) ["Androcles"]
P Tinlin (II) ["Othello"]
J Turner (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Stella Tweed (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
Ruth Upton (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School Pupil?
Edna Vinall (II) ["Othello"]
W J Walker (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
'Mickey' Walker (II) ["Saloon Bar"]
K Walter (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
M Walter (II) ["Othello"]["Saloon Bar"]
Brenda Wayman (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School pupil?
Edward 'Ted' Wakefield (II) ["Othello"]["Claudia"]
Theo L Wellington (II) ["Merrie England"]
G K Whitelock (M) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Barbara Wickenden (II) ["Othello"]["Claudia"]
E M Wilson (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]
Frank ['Tug'?]Wilson (II) ["Rope"]["Saloon Bar"]
Gillian Yaffey (-) ["Swineherd"] WP School Pupil. Daughter of WPTC Tutor H Yaffrey.
M E Yates (F) (II) ["Merrie England"]

This page was last updated on: 26 August 2020.


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