Douglas House - the Watcyn Thomas Wing
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On Tuesday 20th May 2008 a cool evening breeze swept down the sunlit Piazza (Frederick Road to my generation!) as Bob Simpson opened what, until then, had been known as the Douglas House extension.
He had been invited to do so by the Headmaster who welcomed a group of 45 old boys, staff, architects, builders (Nicholsons), parents and donors. The Head first expressed gratitude to all those, present or not, who had made this event possible and, with his customary good humour, explained the equivocal reception given to the badly needed new wing by its neighbours.
Bob described what had met him on his arrival in Frederick Road in 1941, and contrasted that scene with what we saw around us now. Despite the formality of the occasion he could not resist a 'swipe' at the most generous benefactor present for his failure years before to 'get a round in'!
The Head then invited his guests to tour the new facilities, but not all together. In the finest tradition 'of school trips' as he put it, we were divided into three smaller groups - by surname! As a result it was my good fortune to be in the H - P group, guided by veteran Assistant Head Avtar Sheergill, and in the company of the architect Bob Heeks (Aston 1958) and long serving Head of Mathematics, Angela Lexy.
We were to start our tour on the second, top, floor where the Physics laboratories are located. But as we entered the new building we were greeted by a plaque indicating that it had been named in honour of Watcyn Thomas, at the request of Peter Savage (Aston 1955), a hugely generous donor to this project and benefactor of the school. This came as something of a surprise, as no mention had been made during the formal opening of a name that has a very special place in the memory of many AOEs from 1937 - 71, and of as many Welshmen! But an even greater surprise awaited me ...
When we arrived on the top floor I was delighted to see that, as I had asked, my hero, 'Billy' Chivers (the school's first Physics master), had been commemorated. What I had not bargained for was that my name should be up there too. I'm not sure what Billy would have thought of that! My contemporaries, on learning of my request, had said "Ask them to put 'Billy', not William", but historians are keen on accuracy!
On the floor below we found, to my surprise, the Chemistry labs. Their predilection for making smells and causing explosions suggested to me that it is they who should have been above. Bob Heeks was silent on the issue! On the same floor we saw the new facilities for a more conventional brand of cooking, not normally associated with boys' schools.
The addition of these four new labs. is the school's response to the long awaited growth in demand (and need) for science subjects. Miss Lexy was quick to point out that this was still outstripped by that for Mathematics, and noted with barely concealed envy the improved facilities for the relevant, non-mathematical, staff!
Down another flight, and we were in the realms of music and the arts. The former was represented by the Harry Grove Music Room. Harry, an AOE from the class of 1960, was present at this event, but in the A-G group! The Art and Ceramics Studio, on two floors, was dedicated by another very generous donor, identified tersely as Babbington (Aston 1941), and in the name Grainger, the significance of which was not apparent.
The doubling of space available for art and ceramics still hasn't liberated these subjects from the school's dungeons, to which they were consigned in the 1980s. Their excellent predecessor from my era is now wasted as a Sixth Form study area.
These improvements have enabled the Design Technology workshops in Douglas House (also subterranean) to be expanded as well, and it was through these that our tour of the Watcyn Thomas Wing* came to an end.
Our guide told me he has worked at Aston for 21 years, and has enjoyed every minute of it. This was very evident from the enthusiasm he had displayed when explaining the rationale behind everything we had seen.
So, you see, Aston is still in safe hands.
* One of the Rugby playing guests commented to me that, as a second row forward, 'Wing' was quite the wrong word to be associated with dear old Watcyn!