Naming of former St Barts sites delayed
Councillors decided to give the school time to suggest names for the Luker and Wormestall sites
NEWBURY town councillors have decided that St Bartholomew's School should play a role in naming the new apartment blocks and the streets surrounding the school's former buildings at Luker and Wormestall.
The two former Newbury school sites are being converted into homes following the construction of a new sustainable building, which now houses all pupils from both sites after they moved in November 2010.
For the Wormestall site, which fronts Fifth Road and Buckingham Road and formerly housed the school's sixth form pupils, developer Linden Homes considered titles taken from the school houses which are named after former St Bartholomew's pupils who were killed in the First World War: Robert Patterson, Bertram Saxelbye Evers, George Ashwin Curnock and Alexander Davis.
It has been suggested the names Evers Place and Patterson Place be used, which now represent the blue and yellow school house colours, respectively. The rest of the properties will be numbered into Buckingham Road.
The old school has already been named as Wormestall Grange in keeping with the original historical Wormestall name which derives from the founder of the St Bartholomew's Boys' Grammar School, Henry Wormestall.
Two detached houses will be named Saxelby House and Ashwin House, the middle names of Evers and Curnock.
Various alumni of St Bart's, including inventors Herbert Akroyd Stuart and Charles Neufeld, actor Robert Newton, artist Brian Pike, classicist Sir Denys Page or historian and curator Lucy Worsley, were considered as possible names for the Luker site fronting Andover Road and Buckingham Road.
From this list of Old Newburians, it has been suggested by Linden Homes that Neufeld Drive become the street name and the two apartment blocks be named Worsley House and Luker Court.
However, at last night's (Monday's) meeting of the town council's planning and highways committee, councillors decided to delay its discussion into the naming of the sites to give the school time to suggest more appropriate names.
Allan Mercado, member of the Old Newburians Association, spoke on behalf of the school's headteacher, Christina Haddrell.
He said: “Bearing in mind the affection in which the boys and girls grammar schools and St Bartholomew's are held by any residents in Newbury and also the long history of the school could Linden Homes be asked to reconsider some of the names they have submitted?
“It's felt by the school that the buildings on the Luker site, which is originally the Newbury County Girls Grammar School, should be given a name associated with the girls school. Similarly, the names given to Wormestall should be associated to the boys' school.”
The committee unanimously decided to defer the decision to allow the school to draw up a list of names for both sites.
The item is likely to be discussed at the committee's next meeting on January 30 at the town hall.
