Opening of new Shrewsbury school building stirs 60-year-old memories for grown-up former pupils
A Shropshire resident has said the opening of a new school building in Shrewsbury has reignited old memories of when the first school building opened more than 60 years ago.
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Last week, staff and pupils at Belvidere School welcomed MP Julia Buckley along with the town's mayor and members of the community to the official opening of their new school building.
The building, which was part of the former Government's £1 billion new school building programme, was built on the existing playing fields and replaces the current school, which is set to be demolished and replaced with a new car park and sports pitches.
However, one former schoolboy from Belvidere remembers when the original building was opened 61 years ago, and still has the newspaper cuttings.
Colin Pearce started at the school when it first opened in September 1963 when it was Belvidere Boys Secondary Modern School.
Mr Pearce, who was a 12-year-old when the school first opened, said: “Way back in 1963 I was there as a second year pupil when Belvidere School first opened.
“During the first week, a photographer from the Shrewsbury Chronicle visited and took photographs which were produced in the Chronicle the following week.
“I am on one of the photos running with a rugby ball under my arm and being tackled and dragged to the ground! We both went on to represent the school rugby team.”
Belvidere became a mixed comprehensive in 1981 and was taken over by its current trust, TrustEd CSAT Alliance, in 2022.
The school is now a non-selective academy and has about 830 boys and girls aged between 11 and 16.
