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The Buildings - 5:
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It was suggested that he put his artistic talents to good use by designing and creating a mural for the back wall of the hall. The theme was to be the school's achievement in the amount credited to National Savings during the War.
The Mural shows four figures representing the four houses of the school, along with
their respective achievements. Ken was quite modest about the work, that was his style. Until he spoke about it, I had no idea it existed, it had long gone before I started, 1956, so its existence was quite short. It is sad to reflect that the mural is still there, under many (or not so many) layers of gloss and emulsion. In a way it is a fitting memorial to a pleasant and personable "old boy". Sadly, Ken died on 30th April 2003. - Jim Franklin |
Ken Rowe started
at Downhills in September 1940, he left in December 1945. He should have left in the
July, but didn't start work until January 1946. In the intervening period he was "at
a loose end" but still at school.
The pictures
show the finished mural as it looked in 1946. The photo had been sent to Ken by Mr Oldfield,
the text of the accompanying memo is reproduced. Ken did acknowledge that others contributed
to the work in painting the mural, but we have no names. If anybody wished to "own
up" we would be pleased to give them a mention as well as adding their comments
and contribution to this page.
The
photo does not do justice to the original, which was quite colourful. Ken did comment
on the difficulty in getting the materials, scarce at the time.|
This note was written by Mr Oldland to Ken: Dear Rowe, As you were the leading artist on the wall painting, and as you did most of the designing and actual painting, I am sending you a copy of the "National Savings" Record as painted on the wall of the School Hall. You will see it is an actual photograph as I could not get the alarm bell box wiring cut out. Every visitor admires your work & I hope you've been as successful in your daily work as you were at school. Yours sincerely W. S. Oldland |
Dear Rowe,