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In 1976 Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, opened the new Hall and
the new science building at Cecil Place
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Dovercourt girls in blazers and berets form
a guard of honour in the Guildhall
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"It was felt
that all the girls should be involved in some way and be able
to see Princess Alice. It was unfortunate that drizzling rain
prevented Dovercourt girls from lining the steps of the Guildhall,
but they gave PA a smart and smiling welcome inside. By the time
her car reached the senior school, a bright sky made the summer
blazers of the first guard of honour look satisfactorily appropriate.."
all quotations from the 1976 school
magazine and newspaper reports
of the day
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"There was much careful
planning. Music rehearsal, the planning of demonstration s and
displays, the testing and timing of every part of the chain of
activity the day would require…the military precision such
an event required if guests were not to meet head-on in the old
building's warren of corridors..."
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Princess Alice makes
her way down a corridor lined with senior girls. |
The opening speech in the New Hall.
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"In the new hall, Sally J presented
her Royal Highness with a bouquet, and many speakers spoke of
the Trust and its traditions and the new buildings. The good wishes
of Princess Alice, and her declaration of interest in all the
Trust does, culminated in a popular request for a day’s
holiday.
After Princess Alice opened the hall it was dedicated by the Bishop
of Portsmouth."
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"A concert, with choral
and solo items, was then offered, while Princess Alice toured
the new buildings where work in art, mathematics, physics chemistry
and biology was proceeding."
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Another guard of
honour on the way to Cecil Place |
Inspecting a Physics experiment.
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"The Princess saw pupils at work in
laboratories, including watching them dissect fish and studying
live maggots. There she talked with evident interest to many of
the girls, and performed a short ceremony of unveiling a memorial
plaque in the entrance lobby."
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"Finally her Royal
Highness was entertained informally by members of the sixth form
in the library."
Miss Clarke said "It
is a tremendous achievement, a heartening act of faith, that at
a time of such stress, of gathering economic gloom, of loss of
national confidence, of turmoil in education when the existence
of such schools as this is being called into question, money should
have been found for these two great projects. I think we can agree
it was a highly successful occasion in every way."
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Meeting the sixth
form, ranged nervously round the library |
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