The pavilion scores a century

Celebrating the century of any building is a milestone in the history of a school, but a building as iconic as the Pavilion deserves a place in the school’s history.

It was opened a 100 years ago in May 1924, - a different century, a different world, a different school. Yet the familiar bonds of friendship and sportsmanship it represents will be familiar to all Old Breconians, whether the Class of 1924 or the Class of 2024 or any year in between and beyond.

Built in 1924 as a memorial “to those who had fallen in the Great War”, the pavilion was funded entirely by Old Breconians. As early as 1918, several months before the eventual Armistice, a “War Memorial Fund” was set up by the Old Breconian Association to receive funds that would be used for a memorial to the 35 fellow Old Breconians who had died as a result of the conflict. By 1921, when the Memorial tablet in the antechapel was unveiled, the final official tally was 57 Old Breconians.

The Memorial Pavilion was officially opened on 10 May 1924 by W M Llewellyn OB (School House 1901-06), one of the principal fund-raisers. He explained that construction of a pavilion had been chosen because many OBs had written to say,

Let some part of your war memorial be connected with the games of the school because as much as we remember the chapel and other sides of school life, the boys who died in the war and the boys who fought in the war were trained in the playing field, perhaps, more than anywhere else.

Thus the new Pavilion took its place centre stage in the school grounds, replacing the earlier "Old Pavvy" that had been constructed in 1881. The boards that had begun their lives in the Old Pavvy were transferred to the new Memorial Pavilion and they remain there to this day as an evocative record of the teams of 1881 until 1966.

In a reminder of the Pavilion’s origins that could never have been planned, the boards include 19 names that appear on both the First World War Memorial Tablet and on the team boards in the building that remembers them. The building's hundredth birthday gives a chance to remember those who gave their lives, and thank those who chose to remember their classmates and peers by donating to a fund that would change the school landscape forever.

For your enjoyment, we have created a gallery of the team boards. The photographs were all taken by Paul Edgley for Christ College. To find out more about the building, visit the online 15 41 Exhibition. 

photo credt: Paul Edgley for Christ College

If the walls could tell us their own story, we would learn more about cricket and rugby and sport at Christ College than any record book could tell us. Instead, we can only learn of those other stories through the memories of Old Breconians.

Please take time to share your memories. Leave a comment or, if you have a longer story to share, tell Felicity. or Huw. They would love to hear from you.