Summer on the pitches

This 1930s photograph from the Archive collection could have been taken yesterday: the composition, the landscape and the faces could be from any era. The pull of the pitches on a blue-skied Brecon day - whether for cricket, for messing around, or for 'study' - is timeless, and the photo captures the continuity and change that hide in the rays of sunlight and shadows cast.

It is one of several photographs in the Archive Photographic Collection taken by T O Scudamore (School House 1930-36). When the photograph was displayed on OB Day 2024, OBs from ages 65 to almost a 100 judged it to be one that characterises their era. As such, it epitomises sunlit days on the pitches in the Summer Term perhaps like no other in the Archive collection.

Barney Goodrich (Donaldson’s 1991-93 and now Subject Leader for Geography and Head of Humanities) thought the photo was ripe for reenactment. Here's some of 7Y at the end of last term. 

Not unexpectedly, investigating the ‘palimpsest’ of buildings turned the process into a Geography lesson! Barney says:

Such is the impact of the modern Tunnel buildings, you need to look closely to match up the buildings in the background but it’s the chimney above School House (to the left of the boiler chimney in the 2024 version) that helps to make the match, together with the line of the roof of the small dining hall.

Jess Morgan (Donaldson’s 2002-05) recently responded to a call for photos with one she had 'made earlier' – taken in probably 2005.

Some things never change!

If you have any similar photos - taken in any part of the school and in any era, let Felicity know. We'd love to add more to the Photographic Collection.

You may already know the name Tom Scudamore. As well as being a schoolboy photographer, 70 years later Dr T O Scudamore appeared in an episode of the BBC’s 'Helicopter Rescue' series, alongside Winchman Ed Griffiths (School House 1996-98). After school, Tom qualified in medicine from Queens' College Cambridge and the London Hospital in Whitechapel. He later served as a GP in Nottingham for 35 years. As a newly qualified doctor, he volunteered for Second Word War duty in the RAF and served from RAF Llandwrog - including as medical officer for the fledgling Mountain Rescue Service.