63 Years of History

As a school, we are extremely proud of our long history and always love to hear from former staff and pupils, whether they have long been left or are more recent leavers.

We were therefore, delighted to receive a request from Allen Barr and his daughter, Helen Barr, to visit the school and have a look around.

Allen was Deputy Head and Master in Charge of Rugby here at St Hugh’s, from 1953 to 1992, and Helen was St Hugh’s first ever female pupil, subsequently returning to the school in 1998 to work and later becoming Girls’ Matron.

We were privileged to spend a morning with them, listening to them reminisce and looking through old photos.

Rather incredibly, members of the Barr family worked here continually from 1951-2014. As Helen explained on the visit – her mum, Miss Jean Pickup, was the first member of the family to start at St Hugh’s, joining in 1951, before her father, Allen joined in 1952. They soon fell in love and married in 1953 and went on to have four children, including Helen, who were all pupils here. Helen returned to the school to work part-time in 1998 before taking on the role of Girls’ Matron in 1992, the year her mum and dad retired. With Helen not leaving St Hugh’s until 2014, that covers an impressive 63 years of the Barr family working here!

Allen and Helen are pictured with our Headmaster, Jeremy Wyld, and Henry, Captain of Rugby. One of the photos is taken next to the plaque in the Pavilion, which Allen formally opened in 2017.

We very much look forward to welcoming Allen and Helen again in the future.