About Barnes Old Girls Association

We call ourselves BOGs.  Our school was Barnes County Secondary for Girls in Lonsdale Road.  The Girls and Boys Schools merged in 1969 and this school was eventually closed down on 29th July 1977.

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Our old school building was demolished and houses were built on the site.  Over the years many of us have passed by from time to time. One always looks but our school is not there and a pang of sadness pierces the heart. Although it no longer exists our memories live on and we know our old school chums are out there somewhere.

Some of us managed to find one or two old friends through the website Friends Reunited and so it was decided that a school reunion would be a good idea. Unbelievably, we managed to locate over 100 ex-pupils and 6 teachers from just a few selected years. From this number more than 70 old girls and 4 teachers attended our first major official School Reunion, which was held at the Coach and Horses in Barnes High Street on 29th June 2002.

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It was because of this tumultuous response that we decided to form BOGs and invitation is now open to all old girls who attended our school, from the day it opened in 1921 until the schools amalgamated in 1969.  We have now located in excess of 350 BOGs.  We are unable to give the exact figure since our numbers are continuously growing with new BOGs every week.

 

It is our aim to search and find old school friends and teachers in order to introduce them to our Old Girls Association known as BOGs.

Our school no longer exists, but a very strong bond exists between all ex-pupils who attended Barnes County Secondary School for Girls in Lonsdale Road up to 1969 when the School closed, and the amalgamation of the Boys and Girls Schools with Mortlake Boys School occurred, and in 1973 was renamed Barnes Comprehensive, then finally closed down in 1977. The school was demolished and is now a housing estate named Walnut Tree Close.

Once a member of BOGs you will receive  a regular Newsletter, to keep you in touch with your old school mates and  inform you of any forthcoming events.

Many of our members find us, or we find them by word of mouth, but even so, a great deal of time is spent researching to locate old girls. Our members are spread far and wide and travel from all four corners of the globe to attend a Reunion. Reunions are always held in Barnes.

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Many ex-teachers have been amongst our members, including Ms Pat Stevens, Mrs Pamela Rayner, Mrs Jane Clark, Mrs Heather Furnival née Halliday and Mrs Marianne Cox née Curette. 

Miss Olive Read and Mrs Margaret Boys have sadly passed away, Miss Read was 99 years old and Mrs Boys was also in her nineties when she died in 2012.

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We were very pleased to have ex-science teacher, Miss Cristina Hepburn-White, as our Honorary President for a number of years. We are happy to announce that Mrs Appleyard's daughter, Paddy Holmes, is now our Honorary President. Mrs Appleyard was Headmistress from 1967 to 1969.