First thing this morning (Monday 29 July) as the new intake of participants set to register and embark on each of their chosen courses, Marlborough College Summer School Director, Jon Blake presented his predecessor, Jon Copp, with a memento of recognition of thanks for all his efforts building Summer School into the extremely popular attraction that it is today.
This followed a similar presentation on Friday afternoon last week where Brian Ashley, who started Summer School back in 1974 with ten classes for college students, relatives and friends was thanked for making it happen, as without his vision and drive there is no guarantee that Summer School would have ever been created let alone develop into the successful enterprise of today.
“We had this target to attract as many adults to a week in Summer School as there were students during a normal term week” stated Jon Copp, the fourth in the line of Summer School Directors explaining one of the early goals that he set when taking over the reins back in the 2001.
“We managed to attract 850 adults and 500 ‘younger'” he confirmed, demonstrating how far Summer School grew during his time, emphasising how important it has now become not just for Marlborough College but also the whole economy of the area as so many participants attending Summer School come from far and wide and spend plenty in the town.
“Creating and establishing the smooth and efficient booking system” he answered when asked what was the most significant development introduced during his tenure. This enables the thousands of participants to find, book, and enrol on their selected course with ease, one of the many hundreds on offer every year.
Summer school now occupies four weeks of the summer holidays and offers as mind-bogglingly diverse a range of courses as could possibly be imagined. From ‘Code Breaking’ and ‘Astronomy’ in Science, through ‘Nordic Walking’,‘Metal Detecting’,‘Classic Japanese Cooking for Improvers’, ‘Philosophy for Beginners’, Victorian Vices’ (not of the mechanical sort) and ‘Stickmaking: Creating a Buffalo Market Stick’ – themes of course from somewhere along the spectrum of possible options to imagine, let alone take. Just about something for everyone, with a few more as well…
“That the Summer School has sustained itself into its fifth decade, in exactly the same format as Brian Ashley had a vision for back in 1974 is remarkable” added Jon Copp, explaining one of the fundamental reasons for its success.
