THE SECOND HALF

Notable successes

The second half of the 1990’s produced some outstanding successes. It must be explained that our location in North East London also makes us one of the specified Essex Metropolitan Boroughs. Indeed, until the late 1960’s Leyton was very much part of Essex as all my exercise books at George Mitchell School and then Leyton County High School proudly stated on the front cover. The London Government Act of 1963 changed this, as Leyton was eventually amalgamated with Walthamstow and Chingford to became the London Borough of Waltham Forest. However, our sporting associations lived on, largely through tradition but also due to logistics as travel to far flung parts of Essex is much quicker than to many closer parts of London but on congested roads. As time has elapsed, the arrival of the M11 and later the M25, but also the upgrade of the A13 has made this even more the case.

Any thoughts that this allows us ‘easier’ competition must be immediately dispelled. Essex has an incredibly high standard of sports competition across the board but is particularly strong in athletics where over the last couple of decades the name of Essex has continually dominated at the English Schools Athletics Championships. Other sports such as Basketball, Cricket, Football, Netball, Rugby and Volleyball (and more) prove even more so that this is the case.

I mention this to put in perspective the achievement of our Under 17 boys cricket team (Essex champions 1996). Even more so, perhaps, the unique ‘double achievement’ of both our boys and girls basketball teams where both became Essex Champions in 1997. At the same time our volleyball teams were ‘making waves’ at the London Youth Games where year after year either the girls or boys were finishing in top 3 positions but frequently it was both. We also entered into a long running period of annual success at JUVO, another regional Volleyball event.

Wider Developments

There is a need now to look at the ‘bigger picture’. Many will not be aware of the fact that while by day this site was ‘home’ to a boys school, from Monday to Thursday it also operated as an ‘Evening Institute’ offering courses in such diverse subjects as English, Maths, Flower arranging, Hairdressing, Spanish and many more including fitness sessions, badminton and volleyball. There was also through the 1980’s a growing clamour over the issue of school sports facilities laying idle in the evenings, at weekends and during school holiday periods when they could (should?) be made available for use by the local community. During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s financial constraints (reduced funding from the Local Authority) caused initially a reduction in the number of evenings of operation of these ‘evening classes’ and eventually actual closure. The situation arose where the long -standing attendees of badminton and volleyball sessions wished to continue so organised themselves as clubs and sought private booking of the college sports hall on their regular evenings.

Then circa 1995/6 ‘Lottery Funding’ of sports facilities became available! Our three tennis courts at the top of the sports field were becoming ‘tired’ and in need of an upgrade. LSC gained the first lottery funded facility in Waltham Forest. Of course, in order to succeed with this bid the college had to commit to 30 hours of ‘Community Use’. We were now well on the road to making a significant contribution to the evening and weekend sporting opportunities in our local area, which has long since continued.