Forge Valley School is built on the previous Myers Grove School site. I am hoping to help the family of a previous Deputy Head of Myers Grove and steam train enthusiast, Ian Wright. Ian sadly passed away last year.
Mr Wright, along with other staff members of Myers Grove, parents and pupils, ran numerous auctions every year in the school hall of items collected from the steam train era on the railways, including nameplates and cast-iron signs. Such auctions attracted collectors not only from the UK but from abroad and funds raised benefited the School in way few other schools enjoyed; this included funding a residential of a week for Y7 pupils, the installation of a new computer network and a brand-new minibus with a personalised number plate.
Mr Wright was justifiably proud of what had been achieved and felt it appropriate that a nameplate, ‘Myers Grove Schools Class’, should adorn the corridor leading to the reception area and the staff room. There had been a Schools Class of locomotives on the Southern Region of British Railways commemorating public schools like Eton and Harrow and Mr Wright thought Myers Grove competed with them.
The nameplate remained on the corridor until the school was demolished and has been looked after by a custodian until the present day. it has been restored and can be seen in the image below:
Mr Wright’s sister believes now is the right time for the nameplate to be taken to auction or returned to its rightful home of Forge Valley School.
We are therefore asking the community to commit to a crowdfunding initiative to enable the nameplate to be returned to Forge Valley and displayed in an appropriate way within the school. Funds would also be used to provide a donation to the custodian’s choice of charity of an equivalent to what the nameplate would raise at auction.
If you would like to see the nameplate return to Forge Valley School, please donate via the link below. I thank you for your generosity in advance.