My mother often reminded me that a rainbow is a promise from God, so imagine my delight on turning the corner of Tankerville Terrace today to be greeted by a bright bow over old Church High.
And, yes, the bow really did end where I thought it did. Everyone knows a lucky pot of gold lies at the end of every rainbow, but is it all the luckier if the end of the rainbow falls in a truly green place?
For, despite the autumnal feel in the air, the entrance to the former Junior School grounds flanked by evergreen tress was still leafy-green today. The steelwork, which appeared to have advanced more in sturdiness than scale this week, was perfectly framed by it.
On entering the gates, it became clear that it would not be too long before the steel supports extended across the full length of the site.
There was no activity on the north wing of the old Church High main building today now the demolition of the single-storey kitchen area had been completed. However, from the front there was plenty of evidence of interior reconstruction work going on apace again and a new rubbish chute had been put in place alongside the south wing.
Windows were wide open all over the building today and the dormer window of the Deputy Head’s Office in the eaves was now empty; the removal of the window frame allowed noise of work echoing deep within the interior to filter out onto Tankerville Terrace.
Standing across the road facing the front door now, it made one very curious to know exactly what changes were going on inside.
Before I left today, I took a moment to enjoy the beauty of nature all around me, on the connecting gate and particularly directly across the road in the garden of Tankerville House, in recent times the Church High Sixth Form block but once it housed the Junior School.
The old kitchen extension, which has never lost the look of a quaint country cottage, really was a perfect picture today with its carpet of gold autumn leaves. The co-existence of green and yellow leaves on the overhanging tree branches brought to mind both a Cezanne painting which has always been close to my heart and the opening lines of Robert Frost’s beautiful, short lyric ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’:
‘Nature’s first green is gold, / Her hardest hue to hold’.
Fabulous memories of the Music Dept and 6th Form in Tankerville House. The fact that they were both in the same building meant that I barely went into the Main Building for my last two years at school.