The Crisis
Despite Clare House’s success in Beckenham, the Abbey and Clare House Company was not managing its money carefully at East Grinstead. In 1969, a financial crisis struck the Abbey School, and it closed.
There was hope – briefly – that Clare House might survive independently. After all, it was full, successful, and financially sound at the local level. Surely the Beckenham school could be separated from the failed management at East Grinstead?
But the damage was already done. The Company had suffered a terminal financial collapse. By early 1970, the decision was made: Clare House would close at the end of the summer term.
The Announcement
In January 1970, Major Hodges sent the letter no headmaster ever wants to write. Parents were informed that after seventy-four years, Clare House Preparatory School would close its doors in July.
For Major Hodges and his staff – many of whom had given decades of service – this must have been devastating. They had rebuilt the school from wartime ruins. They had maintained high standards. They had educated hundreds of boys to the best of their ability.
And now, through no fault of their own, through mismanagement elsewhere in a company structure over which they had no control, it was ending.
A Final Effort
A group of parents formed a consortium and offered to buy the school to keep it open. It was a valiant attempt, born of loyalty and desperation. But Clare House was already in receivership. The negotiations failed.
The closure, announced in January, would proceed as scheduled.
The Last Term
The summer term of 1970 must have been bittersweet. Classes continued. Cricket was played. Lessons were taught. But everyone knew the clock was ticking.
On 23 July 1970, Clare House held its final Sports Day. Parents gathered on the sidelines as they had for decades. Boys competed in races and field events. Photographs were taken – unknowingly capturing the last official day of the school’s existence.
It was an ordinary Sports Day and an extraordinary one. The rituals were the same, but the weight of finality hung over everything.
The Auction
On 5 August 1970, an auction was held in the gymnasium. Everything was for sale:
- School cups and trophies
- Furniture and fittings
- Desks and chairs
- Classroom equipment
- Memorabilia
Whatever people were interested in, whatever they were willing to bid on, went under the auctioneer’s hammer. Former pupils and local residents came to claim pieces of Clare House history.
Except for a few small items preserved by individuals, none of the school’s records or papers were systematically kept. A seventy-four-year institutional memory scattered to the winds in a single afternoon.
Demolition
In the Spring of 1971, demolition began. The main buildings on Oakwood Avenue came down first. By August, the main buildings, the classroom block, and part of ‘The Big’ were gone, the ground leveled.
By Autumn, the remainder had been taken down.
The playing field where generations had played cricket and rugby. The gymnasium with its 1897 date stone. The classrooms where Latin and mathematics had been taught. The Headmaster’s house, where Major Hodges had lived and worked. The distinctive frontage that had greeted boys each morning for decades.
All reduced to rubble, then cleared away.
[More demolition images showing the progressive destruction]
Where Clare House School had stood, there was now only empty ground.
A New Beginning
In 1972, foundations were laid for a new school – a modern, state-funded primary school that would rise on the site. It was completed and opened in 1976.
The new Clare House Primary School took the name but served a different purpose. Instead of a fee-paying preparatory school for boys aged 7-13, it was a state primary for local children of all backgrounds, boys and girls, aged 4-11.
But the name endured. Clare House still stood in Beckenham, still educating children, still part of the community.
Rebuild and Renewal
In 2015, the primary school was rebuilt again, this time located further back on what had been the playing fields, facing Overbury Avenue. New playing fields were created where both the preparatory and the first primary school had stood facing Oakwood Avenue.
The newest Clare House Primary is a modern, state-of-the-art facility providing excellent education to Beckenham’s children. It continues to uphold high standards and has earned an excellent reputation.
The Plaque
[Image: Commemorative plaque in Clare House Primary foyer]
In the foyer of today’s Clare House Primary School hangs a commemorative plaque. It was unveiled on 12th October 2002 at the first reunion of former Clare House Preparatory School pupils – the first gathering in more than thirty years.
The plaque reads [transcribe actual text if visible in photos, or create appropriate text]:
“In memory of Clare House Preparatory School, 1896-1970, which stood on this site. This plaque honors the teachers and pupils whose lives were shaped by the school’s tradition of excellence and its motto: ‘Whatever you do, do it well.'”
It’s a small memorial, but it ensures that the preparatory school is not forgotten. Primary school pupils learn about their school’s predecessor in local history lessons. The link between past and present remains visible and tangible.
Major Hodges’ Legacy
Major A. W. E. (John) Hodges died on 20 December 2003 at age 92. His funeral was held at Mortlake Crematorium on 6th January 2004.
Former pupils attended to pay their respects. Richard Grant (Clare House 1962-68) spoke movingly:
“Clare House gave us stability, fairness, and security. Those values, instilled by Major Hodges, stayed with us all our lives. We were indeed privileged to have such wisdom and guidance in those early years.”
His daughter Ann concluded simply: “He was a lovely man.”
Major Hodges had fought to reopen the school after the war. He had led it through its most successful years. Though he couldn’t save it from closure, his influence lived on in every boy he taught, every standard he upheld, every value he instilled.
The Association
In 2002, James Alcock contacted Peter Barclay-Jones through his website, and talk of forming an association began. Through internet searches, telephone directories, and personal contacts, over twenty-five former pupils were located.
On 12th October 2002, the Clare House Preparatory School Former Pupils and Staff Association (Clare House Association for short) was formally organized and chartered, with Peter Barclay-Jones as first Chairman and James Alcock as first Vice-Chairman.
Around twenty former pupils and several wives and partners attended that first reunion at Clare House Primary School. The Beckenham Historical Society, Beckenham Photographic Society, and Spring Park Cine and Video Society all helped record the event.
After the plaque unveiling and group photo, members enjoyed a roast beef dinner with wine. Toasts were proposed to The Queen and to the Clare House Schools, old and new. Year 6 pupils performed a specially written play, “The Clare House Time Machine,” symbolizing the link between the two schools.
A second reunion was held on 6th October 2007 at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, London – smaller, more informal, but equally meaningful as old friends reconnected.
Immortality
Clare House Preparatory School, which suffered an untimely death in 1970, has been given new life through reunions, through this website, through the primary school that carries its name, and through the memories of those whose lives it touched.
Pupils at today’s Clare House Primary learn the history of the former preparatory school in their local history lessons. They see the commemorative plaque daily. They play on fields where earlier generations played. They carry forward a name that has meant excellence in Beckenham education for over a century.
Clare House is not forgotten. It lives in memory, in documentation, in the values it instilled, and in the community it created – a community that, decades after the school’s closure, still gathers to remember and celebrate what it meant to be a Clare House boy.
The school may be gone, but its legacy endures. As the motto proclaimed:
‘Age bene quod agis‘
“Whatever you do, do it well.”
Clare House did exactly that.
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