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Read Hall Official Opening

On February 2nd the Read Hall was officially opened by Adam Buxton, actor, comedian and Town Close parent. There was great excitement in the Hall as Adam entertained us all with his quick wit and excerpts from his film and radio career, including an amusing clip from the film ‘Stardust’. The Read Hall is named after Bryan Read and his family. Richard Beck our Chairman of Governors spoke about Bryan and the text of his speech follows:

Bryan Read

The Read Hall is named in honour of Mr Bryan Read. I would like to tell you something about his (and his family’s) place in the history of Town Close House School.

Bryan Read’s association with Town Close goes back to its very beginning. He came here as a pupil in 1932-33, the year that Mr Walter Dearnaley established the School. While the records show that he left to move on to his senior school a few years later, and then to university, at least a piece of his heart seems to have remained at Town Close. What is certain is that, some time after he had returned to Norwich and to the family flour milling business, he was once again involved in the Town Close community. And he has remained involved for the greater part of the School’s life.

Fifty or more years ago Mr Dearnaley sought his former pupil’s advice and assistance as the School changed from being a privately owned enterprise to become a limited company, and then a charitable trust. In the list of that Trust’s initial Board of Governors, Mr Read’s name comes immediately after that of the first Chairman, Viscount Mackintosh of Halifax; and having worked very closely with Lord Mackintosh over the next ten years or so, he was in 1980 the obvious choice to succeed him in that role. He remained as Chairman of Governors for a quarter of a century. Around five or so years ago he chaired the panel that appointed Mr Lowe. So that means he has worked with every one of Town Close’s Heads since the School’s foundation.

And with those various Heads, their colleagues, and his fellow governors, Bryan Read has seen and overseen many and significant changes to the School – including its substantial growth in pupil numbers; its becoming co-educational after more than 60 years as a boys-only school; and major improvements in its fabric and facilities. The Dearnaley Building is the most obvious visible legacy of his leadership; but many of Town Close’s buildings were either constructed or substantially modified in what we may call “the Read years”. These include the building opened in the late 1970s to provide Town Close for the first time with a purpose-built sports hall – the very building that now has a new lease of life as the Read Hall.

There are members of the Read clan other than Bryan who have a place in this story, and I should like briefly to mention just a few of these now. Most prominently (certainly as far as I am concerned, since she was my first teacher at Town Close many years ago) Brenda Read (later Mrs Blake), Bryan’s sister, was the first Head of the Pre-Prep Department, where she taught for some 30 years. And now it is Brenda Read’s niece – Bryan and Sheila’s daughter Jo (better known to all as Mrs Copping) – who carries on the family tradition as a member of Pre-Prep staff. Her brother James had been a pupil here, like his father Bryan before him; and her own children duly became the third generation of the family to attend the School. Neither a pupil, nor formally on the staff, is the remaining member of the Read family whose long and devoted association with Town Close we can celebrate today – Bryan’s wife Sheila. She must have listened to more Prize Day speeches than any other person in the history of the School, but continues to brighten up all such occasions with her warm, if occasionally wry, smile. We say a heart-felt thank you to Sheila for her fantastic support to Bryan, and to Town Close, over the years.

The Headmaster, his staff, and the governors are entirely clear how important the 21st century re-creation of this building will be for the School. I am sure that Bryan Read would agree. As someone who for many years sought to cope with the building’s acoustics when it was used for Prize Day ceremonies, he will appreciate how good it will be for the School to have a proper space for assemblies. And I know he is delighted that Town Close at last has a place dedicated to the performing arts. He is a devotee of all the arts, and has been a regular member of the audience for the School’s dramatic productions and performances over the years. Music in particular is an abiding interest and joy to him, as some of our visitors may know from his many years of dedicated leadership of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. Fewer of us perhaps know that his love of music began as a member of the Town Close House Accordion Band, inspiring him to buy a piano accordion that I believe he still possesses and occasionally plays.

Bryan is a great enthusiast, but he is also a very modest man. So we will not ask him to play his accordion to us today; nor embarrass him by listing his numerous other accomplishments, achievements, and contributions to the life of Norwich and Norfolk, and the many honours arising from these. What we can and should do is to join together in thanking Bryan Read profoundly for all that he, and his family, have done and continue to do for Town Close; and to thank him for honouring the School by accepting the Governing Body’s proposal that this new Hall be named in his honour.

I give you Read of Read Hall!

Richard Beck
Chair of Governors