Photographic Portraits Installed at Chilton Trinity

Celebrating Chilton Trinity School and its role within the local community - a Somerset Art Works Intergenerational Project with Chilton Trinity School

We are incredibly happy to see Laura Rouse's beautiful photographic portraits gracing the heart space of the hugely inspiring new Chilton Trinity school building.  

Brothers Matt and Chris Betts were former Chilton Trinity students who took the opportunity to relive school memories and meet up with old friends and teachers at the Chilton Generations Together Open Day.  It was by chance that the Open Day coincided with Chris’s visit back to the UK; he now lives abroad with his young family, his newborn pictured here. 

Lucy Williams, Michael Goodwin, Phoebe Solomon, Kathryn Dickinson

“This picture reflects just some of the friendships I made at Chilton Trinity and that I will keep for a long time in the future. All in all it is hard to focus on one of my favourite moments of school; every day was a new experience which I will never forget.  Chilton was a safe, friendly and welcoming learning environment right from year seven until the end of year eleven and transfer to college in 2011.”  Lucy

“I grew in confidence, not only in my studies but also my personality, due to the wonderful people I met here at Chilton Trinity. The part I will remember most will be the sense of community within the school and the general atmosphere when walking around the campus.”  Kathryn

“My friends at Chilton weren't just the people I ‘hung around with’ everyone who attended the school was generally friendly, honest and decent. My favourite moment is hard to pinpoint because nearly every day was fun and joyous; most days I had a new story to tell - coming home covered in flour from a cheeky food tech lesson or with a beaming smile after soaking up the glorious sun on the field with ice-cream, music and water fights!  Now I have left the school I really miss the great people and the friendly vibe which the school carries in both arms.” Michael 

Tina Heath nee Good and John Swayne

Chilton Trinity Secondary Modern School opened in 1966, Tina Good was one of the first pupils and John Swayne was one of the first teachers.

As an eleven year old Tina remembers “Everything was new, it even smelt new; new paint, new furniture and new people.” Tina sometimes struggled with academic subjects but one of the things Chilton taught all students was, you can do and be anything if you try. Tina never gave up which is something she learnt from Mr Swayne.

Mr Swayne, or ‘Swayner’ as he was affectionately known, was a form teacher who also taught Woodwork, Metalwork and Technical Drawing. As traditional crafts became replaced by computers he moved into Design Technology and Information Technology. Chilton Trinity was one of the first schools to have a network of PCs and where Chilton led, other schools soon followed.

John Swayne was fondly remembered by many former students at the Chilton Generations Together Open Day and Tina was delighted to be reunited with him after all these years. 

Charles Carr

Charles Carr first became involved with Chilton Trinity in 1971 when his daughter Julie studied here. Many years later her four children also became Chiltonians and Charles became a Governor, finding it a wonderful way to keep in touch with the grandchildren.

Charles was a ‘Neighbourhood Engineer’ and often visited local Chilton Trinity to give talks and help out on ‘engineering project days’. He remembers great challenges such as building bridges with drinking straws.

“When the new National Curriculum came in, it was a sad goodbye to our little ‘farm’ as Rural Science was no longer an option.  Another big change came when the catchment area was altered and Chilton Trinity welcomed children from new feeder schools.  The biggest change however comes with the new school building in 2012.”

Charles has witnessed over 40 years of change at Chilton Trinity School, as a parent, grandparent and Governor of 20 years.

Project History

Chilton Generations Together

This project celebrates the history of Chilton Trinity School and its role within the local community.  As the old school building entered its final year of service and the new school began to take shape, an intergenerational group of young and older people came together to plan and run an Open Day at the school.  The group collected and documented the images and stories of past and present pupils, staff, parents, grandparents and people from the local community. Photographer Laura Rouse was commissioned by Pat Hollinghurst to produce large scale photographic portraits of these visitors for permanent display in the new school building, visually linking the new school to its history.

“This project captures a moment in the history of Chilton Trinity School which marked the transition from our ‘old’ and much loved school to our inspirational, state-of-the-art building. We were adamant that we wanted our new environment to enable a paradigm shift in learning and teaching to provide our students with authentic 21st century learning experiences. We also wanted our school campus to ‘belong’ to our wider community and provide opportunities for them too. We were equally adamant that the philosophy and core values that have underpinned our much-loved school for many years would be enshrined in the new building - that the ‘heart’ of Chilton Trinity would endure.”
Pat Hollinghurst,  Head of Chilton Trinity,  April 1999 - August 2012

Chilton Generations Together Project

A huge amount of work went into setting up and running the Open Day, a massive credit goes to all the intergenerational volunteers for making the day happen.  

Documentation photo credits of work in situ: Seb King