EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS A brief history
Crosfields became an independent Preparatory School in 1957. However, its roots can be traced back to a school in Castle Street, Reading called Marlborough House, established in the first half of the 19th Century. The school moved first onto the Bath Road and then, in the 1920s, to Park House, a private house in five acres of grounds on Parkside Road. (It is now the YMCA.)
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Headmaster Mr Makins approached Leighton Park School with a view to them taking over Marlborough House and thereby ensuring a continuity of education for the pupils. The boys moved into Townson House and became LP Junior School.
After the war, the Goodrest Estate was purchased by Leighton Park, and the Junior School moved there in 1946. The name Crosfields was chosen at a boy’s suggestion in memory of Hugh Crosfield, an old boy and Governor of LP who had been killed in an air raid in 1944.
By the 1950s, the number of pupils had increased to around 100, both day and boarding. A recommendation by the Schools’ Inspectorate that Crosfields should become entirely a day school was seriously considered and, in January 1957, the school became a non-profit making Trust with its own board of governors and, thus, independent, though with strong links to Leighton Park.
The school is essentially non- denominational with a long tradition of welcoming children of different religious backgrounds. Christian teaching is given, and strong emphasis is placed on moral principles of kindness, tolerance, good manners, honesty and a sense of responsibility to one another and oneself.
The original buildings - the White Building and the Stable Block - have been added to steadily over the last five decades as the number of pupils has risen.
“The school have bought most of their machinery from Lister Wilders throughout the years. We recently got a great deal through their local rep Lee Hatton on the Charterhouse Speed-Brush, which was purchased outright, and the Trimax Snake which is on hire purchase. The majority of servicing and repairs is carried out by them, and they do a great job for us. I do like to stay loyal to Lister’s, but if anything took my fancy that they don’t sell, I would have a look at it. I would love to purchase an Air2G2; we have had one on hire in the past, and I think it’s a magnificent piece of kit, but they are not cheap!” A big project that will hopefully be completed in the summer is the construction and redevelopment of the lower field, which used to be part of a nine-hole golf course. “Most of the construction has been
carried out using recycled materials already on-site, but the contractors have got to come back in and finish off what they left because of the bad weather we have been experiencing. It’s then down to us to finish off the construction of the new cricket square over the summer holidays, which I’m looking forward to.”
Stuart believes the sports turf industry is good to be involved in but can be ruthless at times. “I enjoy it, but you never know what’s around the corner. The industry is changing daily; one minute you have a product, the next it has been taken off the market. I don’t think groundsmen and greenkeepers get the recognition they deserve, and the general public don’t appreciate the amount of work that goes into providing a quality playing surface.”
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PC April/May 2020
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