The Meliorian

The funding for 2003 was you may recall was obtained by donations and by sponsorship of various year pages. The monies raised paid for the cost of providing the website address and the hosting fees, a small amount of excess was given to the Present Collegiate School to provide a school prize for one boy and one girl for effort.

The funding for this year will be raised by a walking Treasure Hunt to be held in Blackpool Town Centre on Thursday 20th May 2004. This will be an opportunity to support your year in what should be a pleasant and unusual night out. The Treasure Hunt will take in the Town Centre of Blackpool and will feature many of Blackpools (remaining) historic buildings and features. This is a great excuse for a night out, the chance to meet the mysterious Prefects, and hopefully catch up with some long lost friends. For those unable to attend a ‘web-based treasure hunt’ will be set to coincide for those who wish to contribute and join in It is hoped that this Global participation will be the cause of local publicity!. Remember the viability of the website will depend on this so do try and take part! Prizes will be awarded and the names of the various winners will be featured on the website. For get the old adage ‘it’s not the winning it’s the taking part’ this time you are representing your year so it will be ‘It’s the winning Not the taking part’. Please could you e-mail your interest to the prefects as soon as possible? The cost should be around £5 for each entry which can be individual or a team up to four.
For all enquiries or for further information Website Treasure Hunt Thursday 20th May 2004

This year the funding has been paid totally by the Prefects. Those who sponsored the pages will continue to do so until the end of 2004 when the sponsorship programme may be re-run.

In the continuing battle to avoid bogus e-mails it is necessary to regularly update and change e-mails which are widely advertised. The monitor e-mail address was becoming quite clogged up with very dubious invitations which made the poor monitors blush. It was time to call in a higher authority and who better than the Prefects. It must be understood that this is a title used only on the Meliora website and does not imply or infer that glorious office of Prefect was held by any of the account holders.

There have been several suggestions sent to the website requesting new sections one of these has been a births marriages and deaths section. The Prefects have agreed to trial this service which will be globally available to the entire website, rather than individual year listings. To submit any listings please e-mail the prefects with the information stating the relationship of the former school member. In the case of Deaths the deceased should be a former pupil or member of staff. For marriages and births the former pupil need only be a relation, so new proud Grandparents of those acquiring a new son or daughter in law may feel free to spread the exciting news.

It has been suggested that a section of the website be created to highlight any notable achievements of former pupils. The first of these, being prepared by a former Head Boy, is to be nonagenarian broadcaster Alistair (Alfred) Cook who has broadcast his ‘Letter from America’ programme for over 50 years. Submissions for this new section will only be accepted if the nominator allows his or her name to be associated with the nomination. Nominations with publishable text must be accompanied by e-mail to the Prefect. The nominator must take responsibility for copyright material. The Prefects will publish any suitable links to other websites and references.

The memorial to the Late Superintendent Gerald Irving Richardson who was shot and murdered in Blackpool in August 1971 was unveiled in the Schools Memorial at the end of September. Readers may recall that the gravestone of this former pupil had become the target for dreadful graffiti and vandalism. This was very distressing and costly to his widow Maureen who was also a former Colligate girl.

The event was very well attended with the unveiling performed by Maureen Richardson accompanied by Gerry’s sister Judith. Photographs of the event can be found at GERALD RICHARDSON PLAQUE PHOTOGRAPHS please note I still need some of the names to be added to these photos (can you help?).

There have been a few instances where messages could not be posted in the Guestbook. This transpired to be a conflict with certain versions of Internet Explorer and Windows XP. If you cannot submit a message simply e-mail it to the duty Prefect and it will appear!
Whilst in the Guest Book should you observe any message which has been posted obviously to cause offence - please alert the Rota Prefect who will ensure it is promptly removed.

One of the websites great helpers is Annette Anderson who has just retired from Blackpool Sixth Form where she has worked since it opened in September 1971. Shortly before she left she left a message in the Guest book :-

The class of 72. I have some congratulatory Silver Jubilee envelopes. I have managed to trace most of the owners, one being my own nephew, but can not find Kim Parkinson or Paula Woodhouse. If you are in contact please ask them to get in to touch with me.

The Prefects are delighted to say that Paula Woodhouse was promptly located via Paula's husband who contacted both Annette and the website:-

I have just read your note with some amusement after being alerted to it by the Melorian website. We discussed the Silver Jubilee with our children not that long ago. I recounted receiving a commemorative 'First Day cover' although Paula said she didn't remember receiving one. We both keep this sort of memorabilia in appropriate boxes in the loft to look back at and remember past days / events.

The website wishes Annette a very happy retirement - what a splendid way of signing off!!