On a warm evening in May many of our members visited the school in Vine Lane as part of our outings programme. It happened to be the 25th anniversary of the school's arrival in Hillingdon, and we were warmly welcomed. After a talk by our chairman, which of course included reference to the ownership of the property by Lord and Lady Hillingdon, we were able to tour the buildings and gardens. Everything was in immaculate order.
Whilst there, however, we discovered that there were no "Lady Hillingdon" roses in the grounds (this was the rose developed by Edwin Alford at the local Lowe and Shawyer nurseries in 1909). The committee therefore decided to purchase two bushes of the climbing variety, and to present them to the school in appreciation of their hospitality.
On December 1st some of the committee went to the school, and the bushes were formally presented to the headteacher, Mrs Apple, and a planting ceremony took place. We now learn that the school is having a plaque made to commemorate the event, and this will be fixed to the wall near the bushes.
We also learned that the school now has a photograph of "Hillingdon Court", the express steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway in 1913.
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