Markhouse Secondary School closed at the end of the 1966 Summer Term with those of it’s remaining staff, and pupils still of school age, being transferred to several other schools – all as a result of the re-structuring of secondary education within the Borough and a decision that Markhouse was no longer required for this purpose.
Whilst the restructuring was both inevitable and necessary, the recall of many of those Drama Club members who were pupils at this time was that this was neither a welcomed or subsequently enjoyable experience – for them the encouragement and support that they had received in their previous years did not quite feel the same elsewhere.
Perhaps it was quite fortuitous that the Drama Club not only continued and went from strength to strength within the ‘Teenage Theatre’ that it developed, but that it also provided a vital and ongoing link for those who had been inevitably split from their friends and former teachers at such a formative time of their lives.
It would not take much imagination to know that many, if not all, of the teachers felt exactly the same loss.