Dear Editor – Thoughts from Roger Garratt
“What’s in a name?”
I recently listened to a BBC Radio broadcast from the Collegiate church of St. Mary`s, Warwick, a prominent grade 1 building amidst the shops and other businesses, which reminded me of a visit I paid to Warwick some years ago, calling into the church to savour the atmosphere (and hear the organ) but soon finding myself being welcomed by an identified church guide to its unique Beauchamp Chapel, who was most interested to hear I lived in Kibworth. This Chapel, (to quote from the Chapel website) resulted from “Earl of Beauchamp Richard’s will, made in 1437, directed that the chapel was to be ‘faire and goodly’; ‘faire’ embraced high quality and nobleness, while ‘goodly’ meant handsome or beautiful. It was to be very special…one of the most splendid late medieval funerary chapels in western Europe.”
The guide was certainly knowledgeable about Kibworth: Beauchamp, Harcourt, Rochester (as in the Close) and Warwick (as in the Road and the ‘Rec.’) also the old Grammar School, – in no rush to curtail our conversation, and, whilst indeed he was an experienced church usher trained to welcome visitors there, I was much impressed by his genuine interest in the historical links between Warwick and Kibworth and felt, as I still do, how regrettable that, standing in the Beauchamp Chapel in St. Mary`s, Warwick, Kibworth’s history was significant, whereas here in our village itself, we seem to be losing so much association with our history, even to the extent of letting the last links of one of England`s oldest schools,(Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar – KBGS ) influential in international science, theatre, music, diplomatic service, sport and the press, to name but a few, likely dating from 1356, be titled purely as Kibworth Community Hub.
In this connection I happily note:
i) – on page 12 of the last November’s Chronicle , where (totally unprompted by me as a past editor!) the present editor, referring to the Kibworth Community Hub, wrote “I think the main hall should still be called Kibworth Grammar School Hall and the current lounge to be called the Harcourt Room…”.and
ii) – in his foreword to ‘A History of Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School’, Leslie Daw MA, the last headmaster to live in the Schoolmaster’s House on School Road, celebrating its tercentenary this year, wrote “Happy is the school whose traditions are firmly rooted in past centuries”.
Established before the schools: Eton, Harrow, Oakham, Uppingham, Rugby and Oundle, are we content to identify the remains of Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School purely as a ‘Hub’?
In expectant hope,
Roger Garratt.
Kibworth Art Lovers Update & Annual Exhibition
