St Crispin's School Wokingham. Restoration of 1953 Frederick Millet Murals.
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Most residents of Wokingham in Berkshire will be surprised to learn that St Crispin's School in London Road is a protected "Grade 2 Listed" building. The school was built in 1953 when use of building materials were rationed to cope with the pressing needs of the reconstruction programme following World War Two. The school was one of the early examples in the UK to employ a steel and concrete frame method of construction for school building with lightweight cladding materials to reduce reliance on load bearing brickwork. At this time many architects were keen on wall paintings or murals but few examples of this art form survive to this day.
It was probably the architects employed by a government department who commissioned Frederick Millet to paint murals in the building. Fred, as his poitically aware contemporaries knew him, had received commissions for mural work from one of the UK's leading architects, Sir Basil Spence.
The murals at St Crispin's depicted life as it was, surrounding the market town of Wokingham, mainly farm land with many of the school's pupils coming from farm working families. Teachers and pupils at the school are painted working on the land. The murals were painted over some years ago and efforts are in hand to fund professional restoration work, a painstaking and costly business.
The Wokingham Society, a civic Society, has provided a grant to pay for initial work to reveal the murals that are situated where they will be available to both pupils and the public. It is hoped eventually to build a permanent display showing the development of the school from its rural origins to the Maths and Computing Specialist School today and reflecting the development of Wokingham itself in the last 50 years.
Offers of financial support for the work to restore the murals should be directed to School Governor Mr Robin Cops.
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