BEMROSE SCHOOL

Two years after the Education Act in 1902, Derby Borough opened the Derby Municipal Secondary School in Abbey Street in what were imposing buildings for their time. By the 1920's the Borough felt that the time had come to establish a Grammar School which would rival in prestige the ancient foundation of Derby School and commissioned the Architects Macpherson and Richardson to design the new building ‑ a building which turned out to be imposing by the standards of any time.

In 1930 the School moved from Abbey Street and received the name which it still holds in honour of Alderman H.H. Bemrose who was Chairman of the Education Committee. The opening ceremony was presided over by Sir Charles Trevelyan, P.C., M.P., President of the Board of Education.

Until 1975 the School carried out its original brief, up to 1968 for the whole of the Borough and from then for the Western sector. It successfully rose to the challenge of society's demand for ever higher educational standards and achieved a reputation which extended well beyond the boundaries of Derby both for its academic and sporting prowess. In its later years it was the largest producer in the Borough of entrants to universities and polytechnics and to the professions, as befitted the largest Grammar School in the area (700 ‑ 800 pupils).

In 1975 Bemrose became comprehensive and it is as a token of its faith in the future as well as a celebration of the past that the School has offered a series of celebratory events of which this Special Issue forms a part.