Blagdons, Emanuel School and Harlequins RFC

Those of you who have played rugby or cricket at Blagdons over the years will know that the sports facilities there are long overdue for a major upgrade. We need to improve the changing facilities, and also the tea room, the Main House, the outbuildings and the carpark... the list of work to be done at Blagdons sports ground is pretty daunting!

Parents have often asked me why Emanuel School has allowed the facilities at Blagdons to fall into such a poor state of repair. But, as I have explained (whenever asked) - the situation at Blagdons is complicated. Contrary to popular belief, the Foundation is the landlord for the site, not the School, and in fact we share the use of this sports ground with Westminster City School. The OEA, the OE rugby and the OE cricket clubs are also users of the site, and have a lease with the Foundation which governs their use. So Emanuel School is only one of a group of interested parties in using the facilities there.

However - I agree with pupils and parents that the facilities at Blagdons cannot be allowed to decline for much longer. So, given that the amount of money required to bring the facilities up to scratch is now substantial, and since the OEs do not have the funds to contribute significantly to the rebuilding work required, the Foundation has been searching to find a business partner to help the School and the Foundation together to finance a substantial upgrade to the facilities there.

I am now very pleased to report that Roy Blackwell, the Clerk to the Foundation, has held successful talks with Harlequins Rugby Football Club about sharing this facility with us, and part of the deal is for members of the Harlequins coaching staff and players to spend time coaching our players at Emanuel (and at Westminster City School and Sutton Valence, our sister schools) as well as sharing the ground for training purposes.

As part of the projected works, Mr Blackwell has discussed the conversion of the out buildings into a state of the art gym, the resurfacing of the car park and the upgrading of the changing facilities. Obviously the details have yet to be hammered out - but the broad principles have been agreed and so I wanted pupils and parents to know, at the earliest opportunity, that work in improving the facilities at Blagdons will start later this academic year (and I can only apologise for the continuing poor state of the facilities in the mean time).

Of course this is also a wonderful opportunity for Emanuel rugby to benefit from having a close association with a successful Premiership rugby club.

So this is very exciting news - I don't think we could have wished for a better business partner!

So stand by to see some significant improvements at Blagdons in due course...

MHB
Headmaster