Share your memories of Falmouth School of Art

Were you, your parents or grandparents a student, member of staff or Governor at Falmouth School of Art, Falmouth School of Art & Design or Falmouth College of Arts? Do you have memories to share from those halcyon early days at Woodlane when the entire institution was based in Kerris Vean or were your ancestors early incumbents of Falmouth Art School in Arwenack Avenue paying pennies for night-school drawing classes? If so, University College Falmouth would very much like to hear from you.

University College Falmouth is poised to begin an exciting new chapter in its 106-year history following its recent merger with Dartington College of Arts and is commemorating its distinguished past with the publication of a book in 2009.  The College is therefore keen to trace as many former students and members of staff as possible - from academics and administrators to groundsmen and Governors - to help them with their research and unearth the jewels of information that will bring the book to life. 

Charles Hancock, whose association with the School of Art started in 1958 and was Vice Principal of the College from 1991 to 2002, is leading this project with the assistance of Alumni Relations Coordinator, Sally Haseman.  "It's fascinating learning more about the history of the College, reading through the minutes of Board meetings and in my case, bringing back memories long forgotten and visiting the Cornwall Records Office, which has revealed information about many events and key political changes in education as far back as 1949," explained Charles.  "However, one of the most enjoyable parts of the project by far is meeting and chatting with former students and members of staff who not only share historical facts with us but also wonderful anecdotes and personal stories of their experiences during their time at Falmouth.  We have already met both staff and students from the late 1950's and early 1960's and the daughter of the husband and wife who were the first resident Caretaker and Cook respectively from 1963 to 1976 who had some lovely stories that her parents told her about their appointment to the posts and their time living on-site at Rosehill." 

The College has survived wars, fire and potential closure on more than one occasion during its colourful history, and has attracted the greats of modern art to teach its students, such as Barbara Hepworth, Bernard Leach and Patrick Heron, but what we really need are those anecdotes from the characters who gave the institution its personality who can speak about such incidents from first-hand experience. 

"It would be interesting to hear any information relating to the period 1902 to 1949 and we're keen to talk to anyone who was connected with the College, as without their help, it will be difficult to gain a complete history," added Sally Haseman. 

So, anyone who has any information, photographs or newspaper cuttings of the College or would like to share their memories and celebrate this great College as it begins yet another exciting phase in its history is invited to contact Charles Hancock on 01872 862904 or email at charles.hancock@keme.co.uk or Sally Haseman on 01326 214399 or email archive@falmouth.ac.uk

In April 2008, University College Falmouth merged with Dartington College of Arts to create a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. 

The merger will pave the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall in 2012, creating a Higher Education institution unique to the South West. 

University College Falmouth is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council. 

For further information about courses at University College Falmouth, visit http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 213854. 

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