Traces

Performances 12-4pm Sat 8 & Sun 9 November
Installation 10am-6pm from Fri 7 – Sun 9 November
The clatter of a plate, a glimpse of children in the corridors and the toll of the dinner bell… The school room of yesteryear becomes the museum of today as the spirit of Blue Coat girls haunts the building during the installation and performance produced by Geraldne Pilgrim, working with pupils from the Blue Coat School.
Erected in the early 18th century, the building was a charity school, becoming a centre for the arts when the school moved to new suburban premises in 1906. Traces of the school's history are revealed in this new work by Pilgrim, commissioned to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Blue Coat School.
Traces was inspired by the discovery of a document listing the names of 52 girls who left in July 1949 when the Blue Coat became boys only. At the same time the school decided its unique uniform would no longer be worn.
There had been girls at the Blue Coat since its founding in 1708, and their passing eded an epoch in the school's history. “This break with the tradition of nearly two and a half centuries has become inevitable and the blank left by the departure of the girls will never be completely filled” (quote found in the school's archive). In 2001 the school once again became fully co-educational.