On 20 December 1690 an Act of Parliament was passed authorising the foundation of the Robert Aske Trust. This is the initial seed that led to the establishment of the 4 Haberdashers’ Aske’s Schools – the 2 now located in Elstree and 2 in Hatcham. Three hundred years later those schools celebrated with a number of joint events arranged by the Aske Tercentenary Committee chaired by Mrs Sheila Wiltshire, the Headmistress of the Girls’ School at Elstree.
On 17 March 1990 a Tercentenary Concert at the Festival Hall took place, performed by the four schools of the Aske Foundation in the presence of HRH Princess Margaret. It included a new work commissioned for the occasion by Richard Rodney Bennett called “Diversions” and attracted interest from the BBC, who recorded it for transmission on Greater London Radio.
23 June 1990 saw the Tercentenary Sports Festival at Elstree for the 4 Aske Schools. The morning was divided into two sessions when groups of at least nine pupils tried sports such as wall-climbing, canoeing, golf, judo, five-aside football, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and trampolining. In the afternoon participants formed sixty competing groups to take part in a triathlon. The teams consisted of pupils from all four schools who took part in a relay event on the track, a swimming event where swimmers chose their favourite stroke and an obstacle race which proved the most popular event being based on the “We are the Champions” children’s television gameshow which was popular at the time.
On 12 July 1990 the U16 Lacrosse and Netball Tour of the southern states of Australia began. Sixteen UVth girls toured Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne & Sydney with Miss McMorrow, Miss Saunders and Miss Dickinson. They were away for 1 month and, in addition to playing matches in all 4 cities, they attended the World Cup Mens’ Lacrosse finals in Perth and during a 3 day stopover in Singapore on the return journey they played and won a netball match against the Singapore Schoolgirl team. The tour was supported by the St. Catherine Parents’ Guild and others who generously gave of their time and skills to raise funds for the tour tracksuits and additional uniform.
On 24 July 1990 a joint Sixth Form Tercentenary Scientific Expedition to Newfoundland departed for St. Johns. The group of 36 sixth formers with accompanying staff from the 4 Aske Schools were away for a month. Dr Malcolm Gough accompanied 13 students from our school together with the expedition doctor Barbara Kent (nee West) who is an Old Girl and former Head Girl of Acton from the Class of 1948. The aim was that this unique experience, besides carrying out the four scientific projects studying biology, technology, geology, and geography, would provide all concerned with much personal benefit from working and living together as a community in unfamiliar surroundings.
On 24-29 September 1990 the Tercentenary Art Exhibition at Smith’s Gallery, Covent Garden was held. This was an exciting and unique opportunity for pupils from the four Aske Schools to have their artwork exhibited at a gallery in Central London. The displayed work was selected purely on merit bearing in mind the varying ages of the artists. There were two private views to which students and their families were invited, and at which each school was awarded a first prize of £25, and then two highly commended, and three commended certificates. The winners from our school were: first prize Alice Braham; highly commended Natasha Brown and Annabel Wyndham; and commended Melanie Ashby and Lucy Ellis.
On 7 November 1990 we held the Tercentenary Service at St Paul’s Cathedral in the presence of HRH Princess Margaret. The congregation consisted of pupils and teachers from the four schools, both at Elstree and Hatcham. About thirty students from each made up a 120-strong choir, which performed solo items: “Let all the World in every corner Sing!” and “Te Deum Laudamus in B Flat” and led the congregation in popular hymns such as “Tell out my soul” and “O Praise Ye the Lord”. The Address was given by William Westwood, Bishop of Peterborough, and the prayers were led by the Reverend David Lindsay
On 1 December 1990 the Junior School had their own Carol Service at Christ Church, Radlett for the first time and did not join the main school at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
From 4-8 December 1990 the first genuinely joint production of a musical by the two Elstree schools (“Guys and Dolls”) ran for five nights to packed and enthusiastic houses in the Boys’ School Hall.
