Visit from Terra Nova's past
06 November 2009
We were delighted to be joined by a very important visitor and figure of Terra Nova's past this week. Tim Wheildon-Brown is the son of the late Tommy Brown, who, as Headmaster in 1939, relocated Terra Nova from Birkdale, Southport to here in Cheshire due to the war.
In September 1939 Tommy Brown had been instructed by the government to open an envelope which had been sent to him some months before marked ‘Strictly Secret: Not to be opened’. The letter stated ‘In the event of war, the school will be requisitioned by the government.’ Within a week, Tommy Brown had found a disused country manor house and 3 weeks later, Terra Nova re-opened here in Cheshire.
Tim was aged 14 at the time, and lived at Terra Nova for a number of years, although uncannily he attended Bramcote School in Scarborough, which is the school Andrew and Debbie Lewin were at previously.
During our school assembly, Tim Wheildon-Brown, who had followed a career in engineering, presented the Maths department with a heavy piece of machinery, which functions as a very early model of the calculator.
Headmaster Andrew Lewin commented, “It has been wonderful to have Tim visit us and we are incredibly grateful for his kind gift. We are clearly linked to one another in a number of ways both through Terra Nova and Bramcote School. He is a fascinating man and I have enjoyed learning all about the history of Terra Nova.”
