An Invitation to Contribute to PGS' Covid-19 Archive

by Anne Cotton

Since PGS was founded in 1732, the school community has witnessed many historic events, including the Napoleonic Wars, two World Wars, the cholera epidemic of the 1840s and the influenza pandemic of 1918-20. Future generations will look back on the coronavirus pandemic as a historic time. For them to be able to see it through the eyes of today’s school community would offer a unique and immediate perspective.

School Archivist, John Sadden, is compiling an Archive, recording the experiences of pupils, staff, OPs, parents/guardians and governors, so that future generations understand what happened in 2020 and how it affected us as a community.

We will publish, with permission, a selection of this material in a special online edition of Portsmouth Point magazine to record the pandemic and our response to it; this will be released at the end of this term. We would very much value your contributions to this. 

 Contributions could reflect on your views on the changes caused by the pandemic, the effects of isolation and what you miss about normal, everyday life, the way you spent your time during lockdown (new hobbies, experiences, books you have read or written, art or music you created, photography or film you produced, individuals or events that have inspired you). Any aspect is of interest: personal, political, medical/scientific, sociological, philosophical, environmental, artistic, historical, etc.

Your contributions can be typed, handwritten, filmed, photographed, drawn/painted/sculpted or recorded on audio; please send them to j.sadden@pgs.org.uk by Tuesday 2nd June. If you have any questions about the Archive, please contact John Sadden at j.sadden@pgs.org.uk and/or James Burkinshaw at j.burkinshaw@pgs.org.uk.