LHS past pupils register feelings over school name change proposal

I am very disappointed that 'our' designation within the title of the school has been dropped, even if it is legally retained. Have I been missing some prior intimation of a change of name? Was there any consultation outside the Board? I can't believe we would have been pleased to have the announcement dropped on us via the Magazine.

Should you be deluged with outraged replies to your message, please add my name to the list to be passed on to the relevant quarter.

What a shame theplacingof Londonderry at the end of the name seems to get the thumbs up when the legal name has run the test of time and still sounds up beat in the present time. If there was any 'mail' going to thegovernorsperhaps this can be communicated.

That's outrageous - our school is vanishing! How come the men always come out best. What can we do to have some vestige of LHS remaining?Any ideas?

I do not like the message. We have been completely swallowed up.

How typical of the boys. Well I shan't be donating any more money unless they rethink their ideas on a new rebranding name.

I am not too sure what to think but certainlyfeel rather sad that something which has been part of our lives and influenced us through all these years would seem (almost) to beconsigned to history.LHS is part of our heritage.If the legal name of the school is to remain the same then it would appear to be "change for change sake" using the 400th Anniversary as a smokescreen!

So all that's left to do is towrite a strongly worded letter to the governors stating our dismay and disappointment at their decision to wipe out LHS's history. I can't believe they thought they could do that when it was quite obvious that the previous administrators tried to make the name stick legally by even enlisting an Act of Parliament in 1976! So surely they are acting illegally!

Perhaps weshould all withdraw our fund raising & support of the school.......

Disgusted

I think we should make a major fuss. It is a symptom of a deeper attitude. Are we just going to accept it meekly? Our Achilles heel is that we do want to be liked by men & men do not like women who are strong & proactive. At the very least it is very bad manners.

Surely there is a clause in the original agreement to say that we are equal partners. It is the same old story. Men lay down the law & we do the clerical work & make the tea.

It is for consideration that if Robin Young has gone public (with his quotes) then the OG's have a right to comment onthe Press "release" as on any other media item.

If you are contact with "HQ" then I am very confident that any actionwhichis decided will get the full support of our membership.

Do the OG's have any representation on the board of governors? I remain totally bamboozled at to WHY the name needs to be changed at all.

What is the make up of governors eg. male to female & how many went to either FC or LHS or FALC? Who else was consulted? Were the old boys consulted? (the girls definitely were not) or former teachers & current students & teachers. Were the Merchant Taylors in London consulted??

Name change: why if by law it is FALC change & why Foyle college, why not Londonderry college? Look at other schools in province eg. Coleraine Ballymena, Dungannon, Armagh, Strabane & several in Belfast who still have the city/town name in title of their schools. So what if FALC is shortened to Foyle?

This proposed change to Foyle college is a reversion back to the old college. There is no need for a rebranding. Why was there no mention of LHS & its foundation in the Sentinel article???

Why are the founders of LHS & its predecessors not given any recognition? They were the forerunners of women's education even before women got the vote….& Miss McIlroy our wonderful & inspiring head is completely passed over.

She was given France's highest honour for her dedication & work during WW2.

If you enter Foyle & Londonderry College on Google there is a lot of FALC & the foundation of old Foyle but very very little of LHS.

I feel frustrated at the way in which the powers that be are cleverly & systematically scrubbing LONDONDERRY HIGH SCHOOL off the blackboard.

AND finally to be told "YOU DO NOT LIVE HERE" is an insult.

We were all given an excellent education & encouraged to go out into the world & explore. Unfortunately a lot of us didn't return to

NI even Londonderry. The number of Old Girls' Association around is testament to our feelings towards the old Alma Mater.

The name change represents a whole deeper attitude and that is why we are all outraged. I think it an excellent idea if everyone possible writes to the Sentinel. They will hate adverse publicity in the local press.

Itotally agree with what you say! and you may certainly add my name to the letter which you intend writing. Having said that, I'm sure, as you havecommented in your last paragraph that itis already a "done deal"!

However, I note in the Sentinel's article......

"The Board of Governors has agreed to consider renaming the historic institution". Where there's life there's hope?!

I feel it is a blatant insult to the girls and staff, past and present, of L.H.S. and signifies a takeover rather than an integration.

I feel we shouldNOT wait till new magazine comes outasTHEY have pre-released news of this proposed change of name in Sept(& everything else). Also, Mr Young says in the article that it is an option so we should be able torespond in kind.

We should issue a reply in the Sentinel NOW.

I am disgusted at the way our forebears have beendisregarded & the way in which LHS is being scrubbed off the blackboard.

I completely agree!!!

Why can't the name remain as Foyle & Londonderry College? By changing the words around and leaving out " & " , we have effectivelybeen wiped out!!!

I think you know my feelings about our loss of identity/lack of recognition in the future name of the School which meant so much to our lives as women, so count me in on any feedback which echoes that.

I would like to support any protest against this proposal.

To ignore completely the history of education for girls in the name of the new school is to devalue the great strides that were made with regard to the education of women.

The High School was a pioneering institution for half a century and this should be acknowledged

As I've saidthe thing I primarily dislike is the way it was done.

Iknow my last two years were at FALC, but it was the previous five that laid the foundations and I'm not happy with LHS being 'airbrushed' out of history. Even in Robin's first appeal for finances for the new school he starts his article referring to FALC and by the time he gets to the end it's rapidly reverted to 'Foyle' - should have seen it coming.

I think the name change is absolutely appalling and I do hope that there will be a large storm of protest - we should not accept the change

gracefully - those who have made the decision should be made aware that there are very many people out there that DO NOT APPROVE of their decision.

We may not live in Londonderry - but our education there shaped the people we have become and allowed us to use the talents also developed at school to go out and enrich many communities worldwide in many different ways.

I started at LHS at the age of 4 in 1948 and we were based up at Brooke Park, where we were watched daily on our way into the classrooms by the beady eyes of stuffed animals (enough to give any sensitive child nightmares!) and at playtime we climbed over the big guns, another part of the City's history! I remember being taught by Miss Benson, Mrs Irvine and Miss Colhoun that were were very privileged to be at one of the first girls schools founded in Ireland.

I know they say that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet - when names change people's concepts of the products can also change - do you remember when the Post Office tried to change its name to Consignia?

Perhaps the incorporation of Victoria into the name would at least retain some of the history of OUR school if the Londonderry part is now

controversial!

I feel that we need to protest long and loudly - after all faint hearts never won a battle! I am sure that if you need petitions signing etc the

London Branch members will give you all the support you need and I would assume that the same support would be forthcoming from the other Branches.

Thank you for sending this out. I think it is sad about the name, but the last one was so unwieldy that I feared it would revert to Foyle College from the start, so I'm afraid, as you say yourself, that it is probably a fait accompli, but good to register our disappointment all the same.

I was very disappointed when I heard about the new name. It has done away with half the history of the schools/s. As a feminist I have to add: it was ever thus!!!!!!!

What ever happened to democracy? The Old Girls' branches were never consulted or informed. They found out by way of a 'leak' to the local newspaper. What an insult to our intelligence to be treated in this way.

This would never have happened to the 'boys'.

As far as we know no other girl's grammar school in Northern Ireland has lost it's identity in an amalgamation with a boy's school.

I was very disappointed when I heard about the new name. It has done away with half the history of the school/s. As a feminist I have to add: it was ever thus!!!!!!!

What ever happened to democracy? The Old Girls' branches were never consulted or informed. They found out by way of a 'leak' to the local newspaper. What an insult to our intelligence to be treated in this way.

This would never have happened to the 'boys'.

As far as we know no other girl's grammar school in Northern Ireland has lost its identity in an amalgamation with a boys' school.

How does the Governors decision stand in this day of Political Correctness?

On one hand we are told" it is none of our business" and yet on the other hand they are happy to take our money for the new school.

Why could the Governors not delay their decision until ALL the Old Girls' branches were informed?

This would never have happened to the Old Boys.

The boys will have their FOYLE, their MATHISON CAMPUS and a BOOK of 400 years of history named in their honour, what about the girls?

I feel really hurt that the L.H.S. will be all but obliterated if the new name comes established and all because of choosing to leave out that little word 'and'. I am so shocked at the manner of it happening.

Foyle College Londonderry tells us WHERE the school is, but not WHAT it is. What other name options were put forward?

Can a body decide to call the school by another name on letterheads, badges and logos, whenever the legal and proper name is determined by an Act of Parliament in 1976 as Foyle and Londonderry College?

In 1952 Miss McIlroy quoted: "Independence in education is costly, it is to our Old Girls Association, our closest friend and ally, that we naturally look for help, nothing matters more than education."