History of the Wyvernians

The following explanation by our founder Dennis Duggan appeared as a foreword in Andy Marlow's book on the history of the school:-


HOW THE CURRENT WYVERNIANS BEGAN


Given that I founded Wyvernians it's perhaps ironic that my time at The City Of Leicester Boys’ Grammar School (1959-1964) was not, on the whole, a very happy one. But I accept that was largely my own fault, and not the school’s. The years rolled by, and by the 1990s the Humberstone Gate building had found a new lease of life as Age Concern. Occasionally I would wander into Clarence House, as it was called, and although many changes had occurred it was still basically recognisable as my old school. Time is a great healer, and I felt nostalgia for those more innocent days. Maybe things had not been that bad after all...

During the spring of (I think) 1998, on a whim, I contacted the Leicester Mercury to invite my former classmates to join me at The Harrow, Thurmaston, for a get-together. I had no idea who would turn up, and was astonished at the response. Not only did a couple of teachers also turn up, but ex-pupils from other years asked if they could come. Let’s do it again next year was the message, so I contacted Age Concern to ask them if we could hold the next reunion at Clarence House. They were happy to oblige, and we have never looked back. Since then we have amassed a huge amount of memorabilia connected with the school, and as I write this foreword in September 2012, Old Wyves’ Tales 75 is being written. This simple publication has accidentally grown into what must surely be a unique history of one school, and I am delighted that Andy has taken things a step further with the publication of (this) book.

Wyvernians is a finite organisation, because membership is open only to those who attended City Boys prior to 1976. It is generally acknowledged that after that date all connection with the original grammar school was lost. In fact there is a body of opinion that after the 1965 move to the new school in Downing Drive, things were never quite the same again!

The switch to Clarence House (Humberstone Gate) as the venue for reunions occurred in 1999.