Ladies & Gentlemen,
As you are no doubt aware in response to a considerable local demand the Lydney Secondary School was started in 1903, accommodation being found temporarily at the Lydney Institute. The School has from the outset, been well patronised by parents living in the district desiring a good Secondary Education for their children; and the decision which was come to by the Forest of Dean Education and the Lydney Institute Committee to open such a school in Lydney has been more than justified by the increasing demand made upon them by the locality to provide such education. The number of students now exceed 100, apart from the Pupil Teachers coming from the area of which it is the recognised centre. The Institute premises have for a long time proved wholly inadequate to accommodate our Secondary School, and both the Board of Education and the County Education Authority have only recognised it as a public day school, on the understanding and condition that sufficient accommodation, according to modern ideas and requirements is at once provided.

The proposed new buildings to be erected on a site adjoining the Science Wing and Institute, will together with the necessary furniture and equipment be an expenditure of about £6,000. These buildings will include a large assembly hall and two class rooms, which will together provide class accommodation for about 100 children, a Domestic Economy room, a teachers’ common room, the usual offices and a manual instruction room (detached).

The Gloucester Education Committee as part of their ‘Scheme for providing the County with an efficient system of higher education has recently adopted the following resolutions:
“That a Grant of £160 per annum for 30 years be made to the Lydney area, in order that the sum of £3,000 may be raised for building purposes, provided that a similar capital sum of £3,000, or else a sum of £160 per annum for 30 years if found locally either by rates or voluntary subscription, and that a further grant of £200 be made for the maintenance of the Secondary School.”

It will be seen therefore that the County is prepared to find half the estimated cost of the new building, but only on the footing that the other half is provided by the locality, either by local rates or private contribution.

The Lydney Rural District Council as representing parishes whose areas include a considerable portion of the agricultural part of the district served by the School, have decided to raise a sum of about £1,000 for the above purpose by levying a rate over their areas of 1/4d in the pound for a period of 30 years.

Unless the local authorities in our educational area are prepared to afford the same or similar assistance, there remains a sum of £3,000 to be provided by local contribution and towards this balance the sum specified in the accompanying list has already been either received or promised, which encourage us in the belief, that thanks to the public spirited efforts of those living, or interested in Lydney and its neighbourhood, the whole of the large sum required will be forthcoming without leaving any debt upon our Secondary School, and that the latter will be in every respect, a credit to the locality, and as good as any similar institution in the County.

It is difficult to imagine any public enterprise more deserving of your liberality and support, or more calculated to conduce, in the long run, to the prosperity and happiness of our local trading, industrial and agricultural communities; and we therefore appeal to you to generously provide the comparatively small sum which has yet to be found as part of our local contribution.

We may mention that the staff of the school has recently been strengthened and improved, and it will be our endeavour, with their valued assistance, to secure for all children in the district, for whom it may be desired by their parents, or who may be sent from local Elementary Schools after obtaining County Scholarships, a good sound Secondary Education at a very modest cost.

We are, Ladies & Gentlemen,

Yours faithfully

W.H. Marling, President
Chas. Bathurst, Jnr., Vice-President
R. Beaumont Thomas, Hon. Sec

Philip Bayliss *
James Lauder *
Wm. Jones *
Sidney J. Elson *

*Members of the Building Sub-Committee

Some of the Subscribers to this project to date.

Chas. Bathurst, Senr. & Jnr. The School Site.
W.H. Marling, Esq
R. Beaumont Thomas Esq.
Richard Thomas & Co. Ltd.
J. T. Smith (Chairman of Richard Thomas & Co. Ltd)
Mr. Richard Thomas (Founder of Richard Thomas & Co. Ltd)
H.M. Customs of Woods & Forests
Mrs. W. E Price
Sir Wm. H. Marling.
Mr. H. C. Bond (Director of Richard Thomas & Co. Ltd)
Sir Charles Dilke, Bart, M.P.
Colonel P. S. Marling.

The response was good and on January 17, 1907, the extensions to the Institute buildings were opened, comprising an Assembly Hall (now the V1 form room and Library, two classrooms (later converted into a Chemistry and subsequently a Biology Laboratory) a Domestic Economy Room (in which school dinners were later provided), and a detached Manual Instruction room near to the site of the present boiler house.

(R.A.J. Bell and H.T. Pitt)