Reg Clayton - who taught metal and woodwork from 1921-53 now has a page in the Staff Archives.

Old Scholars and ex-Staff will be very sad to learn that Ruth Harwood has died. She passed away on Friday 4th January 2008 at Hartrigg Oaks, New Earswick, York, where she lived in recent years.

In accordance with her instructions, funeral arrangements are: Cremation at York Crematorium, Bishopthorpe Road, York, YO23 2QD, 10.30 am, Monday 14th, January.   No flowers please but charitable donations to Great Ayton Meeting House, High Green, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire.  

There was a Memorial Service at Great Ayton Meeting House, High Green, Great Ayton, at 2.00 pm, Monday 14th January.

There is now an online Tribute and Appreciation of Ruth Harwood

There is sad news to pass on to OS; Joyce Spinks (Dobbing) 1932-42, died early in the week commencing 10th December following a fall at her home. Joyce's funeral was on Friday 21st December at 2.00 pm in Ayton Meeting House, following a cremation service for family and close friends.

Joyce, daughter of Herbert Dobbing who taught at Ayton from 1921-45, was a past AOSA President 1971-72 and was always to be seen at Reunion time, greeting and catching up on news with her very many friends. Joyce will be much missed by many generations of Old Scholars.

There is now an online Tribute and Appreciation to Joyce Spinks

It is with great sadness we advise Old Scholars and Friends that Martyn Gaudie (1935-38) - AOSA immediate Past President, died on Tuesday 4th September 2007.

The funeral was at Great Ayton burial ground and Meeting House at 3-pm on Monday Sept 10th., and there will also be a Memorial Meeting at Bootham School, York in November, a place where he spent many happy years, even after he left at old scholars cricket matches.

A Tribute and Appreciation of Martyn's life can be found on a separate page.

There is a new section in "History" - a complete website version of the 1941Centenary History by G. Alston Watson. There are links to each of thirteen chapters and one Appendix. A very interesting read.

The original Jubilee History of Ayton - 1841 to 1891 - written by George and Ralph Dixon, is now online. Thirteen chapters describing the formation and running of Great Ayton School, as it was then known, in detail to delight any historian but also of great interest for Ayton old scholars curious about the early days of their School, and all the better for being written by the two men, father and son, who ran the School for all the years covered in this book.

A fascinating insight into education and the life of Ayton School in the 19th Century.

You can now send Ayton postcards to friends and acquaintances. There are thirty six scenes - twelve each of: School & Grounds; Village and Countryside; and Archive photos. Just click on the thumbnail photo to bring up the page for you to complete and e-mail.

New photos are being added all the time; the problem was knowing where they are. Now there is a New Photographs page with thumbnails which are links to the actual location. If you want to know a bit about the photo rest the mouse pointer aver the thumbnail and wait for the "Alt Text" - then click on the thumbnail.

What's New? This page advises the small changes of to individual pages - photos and text articles  added and that sort of thing.

There is now a page notifying the deaths of old scholars and ex-Staff. The names are those that were not included in the current Annual Report.

Sidcot School were one the beneficiaries of £10,000 from distribution of remaining School funds. Alice Meager officially opened the Ayton Room - a striking common room and Ayton legacy. Follow this link for a page recording the opening ceremony.

If you go to Archive Contents  last from the foot you will find a new section: "Reminiscences." These pages are a series of mainly text articles, either written by old scholars, or reprinted from Becksides or AOSA Annual Reports.

There are two there now - excellent reading - and hopefully many more to follow.

The Archives section has been expanded, a project planned for many months. There are ten sections and an average of four pages per section - all photographs which go back to 1900 and stretch up to the 1990s.

Make sure you have plenty of time and you are online at a cheap rate time then follow the Archives Gallery link - here or from the homepage.

PS: If you can help with missing names there is an e-mail link on most pages.

Would you like to leave a message for a pal from days gone by? You can here - on the Forum - and conduct a running correspondence with one or more of your friends.

Would you like to be on the AOSA e-mailing list? When there is a significant addition or change to these pages you will receive an e-newsletter (anonymous to other recipients).

Even if you were not a member of Swarthmore House you might be interested to see more of the house, home of George Fox, which gave us the name Swarthmore Follow this link to see a comprehensive selection of photos and a look at Firbank Fell.

If you were not at Ayton School, or familiar with the area, you might like to see the part of a North Yorkshire map showing Great Ayton and the towns and villages nearby.

There are plenty of relevant web sites which may be of interest to visitors, including a new website devoted to Ayton Village. Follow this link see if there are any you wish to visit.

Can you help with addresses of AOSA Members who have moved house? We have twenty "lost" Life Members! Please have a look at the list and see if you know where any of them are living these days.

If you would like to know who is on the Committee and you your area representative is, plus loads of other information go to "Getting in Touch."

For those who are familiar with finding their way around a website there is no need for words of explanation. But if you are an Internet newcomer you might find a visit to the Navigation Page of assistance.

If this website - and possibly others as well - does not fit your screen horizontally it generally means your screen resolution need changing. Most website are designed to a resolution of 800 X 600 pixels to fit the majority of 15 inch screens but the resolution of screens is not always set correctly.

If you have a PC right click on the Desktop (screen without any programs open there) - you will get a box entitled "Display Properties." Click on "Settings" and you will see a screen image and a Screen Area slider bar with more at one end and less at the other. Slide to "More" a bit at a time to more until the home page fits the space.

I cannot help Mac users but if screen resolution can be a problem with Macs please e-mail and further notes will be added here.

One final point - if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer for for browser - when you have the website on the screen depressing the F11 key will clear away all the ancillary icons and buttons from the top of the screen leaving much more room for the website. Press F11 to return to normal.