Gazettes Galore!

Having now catologued all 285 copies of the Godolphin School magazine I have become aware of the changes it has undergone over the years. 

The earliest copy in the collection dates from 1920 however it is the 72nd issue. So far none of the 71 earlier issues have been found.

The most obvious changes are those on the front cover and the magazine's name.

GSM Issue no. 72 Autumn 1920 & GG Issue no. 144 February 1947

At first the magazine was called 'Godolphin School Magazine'. It's crest changed to a colour copy in the mid '20s. 

In 1947 the Old Godolphin Gazette publication and the Godolphin School Magazine combined efforts to create the Godolphin Gazette which featured news from the present school and the OGA. Instead of having an editor, sub-editor and a treasurer in charge of the production of the magazine: a general editor, an OG editor and a school editor became responsible.

GG Issue no. 177 Autumn 1975 & Issue no. 194 Autumn 1992

 In 1975, the layout changed dramatically - the size increase to an A4 magazine and many advertisements suddenly appeared at the front and back of the magazine.

In 1981 the headmistress' note in the Gazette alluded to the reinstatement of an OG newsletter. The Gazette therefore, once again, became mainly a report on the present school (as it had been before 1947).

By the 1990s the magazine increased in size again and more coloured images were introduced throughout the magazine. 

This should be issue no. 214 but the magazines are no longer numbered

The most recently published Gazette displays the new logo on the front. One particular feature that seems present throughout the magazine's history is the emphasis placed on the girls' achievements in extra curricular activities. Sport, poetry and school trips among other things often feature. This photo (above) of a West Side Story drama performance  puts me in mind of many drama pictures I've seen in the Gazette. For example a photo of the performance of The Boy David is on the first page of the Summer 1941 issue. Some things never change!

A page from a Gazette of the '90s

This page is from an early '90s issue of the Gazette. 20 years on I'm sure lots of the present girls would agree with many of the comments written here.

The Gazette in WWII

Through the years of the second World War the Godolphin School Magazine (as it was still called at  that time) became a rather slimmer publication and the front cover was removed.

Left: the magazine in wartime Right: the magazine's cover with the school crest returned after the war

In the editorial of the 1945 Summer Term issue, the editor points out that the reappearance of the front cover is a result of the return of peacetime conditions.

Issue no. 141 Summer 1945

Issue no. 142 Autumn 1945

In the next edition of the magazine, Autumn 1945, the editor explains that for many of the girls this is in fact their first term at Godolphin School in peacetime. That's quite a thought! For many of these girls a lot of their secondary education was affected by changes brought on by the war.