Archive Photo of The Month – June

As the school session starts to draw to a close, and with plans for prize-giving under way, the photo we share this month is an image from prize- giving at the Girls’ school in the 1950s.

The image, in fact images this month, show the assembly hall at Kingarth Street filled with prize winners and their friends and families. The old paintings on the walls of the former rectors are still held in the school archive.

The prize winner shown below is Elspeth Cowan who had previously also been the Junior Dux and who, after university and time spent abroad, returned to the school as a language teacher where she remained until she retired many years later.

Elspeth was awarded her Dux medal by the guests of the day who were Former Pupils John Buchan, and his sister, Anna Buchan, both notable authors. Elspeth is pictured alongside them, as well as the first female principal of the school, Margaret Kennedy.

The third image shows the girls dressed in their summer uniform – dresses with white socks and hair bows. The summer uniform could be bought in several different colours, including pink, green, yellow, blue, lilac, and beige – the assembly hall must have been awash with colour!

June marks the last Archive Photo of the Month for the 2024-2025 School Session. Would you like to know more about the School’s History? Contact our School Archivist, Ms Devenney at archives@hutchesons.org with any enquiries.

School Archive:

Committed to the collection, preservation and maintenance of the records of the school, its activities and pupils, the School strives to record the school’s history and memory and hold a range of archive material from class registers and magazines to photographs, trophies and uniforms. Pupils are encouraged at both Primary and Secondary School to engage with archive material, with the aim to provide a dynamic educational resource for the school and wider community.