Trip to Walton Hall

Outings

Visit to the OU at Walton Hall

A small group of members visited the Open University library and archive as part of a short tour around the Walton Hall campus. This was the first tour organised by the library and thanks must go to Ruth Cammies, University Archivist for organising and leading the tour. It was by a chance meeting at last freshers’ event that Ann Timlett, our representative at the Freshers’ Fair, met Ruth and so it came about that the tour was organised.

After a short introduction in the Betty Boothroyd library, named after one of the University’s past vice chancellors, we moved outside to see other buildings. We passed the site of the original library which has now been rebuilt and is named after Jenny Lee, the driving force behind the founding of the OU. From there we carried on to the oldest building on the site, the church, which when the OU took over was in a very poor state and had been deconsecrated some years previously. Since then, the OU has restored much of the inside of the building making it a very interesting place to visit. The walls are lined with commemorative plaques of the landowners of the Walton Hall estate going back to the 1600s.

From there it was a short walk to the original house, Walton Hall, and here Ruth described various aspects of its construction. Prior to lunch we made our way to the Legacy Garden which is a place of quiet contemplation with beautiful plants, commemorating those who have given legacies to the University. Lunch was organised by Ruth and kindly paid for by the University.

Following lunch, we were taken back to the library building where we spent time looking at the archives. A display had been set up especially for us. These very interesting items included samples of the very first modules, such as A100, scientific experiment kits, old film reels and even the very first issue of our journal Open History. There were also pictures of important events in the Open University’s history and some of the old video machines. We were also invited to the storage rooms where the archives are kept.

Following the success of this visit, the OU library and archive will be organising similar events in the future which will be advertised on the Open University’s website.