Wycombe Abbey Launches their 125 Anniversary Celebrations
27 September 2021 - All
This year, Wycombe Abbey celebrates the 125th anniversary of its founding by Dame Frances Dove in 1896. The School is excited to mark this anniversary with a number of events across the year that bring together the Wycombe Abbey community, and to look forward to the next 125 years.
To kick off the celebrations, on Saturday 11 September, girls and staff took part in a special colour run which took them around the School grounds whilst being blasted with colour powder along the way.
As Wycombe Abbey was founded on the day of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, 23 September 1896, we held a special Founder’s Day to honour Dame Dove and her legacy on Thursday 23 September 2021. Dame Frances was a trailblazer who promoted equal opportunities for girls in the Victorian age. The first cohort of girls in 1896 numbered only 40, but in just three years, the School was full with 210 pupils and now our School roll stands at 660. It was only 150 years ago that the vast majority of girls did not go to school, were unable to attend university or have a career. We are proud that Wycombe Abbey has played a pivotal role in the advancement of women’s education in this country. To read more about Dame Frances Dove, click here.
To celebrate Founder’s Day, along with local representatives, Headmistress Jo Duncan and the Head Girl Team, unveiled a new plaque and road name; Abbey Way has now been re-named Frances Dove Way. This was followed by a visit to view our School archives and the Bishop of Buckingham leading a beautiful Chapel Service for the whole School. To end the festivities, we gathered together for a birthday party filled with fairground rides, a live band and an amazing cake!
We are very excited to have started with such special events to mark our 125th year. We are now looking forward to the start of our 125 Speaker Series, Making a Difference on Friday 8 October with Liz Earle MBE as our opening speaker.
To learn more about how we are celebrating and how you can get involved, click here to visit the 125 website.