Former Mayor and ex-pupil visits Oakfield Academy

Oakfield Academy  welcomed former Mayor of Frome, Philip Whitmarsh, recently.  

The academy reports, “Mr Whitmarsh is an ex pupil of the school, attending 1951-1957, between the ages of 11 and 17.  Very unusually for the time Mr Whitmarsh took his O-levels at Oakfield, achieving good grades in maths, English and biology.  Oakfield Academy was a Secondary Modern School during this time.  Mr Whitmarsh missed many years of education during his early years, he suffered with polio from the age of 4 and was in and out of hospital— in 1951 at the age of 11 he was sadly in hospital for 6 months!

“He managed to overcome these setbacks though and caught up with the other children in his year group.  During his visit he chatted with headteacher, Miss Wilkes, and shared a story about how he stood up to the bullies at the time.  He also spoke very fondly about his maths/PE teacher, Mr Ward, who took him under his wing and encouraged him to aim high.

“Miss Wilkes was delighted when Mr Whitmarsh donated and signed two copies of his autobiography “I am not prepared to accept that.’ Mrs Coates, our librarian, is sure that it will be  a very popular read.”