Who do you recognise in this month’s film footage?

It is from a school ski trip in the late 80s (or possibly early 90s). The first ski trip was to Les Arcs, and this was followed by Les Deux Alpes, when almost half the school hit the slopes.

There were more trips to La Plagne, Montgenevre, and the Swiss resort of Morgins, part of the huge Franco/Swiss Portes du Soleil ski area

We think this footage was from the trip to La Plagne and it was taken on a very old wind-up clockwork cine camera – before the school acquired its own large video camera. Sadly, the Standard 8 film has started to degrade, which has severely affected the quality, but at least we have saved what we can for prosperity before these memories disappear completely.

The school’s video camera was used during the next ski trip – so watch out for this footage in the future.

In this cine film footage, staff-wise, you will be able to spot Mrs (Jacquie) Baldwin, and Mr (Andy) Vavasour, who was the nephew of maths teacher Mrs Pauline Vasasour. He was visiting the UK from New Zealand and was staying with his aunt who lived close to the school in Solefields Road. During his stay he was given a job as a handyman at the school and was able to go on two of the school ski trips.

He now runs his own Landscape Gardening business in New Zealand, and we hope to contact him to provide his own nostalgic view of his days working at West Heath from a Kiwi’s perspective – watch this space.

To see a short extract of the film CLICK HERE or on the photo below. For a much longer version go to the Video Page in the members only section.