The Salopian Summer 2023

SCHOOL NEWS
37
The John Weaver (OS) Dance Exhibition
The inaugural John Weaver Festival of Dance hosted by the School (see page 43) has been a wonderful opportunity to
delve deep into our historic collections and highlight some previously unseen items from the Taylor Library and Archive.
The festival weekend of 17th-19th March saw over 50 visitors make their way to the Moser Gallery to see our first editions
of Weaver’s works, which include two copies of An Essay towards an History of Dancing (1712) and a copy of Anatomical
and Mechanical Lectures upon Dancing (1721). Also on display, and brought together for the first time since they were
given to the School by Weaver himself in 1743, were Ptolemy’s Harmonicorum (1682), Danet’s Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Antiquities (1700) and Della Porta’s fascinating work on Physiognomy (1618). They give us a fascinating glimpse
into Weaver’s mind and the subjects that interested and inspired him.
Thanks to Tim Ashton (OS), the importance of dance as court magic and statecraft is explored through account books and
ledgers lent to us for the exhibition, relating to designs for a dancing pavement installed in the 19th century at his home at
Soulton Hall, but whose roots go back much further.
Naomi Nicholas
Orlando Bayliss (Rt U6) – Archives Volunteer, 2022-23
During my final year at Shrewsbury, I have had the privilege of spending my Wednesday mornings volunteering in the
Moser Library. Throughout my five years at Shrewsbury School, I have endeavoured to embrace its traditions and history.
Volunteering in the Library in the Upper Sixth has enabled me to do exactly this.
One of my roles has been to catalogue the School’s records in a digitised format. This job has given me a truly unique
insight into the history of the School which I feel very lucky to have experienced. Amongst the less exciting swathes of
‘bailiff & bursar correspondence’, many gems have been revealed. I have catalogued Richard Ingrams’ and Willie Rushton’s
‘Salopian’ articles and have uncovered proposals for the School’s move to Kingsland in 1882. The archives have, therefore,
unexpectedly provided a degree of interest and excitement which I had not anticipated at the outset.
In addition to cataloguing, my fellow volunteer Sam Unsworth and I were tasked with the job of deciphering and
recording the names engraved on the School wall (on which exemplary students were documented until the 1960s).
From the 2,249 names recorded, Sam and I encountered many fine Salopians, from Everest explorer Andrew Irvine to our
esteemed Archivist Dr Brooke-Smith! It was especially rewarding and interesting to take the time to appreciate a part of the
School which I had walked past many times without, I now realise, giving it due attention.
Volunteering in the Library has also given me a valuable opportunity to escape the, at times, relentlessly frenetic Salopian
life and enter the studious calm of the Archives, where one’s brain can move in a different, intriguing direction. Sam
Unsworth and I must thank Dr Brooke-Smith and Mrs Nicholas for their kind and expert insight into the wonderful
resource that is the Taylor Library and the Archives.