Over the past year I have been on a journey to curate an exhibition with the purpose of celebrating Waltham Forest College’s 85th anniversary and to present the most up-to-date record of its history in an accompanying book.
Creating Futures: Arts, Heritage, Community at Waltham Forest College started life in 2019 when I began to piece together a brief timeline of the College from 1938 to the present. In the previous year I had discovered a selection of old documents buried in a storeroom. This kick-started my fascination with this niche local topic. Although it was in the back of my mind I did not know that it would ever evolve into an exhibition, so I focussed on documenting the history by writing articles on the College’s website.
These panels featured historical context (1850-1937) to Waltham Forest College and its first year (1938-1939).
The exhibition came to life after a chance encounter in 2020 with photographer JC Candanedo and visual artist Thaïs Verhasselt who were supporting students on The Prince’s Trust Team Programme based at the College. We soon realised that our personal projects aligned and in October 2022 began the journey to co-curate a week-long exhibition that featured our three projects. The exhibition opened on 16th October 2023 and remained until 22nd October.
JC Candanedo’s project was Seeing Changes and Thaïs Verhasselt’s was Seeking the Whole Picture.
Throughout the year I worked tirelessly to research the College (formerly known as the South-West Essex Technical College) by poring over old prospectuses, principal reports, letters, brochures, journals, newspaper articles and more. I spoke to people who had attended the College (former students and staff), and their relatives, and visited the archives at the University of East London (UEL).
My primary goal was to create a series of panels that displayed easily digestible written information alongside a selection of historical photographs that best represented the College through the decades. There would also be two display cabinets with physical archive material as well as two videos: the first featuring the Official Opening Ceremony of the College and the second an edited cut of Children’s Charter a propaganda film that was partially filmed at the College circa 1944.
Although the College opened in 1938 I wanted to start the exhibition in the year 1850 to provide historical context. This era focussed on the decline of the British Empire from an education and manufacturing perspective when compared to fast-industrialising rivals such as Germany and the United States of America. Against that backdrop I was able to take the viewer on a journey through time to the present day.
Accompanying the exhibition was a book titled Creating Futures. The book expanded on the displayed content with further information and imagery. It has been written in a style that guides the reader through the College’s history against a backdrop of national and international events.
Initially, I didn’t intend to write an accompanying book – it was to be a small brochure that included the exhibitors to be used as an introductory piece. However, as I conducted my research and slowly pieced together the narrative and visuals for the display panels, I soon realised I had far more valuable content to share than I could ever put on display. Thus the idea for the book was borne and over a period of five months I wrote and designed 120 pages of historical information and photography. The book is extensive, however, I truly believe it only scratches the surface of what the College has to offer. Maybe one day I will revisit and expand upon this project or, perhaps more sensibly, I will follow in the footsteps of my predecessors and leave it to somebody else to continue.
The first written record of the College’s history was published in 1947 in a book called The Country Should Be Grateful – The War-time History of the South-West Essex Technical College and School of Art written by W. R. Bray, a maths lecturer at the College. The second record came forty-one years later when Deputy Librarian Judy Seabourne wrote a small book for the College’s 50th anniversary celebration.
My book, Creating Futures, has followed this timeline to be produced 35 years later and I’m proud to be the third person in the chain to document the College’s history for future generations. The one-hundredth anniversary is only fifteen years away so perhaps the next chapter will not have to wait for too long.
There have been two main highlights during this journey which have had a profound impact on me.
The first is the collaboration with the aforementioned visual artists. Both have brought a wealth of knowledge to the process and it is safe to say that without them as co-curators this exhibition would not have been the success that it was. Not only did they bring their experience and skill, but their projects provided an additional perspective bringing the exhibition to life while helping to create a bridge between the College and Walthamstow’s history and the modern day.
The second highlight was the chance to meet with a range of people. Those who had either attended the College as a staff member or student or one of their relatives.
I met Patricia Heath in 2019. She had attended the College during its opening year (1938-1939) before the day schools were evacuated due to World War 2. She still had the original blue blazer from that first year maintained in pristine condition. She regaled those of us who met her with stories of her time at the College and her subsequent years during and after the war. Her daughter Linda donated the blazer and Patricia’s original report card to the College and they were both proudly displayed at the exhibition.
Another person I met was Pam Everton, the wife of Sam Everton who had attended the College between 1939 and 1941. Pam told me stories of how Sam had fled from Czechoslovakia after the Nazis annexed the Sudetenland. He began his harrowing journey to London first with nine friends, all of whom were either shot or captured at the Polish border and later, alone, relying on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter. He successfully made it to the United Kingdom with no money and little English but a passion for art. After a series of moves between refugee camps and hostels, he enrolled at the College and spent two years studying art. He later joined the Royal Air Force (RAF), serving during World War 2, before stepping into a career in advertising that led to thirty years at The Illustrated London News. Pam also loaned me original artworks by Sam, some of which he had completed in the College.
These stories, and others, helped make the exhibition a more personal experience and brought to life the College’s earlier years for visitors.
During the war the College helped to train over 12,000 service personnel from the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy (and their female counterparts) while still providing education to the civilian population.
The launch night of the exhibition was Tuesday 17th October 2023. In attendance were staff and students of Waltham Forest College, representatives from the London Borough of Waltham Forest, Greater London Authority, Association of Colleges, The Prince’s Trust and other education and social organisations. Those who had previously worked or studied at the College also attended alongside the relatives of people whose stories were displayed.
The launch night and exhibition as a whole were, without a doubt, a resounding success. It was nostalgic to former (and long-standing) staff and students, eye-opening to current staff and students and fascinating to those guests who had not previously been to the College or who did not realise the extent of its history.
I had the pleasure of meeting Patricia when she visited the College in 2019 with her daughter Linda.
Patricia’s blazer from her first year at the College was also on display.
This has been a difficult year. Not only was I trying to curate an exhibition (a task I had never attempted before), but I was also deep in the process of moving house. Despite the late nights, working weekends and periods of stress and sleeplessness this exhibition has helped me in many ways.
Primarily, it has honed my skills as a graphic designer. I singlehandedly designed all the exhibition display panels and the accompanying book. But it has also expanded my skillset into research, writing, archiving and curation. All of which I can carry forward into future projects or jobs.
Most importantly, this project has given me a boost of self-confidence. I now have more internal reassurance that when I dedicate myself to a project it has the potential to be as good as, if not better than, the Creating Futures exhibition. In the past I tended to start a project and not finish it. I lacked the capacity to set goals and monitor progress to ensure outcomes were being achieved successfully and to a schedule. Now I have gained this awareness (thanks in part to the project management skills of JC) I feel much more confident in my ability to complete future projects.
Keep watching this space.
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Visually Interesting 
Well done
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