History
The old school building, demolished at 85 years old, was originally founded as Madeley Senior Council School, Hill Top, opened in 1927 with 400 mixed places. It later became known as Madeley Modern School from 1944, it was enlarged in 1958-9 and had 619 pupils by the end of 1959. It amalgamated with Coalbrookdale High School in 1965 to form the Abraham Darby Comprehensive School. There were 1,244 pupils in 1980. The school has had 44 years of musical tradition and success, particularly with the wind band and the famous Abraham Darby Showband, which has played in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and at the Carnegie Hall in New York. In recognician of this success, the school achieved Arts College status and again renamed itself, this time to the Abraham Darby School for the Performing Arts in 2003.
The new building began construction in late 2009 and completed in 2012. It was officially opened by Prince Edward on October 11th 2012.
Read more about this topic: Abraham Darby Academy
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History has neither the venerableness of antiquity, nor the freshness of the modern. It does as if it would go to the beginning of things, which natural history might with reason assume to do; but consider the Universal History, and then tell us,—when did burdock and plantain sprout first?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)