New exhibition including items from former school of John Lennon is unveiled

A brand new display of items belonging to John Lennon during his school days has been unveiled.

Schoolteacher Tom Barry applied for a post at Calderstones High School and was delighted to be invited for interview. During the interview, he was asked the usual question as to why he wanted to work at Calderstones. Tom explained that he was a massive fan of The Beatles, particularly John Lennon, and that it would be such a thrill to work at what was John’s former school, then known as Quarry Bank High School.

Prompted by Tom’s enthusiasm, the interviewer revealed that the school still had John Lennon’s desk in its possession and showed this to Tom.

Tom was successful in his application and was subsequently shown the admission register listing John Lennon and several members of his first band, The Quarrymen. While working at the school, Tom discovered that John’s Headteacher, Mr Pobjoy, had hoarded items from the school following the success of John Lennon with The Beatles. There was a locked room leading to an attic where the items were stored. Tom was given access to the attic, which was crammed with school memorabilia from John’s tenure, and he spent all the time he could exploring the contents.

The school has since decided to put Calderstones on the Beatles tourist trail. Tom contacted the Liverpool Beatles Museum, and a collaboration was formed whereby some of the items from Quarry Bank High School are now on loan at the museum. These include the original school sign, the school desk John Lennon worked from, the admissions register, original sheet music of the school song The Song of the Quarry, school magazines containing a drawing and a poem from John Lennon, and school ties and uniforms.

Tom has only managed to search around 10% of the attic, so many more interesting finds are likely.

The Quarry Bank High School artefacts were shown for the first time ever to an invited audience of Beatles fans at the Liverpool Beatles Museum on 18th September at 9.00 am.

To find out more about this John Lennon exhibition and much more, click here.

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