Tim Dodds

in 1983 - just as computers were becoming a little more commonplace - those who’d any information probably just wanted to disappear, get on with their lives and not bother with what had been and the sadness in the closing of the school.   So information which today would have been shared on the internet in the form of newspaper articles, local tv etc., sadly disappeared and most of it for ever.

One day in July 2009 however, whilst Googling PWFS again, I happened very excitedly  upon Tim’s blog.  Tim, living on the now ‘Paddock Wood Estate’, had done some research into the demise of the school and in doing so, had attracted many former students - myself included - hoping to have news of former friends.  They left messages in the hope that their friends would read them and Tim could then put them in touch.

I read the whole of Tim’s blog avidly; it became apparent that there were girls all over the world, trying to get in touch with their former friends.  Clearly, only if the girls they were looking for also happened upon Tim’s blog, would their calls for friendship be answered.  This could and was taking a very, long time; very few girls had been ‘connected’.

In the past, I’ve worked with databases, data protection and client privacy and it seemed this group of girls who were looking for their friends, needed one single steady, consistent base, somewhere they could belong to, somewhere where ALL former PW girls could ‘congregate’. This was when I decided I could start a database for all former students of the school - not just for my own year of friends.

In order to get started, Tim would need to furnish me with the email addresses of those who were looking for their friends and so I contacted him and we met at his and my ‘local’ 5 star hotel, the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, one day for tea.  We talked non-stop about PW, its former students, Mrs Savill, its roots and what transpired over delicious tea and home made chocolate chip cookies, was that Tim was very willing to share the email addresses of those who’d been in contact with him, which gave me the enthusiasm needed to embark on such a project.  Since then, Tim has ‘sent’ me girls who’ve written in to him and I’ve contacted them each, individually.  We now number just short of 200, in just over 24 months since we started.

Tim and his wife Jani, were guests of honour at our Reunion this year; without his tremendous help, kindness and enthusiasm, we’d not be the healthy number of former students we are today.  Thank you Tim, you have been and continue to be an inspiration.

You can see more pictures of Tim & Jani here