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Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Looking back on the school's past of love and war
WHEN lights went out at Donaldson's College, Irene Wilson and Eleanor Davidson would sneak out of their dormitories and upstairs to the unused third floor, then climb the spiral staircase to the clock tower. It was rumoured that the upper floors of the school were haunted, and the 12-year-olds who were both deaf couldn't contain their curiosity.
"We didn't ever see any ghosts but all of the children talked about them," smiles Irene, now 63, as a communication support worker translates her rapid sign language. "We never stayed for long. We were scared stiff."
There is a simple explanation behind the ghostly atmosphere on the upper floors of the school for the deaf on West Coates.
The lofty rooms were dormitories for the first children who attended the school in the 1850s. It was later discovered that the echoes that reverberated around them would boom loudly against the eardrums of anyone wearing a hearing aid, creating what might be construed as ghostly sounds.
But there could be another reason for the sinister atmosphere on the building's upper floors.
Only a few years before best friends Irene and Eleanor used to sneak out of their beds in the dead of night, the rooms housed German and Italian prisoners from the Second World War. The rooms have lain empty ever since, but step inside and their sad history is still apparent.
While the dusty rooms are bare, except for a few small iron bedsteads, the green shutters and cupboards that line their walls are covered in graffiti, declaring "Heil Hitler", "POW, Italian Fascist" and there is even a recital of the Lord's Prayer in Italian.
"The traces of these soldiers can still be seen from the graffiti," says George Montgomery, a former psychologist at the school and now secretary of the former pupils' association. "And in 1957 emergency supplies hidden by the prisoners were discovered. While installing new bathrooms on the first floor, the existing floor was lifted and the cavities had been filled with tins of bully-beef, biscuits and matches."
During wartime Donaldson's pupils were evacuated to Cockburnspath and North Berwick because of air-raid danger. And as the numbers of German and Italian prisoners of war increased, Donaldson's became the city's largest war camp, with tents on the lawn housing British armed guards. German prisoners were housed in the west wing and Italian prisoners in the east wing.
A sentry box used during the war has remained in the building and is kept in the great hall on the ground floor. But nowadays the upper floors of the majestic, A-listed building near Haymarket are completely out of bounds.
Donaldson's is a residential and day school for those who are deaf or have severe speech and language difficulties and provides education and care for boys and girls from two to 19 years old.
The building is being converted into flats next year, after being sold off in 2003 to property developer Cala for £15m, but parts of it will be open to members of the public - this Saturday during Doors Open Day - for one last time before work begins.
When the 68 pupils and staff move to a new, purpose built site in Linlithgow in 2008 they will be leaving behind a building steeped in history.
Built in 1851, the school is one of Edinburgh's best-known landmarks.
Irene remembers her first day in September 1947 like it was yesterday.
"I was amazed at the size of the building," she recalls. "I felt so happy to spend time with other children like me, and I loved swimming and playing tennis."
Irene, who lives with her husband David in Fife, was diagnosed with profound deafness after contracting German Measles at nine months old. Having been born to hearing parents, the mum of two sons, Keith, 30, and Craig, 31, did not use sign language at home in Dunfermline. In the 1940s and 50s, signing was not used as a form of teaching and oral communication was believed to be the best way forward. But for children like Irene and Eleanor, it was much harder for them to understand.
"I learnt through my friends how to sign and that is how we communicated with each other," Eleanor, who was also diagnosed with profound deafness after contracting German measles, recalls.
"When I went home during the holidays it was very hard to communicate with my parents. Donaldson's really became a second home for me and I am sad to see it moving to Linlithgow."
For Irene and Eleanor, who both taught sign language at the school as adults, leaving Donaldson's as teenagers and going into the "hearing world" was difficult. "Now pupils are taught life skills, and we can see children here developing quicker," says Eleanor, 63, who lives in the New Town with her husband Andrew, and has two sons, Alan and John, who are in their 30s.
"The biggest problem for us was a lack of communication and information for us in the hearing world, and there wasn't so much deaf awareness."
For current staff and pupils the move next January will be bittersweet. "There is so much history here and it is a beautiful and glorious building," says principal Janice MacNeill. "But we are a small educational trust and can't afford the upkeep. It is an old, A-listed building that needs a lot of maintenance, and we only use a few of the 264 rooms, so it makes sense for us to move to the new building. Also things have moved on with technology and learning and we need to be in a building that can cater for those needs.
"Just as this was an iconic building in Victorian times, I think the new building will also be an iconic building, but in a modern style."
Abigail Mathieson, 17, who was born deaf and has cerebral palsy, will move to the Linlithgow site in January before finishing school next summer. "I've been here for eight years and it has gone so quickly," she says. "I love it here. I like the deaf culture and you feel really involved with everything. Deaf studies is my favourite subject, where you learn about culture, history and your own personal identity and rights.
"I'm not sure about moving because I don't know Linlithgow and I have only seen the school half-furnished. It seems like there are better facilities there but then there is a deaf club in Edinburgh and there are great shops too. We will just have to wait and see. One thing is certain, I know I'll miss the building."
Donaldson's College will be open as part of Doors Open Day on Saturday between 10am and 4pm
THE FACTS
Donaldson's College is Scotland's national residential and day school providing education and care for pupils who are deaf or have severe speech and language difficulties.
The college, in West Coates, was originally built by William Henry Playfair with money derived from the estate of Edinburgh publisher Sir James Donaldson and completed in 1850.
It was revealed in 2003 that the college is to be transformed into private flats after the college board and Cala Homes struck a £15 million deal for the A-listed landmark building.
Staff and pupils will relocate to a purpose-built site at Preston Road in Linlithgow in January 2008, and the new college will accommodate a maximum roll of 120 pupils.
Within the main building there will be a specialised testing facility, a gym, swimming pool, fitness room, dining room, library and assembly room plus a range of other facilities such as life skills and art rooms. The new building will also have a separate residence building, with 24 bedrooms split into three units. Every bedroom has en-suite facilities and each unit has its own kitchen, dining and common room.
All of this is set into a tree-lined, hilltop site within a quiet residential area. The grounds have a cycle track and barbecue area together with play and sensory areas.
WHEN lights went out at Donaldson's College, Irene Wilson and Eleanor Davidson would sneak out of their dormitories and upstairs to the unused third floor, then climb the spiral staircase to the clock tower. It was rumoured that the upper floors of the school were haunted, and the 12-year-olds who were both deaf couldn't contain their curiosity.
"We didn't ever see any ghosts but all of the children talked about them," smiles Irene, now 63, as a communication support worker translates her rapid sign language. "We never stayed for long. We were scared stiff."
There is a simple explanation behind the ghostly atmosphere on the upper floors of the school for the deaf on West Coates.
The lofty rooms were dormitories for the first children who attended the school in the 1850s. It was later discovered that the echoes that reverberated around them would boom loudly against the eardrums of anyone wearing a hearing aid, creating what might be construed as ghostly sounds.
But there could be another reason for the sinister atmosphere on the building's upper floors.
Only a few years before best friends Irene and Eleanor used to sneak out of their beds in the dead of night, the rooms housed German and Italian prisoners from the Second World War. The rooms have lain empty ever since, but step inside and their sad history is still apparent.
While the dusty rooms are bare, except for a few small iron bedsteads, the green shutters and cupboards that line their walls are covered in graffiti, declaring "Heil Hitler", "POW, Italian Fascist" and there is even a recital of the Lord's Prayer in Italian.
"The traces of these soldiers can still be seen from the graffiti," says George Montgomery, a former psychologist at the school and now secretary of the former pupils' association. "And in 1957 emergency supplies hidden by the prisoners were discovered. While installing new bathrooms on the first floor, the existing floor was lifted and the cavities had been filled with tins of bully-beef, biscuits and matches."
During wartime Donaldson's pupils were evacuated to Cockburnspath and North Berwick because of air-raid danger. And as the numbers of German and Italian prisoners of war increased, Donaldson's became the city's largest war camp, with tents on the lawn housing British armed guards. German prisoners were housed in the west wing and Italian prisoners in the east wing.
A sentry box used during the war has remained in the building and is kept in the great hall on the ground floor. But nowadays the upper floors of the majestic, A-listed building near Haymarket are completely out of bounds.
Donaldson's is a residential and day school for those who are deaf or have severe speech and language difficulties and provides education and care for boys and girls from two to 19 years old.
The building is being converted into flats next year, after being sold off in 2003 to property developer Cala for £15m, but parts of it will be open to members of the public - this Saturday during Doors Open Day - for one last time before work begins.
When the 68 pupils and staff move to a new, purpose built site in Linlithgow in 2008 they will be leaving behind a building steeped in history.
Built in 1851, the school is one of Edinburgh's best-known landmarks.
Irene remembers her first day in September 1947 like it was yesterday.
"I was amazed at the size of the building," she recalls. "I felt so happy to spend time with other children like me, and I loved swimming and playing tennis."
Irene, who lives with her husband David in Fife, was diagnosed with profound deafness after contracting German Measles at nine months old. Having been born to hearing parents, the mum of two sons, Keith, 30, and Craig, 31, did not use sign language at home in Dunfermline. In the 1940s and 50s, signing was not used as a form of teaching and oral communication was believed to be the best way forward. But for children like Irene and Eleanor, it was much harder for them to understand.
"I learnt through my friends how to sign and that is how we communicated with each other," Eleanor, who was also diagnosed with profound deafness after contracting German measles, recalls.
"When I went home during the holidays it was very hard to communicate with my parents. Donaldson's really became a second home for me and I am sad to see it moving to Linlithgow."
For Irene and Eleanor, who both taught sign language at the school as adults, leaving Donaldson's as teenagers and going into the "hearing world" was difficult. "Now pupils are taught life skills, and we can see children here developing quicker," says Eleanor, 63, who lives in the New Town with her husband Andrew, and has two sons, Alan and John, who are in their 30s.
"The biggest problem for us was a lack of communication and information for us in the hearing world, and there wasn't so much deaf awareness."
For current staff and pupils the move next January will be bittersweet. "There is so much history here and it is a beautiful and glorious building," says principal Janice MacNeill. "But we are a small educational trust and can't afford the upkeep. It is an old, A-listed building that needs a lot of maintenance, and we only use a few of the 264 rooms, so it makes sense for us to move to the new building. Also things have moved on with technology and learning and we need to be in a building that can cater for those needs.
"Just as this was an iconic building in Victorian times, I think the new building will also be an iconic building, but in a modern style."
Abigail Mathieson, 17, who was born deaf and has cerebral palsy, will move to the Linlithgow site in January before finishing school next summer. "I've been here for eight years and it has gone so quickly," she says. "I love it here. I like the deaf culture and you feel really involved with everything. Deaf studies is my favourite subject, where you learn about culture, history and your own personal identity and rights.
"I'm not sure about moving because I don't know Linlithgow and I have only seen the school half-furnished. It seems like there are better facilities there but then there is a deaf club in Edinburgh and there are great shops too. We will just have to wait and see. One thing is certain, I know I'll miss the building."
Donaldson's College will be open as part of Doors Open Day on Saturday between 10am and 4pm
THE FACTS
Donaldson's College is Scotland's national residential and day school providing education and care for pupils who are deaf or have severe speech and language difficulties.
The college, in West Coates, was originally built by William Henry Playfair with money derived from the estate of Edinburgh publisher Sir James Donaldson and completed in 1850.
It was revealed in 2003 that the college is to be transformed into private flats after the college board and Cala Homes struck a £15 million deal for the A-listed landmark building.
Staff and pupils will relocate to a purpose-built site at Preston Road in Linlithgow in January 2008, and the new college will accommodate a maximum roll of 120 pupils.
Within the main building there will be a specialised testing facility, a gym, swimming pool, fitness room, dining room, library and assembly room plus a range of other facilities such as life skills and art rooms. The new building will also have a separate residence building, with 24 bedrooms split into three units. Every bedroom has en-suite facilities and each unit has its own kitchen, dining and common room.
All of this is set into a tree-lined, hilltop site within a quiet residential area. The grounds have a cycle track and barbecue area together with play and sensory areas.