This page is simply a vehicle to share a panoramic photo of the school pupils and staff in, I believe, 1962/63 - the first school year in the new building at Astoria Gardens.
For more information on the School's history, there's an account by Ethel W. Gray, Bloomfield Collegiate School 1905-1988, published in 1989, ISBN No. 0 9514739 0 5. And of course there's a school website here which includes some pics, including Merchiston (see next paragraph).
The school began life in 1905 in the second of the pair of semi-detached houses, 443 Beersbridge Road, known as Merchiston (i.e. not the house siding directly onto the Beersbridge Road). Both houses face onto the then railway line - now the Comber Walkway.
Belfast News-Letter, Friday 21 July 1905, p.3:
After the first year, the school moved up the road to Hawarden, the house on the corner of the North Road and the Upper Newtownards Road, on the right hand side, heading out of town.
Pic below is Merchiston; RH pic is Hawarden.
Both pics are from Ethel Gray's book.
In 1930 the School moved again, down the road this time, to Hillview,
soon to be numbered as 144 Upper Newtownards Road. It had formerly been
the home of the Abernethy family, well-known in Belfast as
photographers from Victorian times. Nowadays, the site (opposite the
Beersbridge Road) is occupied by a care home.
Ethel Gray suggested in her book that 'the first panoramic photograph of the whole school was taken in 1970, thence a four-year cycle, with individual photographs in intervening years'. However, there does exist the following panoramic photograph from 1963 and I've since heard of one taken in earlier years at '144'.
Given the physical length of the 1963 panoramic photo, to make it accessible on this website, I have split it into eight overlapping sections which may be found in the gallery below. The photo has survived over the years, but its surface gloss has cracked in some places - due to it being rolled up. Those with photo software skills may be able to repair those defects. I can provide a much higher resolution if required (please use the Contact me page).
