Do you remember this finishing school in Bognor Regis?

Peter Godfrey found two pictures among his father’s belongings but has not been able to find out much about Redgate House School, which was run by Annie M. Godfrey, his great aunt, and cousin Lilian Farrington.

His father was from Chignall in Essex and he was born Percy Godfrey but changed his name to Peter when he joined the Navy in 1916.

Peter said: “I don’t know why Lilian Farrington set up school in Bognor. As far as I know, my father did not attend or teach at the school. Lilian was on his mother’s side and Annie was his aunt on his father’s side.

“I met Miss Farrington in the early 1950s when she was retired and living in Bognor with a Miss Muggeridge, who served us cucumber sandwiches, which is all I can remember of the event.

“I can’t find anything else, except that it was supposedly a finishing school for young ladies that must have evolved into something else – although I myself was sent to a girls’ boarding school when I was four, until seven, so the presence of young boys is not unusual.”

Peter thought people might be interested to see the photos and he wonders if anyone knows any more about the school.

Redgate House, in Upper Bognor Road, is now a Grade II listed building. The three-storey property is described by Historic England as a late 19th century house, converted to a hall of residence.

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