It was originally located on the north side of the High Street, opposite Rodney Road, and moved to the current site in Albion Street in 1811, next to the Coliseum (which in its time has been a Conservative Club, theatre, cinema, bingo hall, snooker hall, sports hall and is now apartments!). Many of you will have walked past it and perhaps wondered about the stone name plate ‘Pate's 1811’ set high up near the roof. Its best view is looking over from the pavement opposite (the back of Marks & Spencer Click & Collect car park) which is where the photo was taken from.

The almshouse, now known as ‘Pate House’, is looked after by the Pate House Charity http://patehousecharity.co.uk/ Over the years, the house has been extended and modernised and now provides ten individual flats rented to active elderly persons. It is managed by eleven locally based trustees and has been financed separately from the Pate’s Foundation since the 1990’s. 

The School connection with Pate House has remained close over the years with several alumni and staff from both the boys’ and girls’ schools being Trustees and the late Roland (Roly) Kirk was Chair of the Pate House Trustees (and former Chair of the School Governors). Two Pate’s ex-staff members have current roles - Noel Furley is Chair and Bob May is a Trustee - and alumnus Gareth Gregory (1972 starter) is a Trustee. Noel recently contacted the school’s volunteer archivists Maggie Cowie and Rob Rimell as their numbers were down to nine and Maggie and Rob are thrilled to now be Trustees! 

Fred Jessop, Deputy Head of CGS, used to take some boys to help tend the garden in the 1960s. Were you one of them? Were you taught about the almshouse when you were at school? If you have any further details of the building, we’d love to hear more about it so please do post a comment below.