In November 1888, the first edition of The Cheltenham Grammar School Magazine was published and we are fortunate to have a copy in the Archives. It seems though that this wasn’t CGS’s first school magazine as it states in the editorial notes that ‘It is thirty-four years since the School had a magazine of its own; the last number of The Cheltenham Grammar School Herald appeared in June 1854’.  The Herald’s existence was brought to light when several copies from 1854 were found during the demolition of the first school in the Lower High Street in 1887. We have a copy in the Archives but don't know when the Herald was first produced. 
 
In 1888, The Cheltenham Grammar School Magazine cost sixpence and was published three times a year.  It changed its name to The Patesian in December 1902 and used this until it ceased production in the early 1980’s. The sixpence charge stopped in 1911 (we don’t know why) and it became bi-annual in 1914 and then annually from July 1940.  
 
PGSG was founded in 1905 and produced its first magazine, named after the school, in 1910. The Editorial committee were very clear that it was to be a ‘help in our school life’ and that ‘Everybody in the school took an interest in it, everybody did their level best to make it a success, everybody looked forward to its coming out and everybody enjoyed reading it’.  It went through several changes of name and some large gaps in publication.  You may remember the colourful covers of Calliope running through the 1950’s - 1963/64 (named after Calliope, the most prominent of the Muses); Patesienne 1973 – 1979 and Pate’s 1980-1985. 
 
The coming together of the two schools in 1986 saw the launch of our current bi-annual school magazine Pate’s Progress - but not until 1994 when it was started by Gary Watson. Peter Davis and John Berry followed as joint editors until the noughties and they introduced colour, more pages and used the student body to assist as reporters, photographers and artists. You may remember these favourite features from that time - 'Pate's People', the staff 'Claim to Fame' and Sports section.  Despite its relatively short existence, Pate's Progress has covered some momentous events, for example, Edition 31, Autumn 2012, shows three of our students carrying the Olympic Torch. Do get in touch if you were one of the three!

These magazines hold a wealth of information about life and events in the three schools. Did you know that there is a tradition that Queen Elizabeth I was known as the “Foundress” of the School? The July 1902 CGS magazine, in an article about Richard Pate, reported that "Queen Elizabeth visited Cheltenham and was so pleased with the good work that Richard Pate had started, that in consideration of the services that he had rendered to the crown she gave him other lands and houses to increase the revenue of the charity “of her Royal mind and Noble inclination, and of her divine and fervent zeal for the advancement of learning and good literature and for the sustenance of her people“. For this reason she is called the “foundress” of the school."
 
We are also fortunate to hold copies of three ‘alternative’ school magazines from CGS – 'Schizoid' from the very early 1960s, 'Life Inside' from the 1970s and ‘Basic Grammer’ in the 1980s. Led by a sixth form editorial committee, with contributions from all year groups, these reflect their opinions and concerns of the day (!).  Basic Grammer had a 20/25p charge, we believe it ran to five editions and is notable for the detailed artwork on each cover. We have two editions of Life Inside and three editions of Schizoid.

If anyone has any school magazines which they would like to donate to the Archives please contact us on development@patesgs.org, we would love to fill in the gaps in our collection!