Who writes the Wellington-Web??

I DO !!!!

My names Mike Hopwood, and I went to Wellington from 1982 to 1989, and was there during the transition from Mr Fogg to Mr Kirch and the purchase of the school by Nord Anglia.  I was also there when the girlies first arrived and when the school field was dug up and a hard surface area laid.

I now live in Broughton, which is about 4 miles from Chester, heading into Wales. I'm married to Amanda and we have 1 daughter, Charlotte (Charli).  I work as a Civil (highway) Engineer for Cheshire County Council.

Why Did You Start the Wellington-Web?

Starting at the beginning, my boss sent me on a web design course. I have no idea why because I don't write web-sites for work !! but hey I'll accept any new skills with open arms.  I decided then to write my own simple site just to share photos and information about me, my family and our travels.  Then I discovered Friendsreunited, when there was just 6 ex-pupils registered.  As the number of old mates started to grow people started to put memories on the FR site and it was obvious how much Wellington has meant to some people.  I spent a rainy Sunday afternoon on 30th September 2001 writing a very basic site, putting photos on it that I had found at my Mum's house.  I sorted out some free web space and on the Monday asked a couple of old mates that I had got in touch with through FR to look at it. 

What happened then?

Feedback from the trial audience (thanks Chris, John and Nick) was good so I attached my site to FR.  From there people started to get in touch and send photos and other stuff in.  I started a guestbook so people could log their visit, and got some nice surprises when a few ex-teachers left comments.  Different sections started to spring up as the demand for information grew, culminating in the experimental virtual tour (thanks to John Gill for some great help with that).  As the site grew past the 30Mb mark, I decided that we needed our own identity.  All domains with just 'Wellington' in them had gone, so I settled for 'Wellington-Web.co.uk', and to couple with this, I upgraded the free hosting site to get rid of the increasingly annoying pop-up adverts.

What about research?

I've had some great suggestions from various people, and some of these have proved fruitful.  Others, sadly, have come to nothing.  I tracked down Mr Kirch and Dr Scott, and this appeared promising at first, with Dr Scott having many photos and videos.  Unfortunately, despite leaving several messages, I've never heard back from Dr Scott, and Mr Kirch has politely declined to answer a questionnaire that I thought might interest visitors to the site.  I also tracked down Mr Kirch's son, but that has not been fruitful either (he has been helpful, and there are mitigating reasons which I won't go into).  English heritage were very helpful, supplying aerial photos, as were Tranmere Rovers FC with access to the playing fields.  Nord Anglia came up with nothing, which surprised me to be honest, and Wirral MBC archive section never responded (thanks !).  I think I've now exhausted research channels, and I'm relying on you lot now to fill in the gaps.