Winchester College Annual Report 2023 | Page 45

Two separate residential groups were hosted during the summer holidays and were on site for a total of four weeks , totalling over 3,300 bed nights and 10,000 meals being served . Students attended from countries across Europe , Asia and South America .
330 separate sporting fixtures were held across the academic year involving participants from outside the pupil body , these range from ProCo Football Academy sessions to circuit training classes , Rugby Tots to Fives tournaments , Hampshire Cricket Vipers squad selection days to a number of Hampshire County Cricket 2nd XI U18 matches on Lords .
Tours Over 6,700 visitors joined college tours over the last year , 2,500 in pre-booked groups and 4,200 on walk-up tours . Over 50 % of all attendees were receiving a concessional discount and 14 % attended free of charge , either as a child , attending Heritage Open Days , as a guest of the College , an OW or Friend of the College .
Booked groups have seen a strong revival with both European students and UK and international special interest groups returning to the College and accounting for nearly 40 % of all tour visitors .
In addition to the normal run of walk-up and booked tours , the guides provide tours for visitors attending Heritage Open Days , National Garden Scheme and residential groups .
The Treasury The Treasury Museum was open throughout the year and we welcomed 12,020 visitors ( 2022 : 8,468 ), providing educational sessions for more than a thousand pupils from 21 local schools and five universities .
Our main exhibition this year was a selection of highlights from the College watercolour collection , shown first at a gallery in central London for two weeks in the autumn of 2022 , and then in Treasury from January to April 2023 . A catalogue to accompany the exhibition presented new research into the thirty-five works on display .
We continue to catalogue the school ’ s collections and to make them available online . Major projects this year included the creation of a digital catalogue of Winchester ’ s nationally-important holdings of historic silver , and uploading information on all of our oil paintings to the Art UK | Discover Discover . We welcome scholars and students wishing to work with our collections , and objects from Treasury have this year featured in published research in a variety of fields , from ancient Greek gravestones to the watercolours of Thomas Girtin .
Archives It has been a busy year . During 2023 there were approximately 800 enquiries , with 51 visiting researchers who consulted over 1,500 documents . Our own pupils continue to make use of the archives , with two particular pupils undertaking substantial projects on various aspects of the school ’ s history . More resources have been added to our online digital archive and enhancements are underway to our Winchester College at war archive ( winchestercollegeatwar . com ). These initiatives open up our holdings to a much wider audience .
Fellows ’ Library The College offered public tours of the library throughout the year and put on special displays for visiting groups including the Winchester Catholic History Society , the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature , and the Jane Austen Society . Altogether the Fellows ’ Library welcomed more than 900 visitors in the past year .
We continue to provide access to researchers , both in person and remotely , and our books and manuscripts have featured in a number of publications , including a new biography of the nurse Mary Seacole and an article for English Heritage about the early history of football . The College ’ s copy of Shakespeare ’ s First Folio ( 1623 ) was displayed in the Treasury as part of a worldwide celebration of the 400th anniversary of the book ’ s publication .
Significant acquisitions this year included an Ethiopian manuscript of the Psalms and a page from a fifteenthcentury Italian manuscript by the scribe Pietro Ursuleo .
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