Auditorium

The Douglas Orane Auditorium stands on the Boys’ campus at National Heroes Circle. It is the hall the three Wolmer’s schools waited a generation for, and the room the Trust still uses for Founder’s Day, the Hall of Fame, and public work that needs a roof over a crowd.

The old hall was destroyed by fire in January 1991. Twenty-three years later, on 5 September 2014, ground was broken for a new one. The cenotaph to the twenty-one Wolmerians killed in the Great War was moved on 21–22 August 2014 to make space. Douglas Orane, past student and chairman of the fundraising committee, told the groundbreaking that $127 million of a $170 million project had already been secured in cash and pledges. Milton Samuda, chairman of the Trust, called it the turning of a new page. Principal Walton Small said the building would serve the students and help generate funds for the school.

Kingston’s mayor, Dr Angela Brown Burke, toured the unfinished hall in May 2015. The Gleaner recorded a quarter-acre building that would seat 1,800 and serve about 3,500 students across the three schools. The cost by then was $171 million, with $165 million raised. The first official function was the dedication on Founder’s Day, Thursday 21 May 2015, at 5 p.m. That October Orane, speaking at the first Hall of Fame induction in the finished hall, said he had raised more than $100 million for a state-of-the-art auditorium at his alma mater, and offered to help other schools do the same.

Our tradition of excellence demanded that this happen.

Milton Samuda · chairman of the Trust · groundbreaking, 5 September 2014 · JIS

JIS, 5 September 2014 · Jamaica Gleaner, 8 May 2015 and 8 October 2015. Booking numbers from the hall brochure.

Book the hall

The Douglas Orane Auditorium takes bookings. The printed hall brochure lists the Boys’ bursary as the booking desk, and gives these numbers.

From the hall

Public events the press has recorded in the Douglas Orane Auditorium.

All Auditorium stories · Bookings: wbs.bursary@wolmers.org