History of school
In the early 1960s, Hugh Homan spent a year in Lucknow, India, as a volunteer at La Martiniere College under the British Voluntary Services Overseas programme. While he was there, he used to visit another VSO volunteer who was working in Bakshi Ka Talab and through this connection met Lakshmi Narayan Singh, the father of the Lawrence Homan Public School Director, Sushma Singh.
Lakshmi was one of the men who founded the town of Bakshi Ka Talab, which at that time was a very small settlement on a small road ten miles from the centre of Lucknow. He was a very successful businessman and helped many other people establish businesses and shops in the town.
In 1984, Lyn and Hugh Homan visited Bakshi Ka Talab. Hugh had learnt a lot from his time in India and wanted to give something back to the area. In 1986, Lakshmi suggested that they should establish a school in the area, and gave land from his forefathers on which to build it. Lawrence Homan Public School officially opened its doors in 1989, at which time it had 45 students and five teachers (including Sushma Singh, the Director). They studied in one classroom, and the school office was a mat on the floor.
Lakshmi, Lyn and Hugh founded the school in the firm belief that education is the single most important thing to enable people to make the most of their opportunities, and placed an emphasis on the importance of education of girls. This belief is still one of the core principles of the school. They insisted that the school should be properly established as a recognised Indian charity. Hugh has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the school since it was set up.
It was through Lakshmi’s vision that Lawrence Homan Public Inter College became as large and successful as it is today, but sadly he died in 2005, when he was 80, and could not see the completion of the building programme of which he had been the driving force. He would be immensely proud to see the kind of school his vision has produced, and the impact it has had on Bakshi Ka Talab.
The money to build the school has come from a number of sources, but the main source has been the money raised by Lyn. She has done this by selling silk paintings from Rajasthan in England and donating the profits she made to the school. The devotion Lyn has shown to supporting the school is an inspiration to everyone.
