After 1900 the number of pupils had declined to fewer than 30. On the outbreak of the Great War in October 1914 the schoolmaster volunteered for the army; declaring his age as 48 when he was actually 58. The school was occupied by the military and the pupils were transferred to the National School in Park Lane. By 1916 there were only 8 pupils left on the Charity’s role and the Trustees accepted that the school would not reopen.
Lady Winchcombe’s Charity was reconstituted in 1926 by the Charity Commission to release the original Charity from the obligation to run a school, and to allow the new Charity to give educational grants. A role that continues to this day.
As Thatcham continued to grow, the council school became overcrowded and the old chapel building was put into use as an overflow classroom. During the early parts of the 20th century it served as both a woodworking room and as a cookery room. In the 1960s the Kennet School was built as a secondary school for the town but this was found almost immediately to be too small for the number of pupils attending it. The chapel was then put into use again as an overflow classroom and was used for teaching of both History and Mathematics. It also appears that significant ʻmodernisationʼ was undertaken during this period.
A famous pupil of the school was William House who attended the school from 1890 -1893 and won the Victoria Cross during the Boer War in 1900.
During the Second World War the building was used as a canteen to prepare school meals. It was also used by the Home Guard, Air Training Corps and as a collection depot for household salvage.
Berkshire County Council hired the building from 1919 until 1964 to provide space for childrens’ cooking and woodworking lessons, and geography and maths lessons in the early 1960s. When Kennet School was expanded in 1964 the Council had no further need for the Bluecoat school. The Trustees then had a problem over what to do with the building because the Charity was only permitted to use it for educational purposes. After much discussion the building was sold to Berkshire County Council for £2500 in 1969, who refurbished it and leased it to two Antiques dealers until 2000. The Chapel building was Grade 1 Listed in 1983.
Berkshire County Council tried to put the building up for auction in 2003 with a guide price of £50,000 but local residents, notably Bobbie Collins Wootton, objected to the loss of Thatcham’s heritage, and the building was transferred to Thatcham Town Council who currently owns it and have leased it to the current Old Bluecoat School Charity since 2004 for community use.
The facilities are currently hired by a variety of local groups, that currently include mother & toddler groups, Makaton,
yoga, Pilates, singing, music, specialist interest clubs.
Maintaining this grade 1 listed building has resulted in a number of projects being undertaken over the years. In 2014 the exterior of the building was refurbished by the Charity at a cost of £150,000 after ten years of fundraising. In 2019 the interior was totally replastered and in 2024 a replacement English Oak front door was installed.
