1997 was the Centenary year of the Bolton County Grammar School building on Great Moor Street. A time for old students to look back with nostalgia. No doubt they will recall watching, with some trepidation, the bald pate of Mr. Skuce as he strode through the Hall, hoping anxiously that it wasn't the noise from their class that was the focus of his attention. Mr. Skuce was a strict disciplinarian, not averse to cuffing an offending boy around the ears. Possibly they will remember Mr. John Mackereth delivering a chemistry lecture, perched on an empty desk, idly pulling at his beak of a nose. Perhaps they recall Miss Hoyle smiling benevolently over her glasses or Mr. Martin the blind music teacher.
They may remember potato or pea picking camps with Mr. Sandbach, or recall gym with Mr. Aspinall, the rotund P.E. teacher, ex-gymnast and 1936 Olympic gymnastic team coach. Whatever their memories, there is no doubt that with few exceptions they enjoyed their time at the Bolton County Grammar School and looked back with nostalgia at those far off school days!
Few will be aware of the long history of the School and the contribution that it made to education in the Bolton area. Bolton in the nineteenth century was the leading cotton spinning town in the Northwest. Its indigenous population comprised either extremely wealthy mill owners or the poor who worked and sweated in their mills. The professional class, comprising architects, lawyers and doctors, bridging the gap between the extremely poor and the wealthy factory owners, was drawn from the wealthy families of the day.
The working classes had little or no opportunity to improve their lot. Infant mortality was high. Surviving children commenced work in the mills at the age of twelve. Poor nutrition and disease resulted in early death, while endemic rickets led to two out of every four mill workers being deformed with bowed legs or knock-knees.
The gradual awakening of social responsibility in the nineteenth century came to the fore with the opening of Higher Grade Schools that were intended to provide secondary school education for working class children of 'superior attainments'. For the first time, the poorer classes had an opportunity to educate and improve the lot of their children. Education opened a door for their children to escape from the poverty that had imprisoned them and their forebears.
A major landmark in Bolton's history was the opening, in 1881, of the 'Bolton Higher Grade School' in Albert Place, School Hill, with fifty scholarship pupils. It was staffed by Mr. John Thornton, B.A., M.A., the Headmaster who served from 1882 to his retirement in 1917 and five supporting teachers. Previously, the only school providing higher education in the Bolton area was the 'Church Institute', now the 'Canon Slade Grammar School' .
By 1885 there were some three hundred and eighty pupils at the school. The fees were nine pence per week for each child attending the school. All subjects were taught by the class teacher. Each teacher was responsible for two groups of children. In 1899 a law was passed establishing a minimum leaving age of thirteen years and in order to ensure continuity of education for the children, parents were required to promise not to withdraw their child until they had completed their examinations.
A new and much improved school building, 'Clarence Street Higher Grade School', was built on the site of 'All Saints' School' in Bolton. The cost of the new school was seven thousand, two hundred and thirty four pounds seven shillings and seven pence! It was resplendent with fine well-equipped chemistry and physics laboratories and a lecture theatre to seat one hundred pupils and a total capacity for five hundred and forty two students. The staff comprised eleven qualified and four student teachers. Girls were also taught domestic science in the new curriculum.
The two schools continued to expand and in 1897 they were combined and transferred, under John Thornton's headship, as a single school to a site in Great Moor Street. This new. renaissance style building, costing some thirty three thousand pounds was designed to accommodate up to 1,080 pupils. It comprised four floors, contained a gymnasium in the basement, physics and chemistry laboratories, lecture theatre, classrooms, art rooms, two assembly halls, a carpentry room, a domestic science building and a caretaker's house. By 1897 there were more girls than boys in the 1,000 pupils at the school.
In 1884/5, the 'Bryce Commission' discovered that the success of the 'Higher Grade School' system was creating considerable resentment amongst the established Grammar Schools of the day. As a consequence, in 1899, the 'Higher Grade Schools' were declared to be illegal! The'Bolton School Board' was abolished in 1902 and its powers were transferred to the'Education Committee' whose inspectors defined the School as being borderline between an elementary school and a secondary school.
In 1906, the elementary classes were withdrawn, the dominance of science was reduced in the curriculum and the school was renamed the 'Municipal Secondary School'. At the time it was not acceptable to have males teaching girls. Consequently, in 1906, the sexes were segregated until the sixth form and six female teachers were appointed. There was also a move to discourage working class parents from sending their children to the School. This was achieved by increasing the school fees to three pounds per year. There was strong opposition to this move and, in 1907, it was agreed that twenty-five percent of the places at the School would be free and awarded on merit.
Mr Thornton was responsible for publishing the first edition of 'Supera', the school magazine and also founded the annual Carol Service, the Christmas Party and the Annual Prize Day celebrations. He retired in 1917, at the age of seventy years. His successor was Mr. Percival Evetts, B.A., (Oxon). He established the 'House' system and also the school uniform. The elephant in the badge emblem resulted in the 'Municipal Secondary School' being popularly known locally as the 'Elephant School' . Many well known members of staff including Miss Jackson and Mr. Delacourcelle who both taught French, Mr. Skuce history, Miss Goodby and Miss Whitehead - English, Miss Kitty Hogan, Mr. Sandbach etc., joined at this time.
Mr. Evetts retired in 1931 and was succeeded by Mr. William H. R. Grundy, LL.B., who remained as headmaster until his retirement in 1961. Miss Rachel Hoyle became Headmistress in 1932 and remained at the School until she too retired.
When war was declared in 1939, the possibility of the railway adjacent to the school being a target for bombing raids generated concern for the safety of the children. Consequently, the School was dispersed to four locations around the town. Mr. Grundy commuted between these centres on his motorcycle. In 1941, when there was no further danger from air raids, the School was reunited again in the Great Moor Street building in mixed classes. [See the BCGSOSA publication entitled "The Wartime Years" - Ed]
After 1945 school activities gradually returned to normal. Although clothing was still rationed, regulations again demanded that school uniforms be worn. Many long serving members of staff retired. They included Miss Leeson, Miss Hogan, Mr. Delacourcelle.
New staff members, Mr. McKenzie - French and German and Mr. Pearce - woodwork, joined the remaining established staff comprising Mr. Mackereth, Mr. Sandbach, Miss Hoyle, Miss Whitehead, Miss Goodby and Miss Jackson. A second War Memorial Plaque, sadly containing forty three names, was placed in the 'Boy's Assembly Hall.'
The 1944 Education Act raising the school leaving age from 14 to 15 years went into effect in 1947 and the name of the School was changed once again. The 'Muni' gained further respectability by becoming the 'Bolton County Grammar School'. Pupil numbers increased and it became necessary to move the sixth forms into an annex in Mawdsley Street where they resided under the sway of Mr. Griffiths, the senior mathematics master.
Mr. Grundy retired in 1961 and was succeeded by Dr. John V. Roberts, B.A., Ph.D., a post that he occupied until he too retired. John Mackereth became Deputy Head and Miss Boyd Senior Mistress.
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In 1966 the School was moved to Breightmet maintaining its status as a grammar school. It became a 'Comprehensive' school in 1982 as a result of reorganisation of secondary education. Its name was changed once again, this time to the 'Withins School'.
Fortunately, a group of ex-pupils have maintained the continuity of the Bolton County Grammar School in the form of the 'Old Students Association'. An 'Old Students' reunion was held at the Rivington Barn on 14th March 1997, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great Moor Street Building. Progress has to take place, but it is sad when it results in the passing of something good that has contributed to the well being of the town and the education and happiness of many of its citizens
Tom Temperley O.B.E, an ex student, was involved in water treatment plants in the Middle East. He was also responsible in a major way for the establishment of BCGSOSA. He died in September 2000
The Great Moor Street building was, in 2001, converted into apartments, each classroom containing sufficient area for a self contained flat.
The bedroom(s) have been built at gallery level, thus taking advantage of the very high ceilings in the school
Dr John V Roberts, the last headmaster of BCGS, died in Cumbria, where he had retired, in 2008