100 years ago today - 2 May 1910

[Dizzy]

Today (2 May 2010) would mark the centenary of the opening of the old Stockton Heath Primary School. or ?Council School? as it was then (had it not now been demolished of course )

 

But as it stood proud for 98 years in the heart of the village I think it deserves some remembrance.

 

Unlike the opening ceremony of the brand new school we have today (did the new one have an opening ceremony by the way? if not why not?) ?...the opening ceremony of the original school was a grand affair and was performed by Mr Samual Woodward, chairman of the Administrative Sub-committee for Education for the Runcorn Rural area on Monday 2 May 1910 at 3pm and was attended by the parishioners of Stockton Heath, Latchford Without and Walton Inferior along with attendance by over 30 local dignitaries of the time.

 

I have a full transcript of actual the Opening Ceremony and it is lovely to read but as it?s rather long I wont post it on here for now?. Funny how some things don?t change though and it does bring an odd smile to my face whenever I read it.

 

Anyway..

 

Stockton Heath School was designed by the architect Joseph Holt RIBA

 

The builders were C W Davenport & Son (local builders and Charles Davenport lived in the village on Farrell Street and then West Avenue) He and his family are buried in St Thomas? church grounds.

 

The school lived upto it?s great expectations and became a very popular school which served the community well for 98 years due to it?s overall excellence and high levels of teaching standards.

 

Maybe in another 100 years time we can all look forward to celebrating the new schools centenary too and here?s hoping it fares as well as the old one did both structurally and educationally

 

Anyway some pictures below of bygone times and maybe some of your relatives are on a few of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 100th birthday... well nearly

 

Many more photo's uploaded below... and as I find more I'll add them too

[Peter T]

Thanks for sharing that Dismayed. I take it you were tongue-in-cheek about the longevity of the new one.

[Dizzy]

Of course not Peter... I hope it does last the 98 years that the old one lasted and I also hope it manages to deliver the same excellent level of education that was seen within the old school over its many years.

 

The new school has not got off to a good start admittedly and going into special measures, having so many surplus places and having to advertise on the local radio and the like for the first time in 98 years is not good but it can only get better... or get closed.... and that's not likely to happen after the many ?millions that have been spent on it.

 

At the end of the day the Council and other leaders decided to overturn a democratic decision (although to this day I still don't see how they got away with it legally) as they believed that the new school 'was' the best option for the kids rather than refurbishing the old school so it is now upto them to start to prove they made the right decision and so far that is very questionable.

 

I will be the first in the line to congratulate them and blow up their balloons and hang out the bunting in 2108 when it is their centenary

 

Anyway my post was to celebrate what would now be the centenary of the old school and not to dwell on other matters that can't be changed now..... life goes on but memories and other things will always remain for future use

 

I do have a heart after all ... although I could have said 'we/they told you so' but I didn't.

 

I do wish the new school well but for the sake of the kids as 'every child really does mater'

[Peter T]

I agree with your sentiments, but things aren't made/built to last these days.

[Dizzy]

Some more old photo's... anyone recognised their parents or grandparets yet.. or even yoursleves if you are very old

 

 

 

[Dizzy]

Am I boring you all yet

 

Joseph Holt?s original plan of the schools ground floor. The archives did not hold the copy of the second floor plan

 

 

Halls.. of which there were two one upstairs and one downstairs

 

 

 

 

 

skylight windows in upper hall

 

 

 

Internal windows between the Halls and the classrooms.. With one side of the both halls having large windows to the outside these smaller windows were placed internally on all classrooms to allow the free flow of as much natural light as possible. The classroom doors were also glazed for the same reason.

 

 

Classroom

 

 

Stairs

 

IMG]http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l346/dismayed_2008/Shockton%20Heath%20Primary%20Old%20Photos/Stockton%20Heath%20Primary%20Internal%20Photos/stairwayandwindows.jpg[/img]

 

River of Life plaques that can be seen on the left of the picture above

 

 

 

 

Banister brass ?bumps?? these were placed to stop kiddies from sliding down the banisters. To this day I still can?t remember how we used to do it

 

 

 

Internal wall at the bottom of the stairwell. All internal walls were this thick and made of solid brick.

 

 

more pictures to follow soon along with some more info about the school, the whole opening cermony transcript and maybe even some pics from the the archaeological dig too

[Stephen Taylor]

Nice one Dismayed, or is it Dizzy now?

 

I noticed the commemorative plauque, I supposes that got chucked on the tip along with the rest of the rubble.

 

I distinctly remember being promised, playground features and benches etc made from parts of the old school, so as to leave a continuity with the past.

 

I wonder if the celebration banner will say nearly 100years of educational success and 2 years of abject failure.

[Bazj]

Very similar in design to Beamont Primary school in town (opposite the barracks) Big hall downstairs and up, although on of the halls has been turned into classrooms.

[great white]

Yes Stephen we were, the Lib Dem councillors on the parish council and Borough Councillor Celia Jordan made great play of the fatures and benches you mention, but have we seen any. Oh well another broken promise. It doesn't bode well for next week does it Can't even save local heritage, what chance does Jo Crotty have of keeping promises at a national level and making Warrington South a better place.

 

At the very least it would not have been difficult to save the plaque, perhaps they did, Is it built into the new one somewhere and I just haven't seen it? I don't really look at the school, I can't stand the sight of it.

[Gary]

Good stuff Dizzy - you are turning into a right roving reporter!

[Peter T]

Welcome back Great White. Long time no post.

[Dizzy]

Nice one Dismayed, or is it Dizzy now?

 

Someone said the name Dismayed made me sound miserable and boring and as most people call me Diz or Dizzy I changed it the other day

 

Anyway you and great white have got me thinking too.... WHERE ON EARTH ARE THE COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE AND STONE LINTELS.

 

I'd forgotten all about them but now I have been reminded I too remember Celia Jordan making a statement that the stone lintels from above the four main entrances (which said junior/senior girls/boys entrances) would also be retained and used withing the grounds.. although I think she suggested that they were made into seating

 

I know the plaque was carefully removed prior to the demolition though so it didn't get crushed... I'm pretty sure the lintels were removed too... I'll check my photos

[Dizzy]

I found the plaque.. well sort of... it was safely removed and it can be seen here on the floor next to the skip I'm sure they would have kept it though

 

 

The stone lintels were also removed as some of my photos show them as having gone..... they must have taken some moving though as they were huge. No idea where they went though maybe I'll check the piles of rubble later.

 

For those that haven't got a clue what the lintels looked like here's some. There were actually 5 and they read Junior Boys/Girls Senoir Boys/Girls and Infants

 

[Dizzy]

Good stuff Dizzy - you are turning into a right roving reporter!

 

Missed that Not roving very far though as I'm sat at my PC

[THINGY]

Dizzy maybe the plaque and stone lintells are in safe storage along with the forge machinery.

[Dizzy]

I hope not as didn't that get scrapped or was it pinched So many memories are flooding back now and I'm starting to wish I hadn't started this now.

 

I've spent ages looking through all my discs today that amongst other things also contain photos of the old school and also the wonderful archaeological dig. Never knew I had so many photos and none of them organised in any way shape or form

 

I can''t get myself to upload the archaeological ones now as fantastic as they all are ..... only because I have just noticed some of the protective coverings that were placed to preserve such things as the roman road, kilns and other unremovable structures and finds for future generations can clearly be seen sitting in a builders skip... and of course looking at them all in one go has made it clear that most was trahsed with the building work anyway

 

Might just change my name back to DISMAYED now

 

Welcome to the forum by the way and I hope I haven't put you off by sounding a little gloomy

 

 

PS I have no idea where this photo came from but it's on one of my old discs so was scared not to upload it as that's the Roman Road

[Peter T]

I'm surprised that Stephen has got time to post. Must be because there is no football.lol

[Dizzy]

Football Now lets not go there Peter as that IS a very boring subject indeed

[THINGY]

Wow Dizzy great photos where did you find them? In the 3rd group photo my father in law is on the top row 2nd in from the right. On the photo below that is my mother inlaw she is sat on the end of 2nd row sadly both have now past on. My wife is with the group of girls in the snow. Dizzy did you attend the question time in the church hall last thursday night? There was a question raised on the legality of the planning decision to demolish the old school if so what are your thoughts?

[Dizzy]

Hiya THINGY. I've got so many photo's of the school its worrying even me now.

 

Fantastic that some of your family are on a few of them and if you would me to email you copies or for me to print them off for you send me a PM (personal message) via the link on the forum and I'll gladly do that for you.

 

I have taken all the pictures of the school but as for where all the older ones came from I can't remember exactly as I?ve had them for ages. I know the very old postcard image showing the whole school and the area nearest West Avenue (that originally was not part of the school grounds as it was allotments) came from an older lady who used to live me and it was a commemorative type postcard as did some of the others...

 

As for my views on the demolition and legalities of it ALL best not go there ? All I I?ll say is that when it comes to Council owned buildings + self submission of planning applications + self Dev Control approval then anything is possible? regardless of the legalities and reasons behind it.

 

I?m not going to hijack my own happy topic any further?

 

So now back to photo searching

[Sha]

........... Anyway my post was to celebrate what would now be the centenary of the old school and not to dwell on other matters that can't be changed now..... life goes on but memories and other things will always remain for future use

 

Yes Diz, life goes on.........and the bulldozers will continue to roll!

 

I think the demolition of the school merely marks the beginning of the destruction to come.

Ask yourself, why would WBC go to such measures, against the wishes of 5,000+ people, to build a new school to accommodate an extra 100+ pupils in an area which already had over 900 surplus primary school places?

Maintaining over !,000+ surplus primary school places within a 2 mile radius must be costing over ?250,000 per year.

Bad management or forward planning?

 

Anyone know the exact ratio of primary places needed per no of houses built?

[THINGY]

HI SHA DO YOU WORK IN THE PLANNING OR EDUCATION DEPT? YOUR FACTS AND FIGURES ARE VERY INTERESTING WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU WERE NEEDED?

[Sha]

HI SHA DO YOU WORK IN THE PLANNING OR EDUCATION DEPT? YOUR FACTS AND FIGURES ARE VERY INTERESTING WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU WERE NEEDED?

 

The facts and figures I quoted were available at the time. Everybody in Stockton Heath and further afield had access to masses of such information via the internet, the media etc.

Where were you?