THE HEAD MASTERS

A School as small as Heywood Grammar School, in a town as unfashionable as Heywood, was most fortunate to attract, and to retain for the rest of their careers, two such outstanding Headmasters as Arthur Oldroyd and John Farish.

Arthur Oldroyd M.A., M.Sc.

Mr Oldroyd was born in Bradford in 1879. He proceeded from the local Technical College to Liverpool University, where he gained the degree of B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics. After various teaching posts, he gained his M.Sc. at Manchester University, and later his M.A. in Education.

It was while Senior Master at the Holt Secondary School in Liverpool that in 1915 he was one of the 133 applicants for the Headship of Heywood Secondary School and Heywood Technical College.

His reference from the Professor of Mathematics at Liverpool University predicted correctly: "I am confident that Mr Oldroyd will prove himself straightforward and honourable, and will deserve and gain the respect and esteem of his students and fellow workers."

The difficulties which faced the School during the first half of Mr Oldroyd's stewardship have already been described, but the following extract from the farewell in the July 1946 edition of the Flyer is still worth reproducing:

"He was appointed during the 1914-1918 war, when equipment and materials were difficult to obtain, and these trying years were succeeded by a period of depression when the future existence of the School hung in the balance. But Mr Oldroyd successfully championed the cause of secondary education in the town, and the numbers of pupils began to increase."

A further extract from the same tribute reads: "Then, at a time when he might have thought he could take things more easily, there came a fresh outbreak of war which brought with it more problems of organisation. In spite of the restrictions that were necessarily imposed on School activities in these years, Mr Oldroyd did as much as was possible to enable the pupils to enjoy the social side of School life."

It was indeed true that Mr Oldroyd had presided over a School with an active social, cultural and sporting life. In his first Speech Day address in October 1915 he made his position clear. "Our efforts in this School are not confined to mere book learning. Sport, properly organised, is and should be a means of teaching certain things that cannot be fully taught inside four walls."

The clubs and societies which prospered during his tenure were legion, and included companies of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. There were school trips to destinations at home and overseas, and numerous visits to theatres, exhibitions and other places of interest. Sport for boys and girls flourished.

It is the outstanding academic record of the School, though, which is the most distinguishing feature of Mr Oldroyd's long career. During the protracted battles to keep the School open, a major factor was that he could point to the School's spectacular success in examination results. Only a very brave authority would have closed such a centre of excellence.

In 1936 Mr Oldroyd made an unfashionable plea for the compulsory introduction of the metric system including decimal currency, claiming that it would simplify school work at all levels of education. He had the vision to see the benefits which it took Governments thirty more years to recognise, the conviction to speak out, and showed himself to be receptive to change, and indeed to campaign for it.

Mr Oldroyd married Constance Berry, a graduate of Manchester University, who taught French at the School.

After his retirement, he continued to lead a very active life. He was Honorary Secretary of the Heywood Liberal Party, and served as a town Councillor for nine years, at one point declining the Mayoralty on the grounds that he was too old. He was Chairman of the Local United Nations Association, and a founder member and twice President of the Heywood Rotary Club.

The tributes which poured in after his retirement in 1946 and his death in 1958 were too numerous to reproduce, but the following passage from Mr Farish's eulogy in the Phoenix is a typical example.

"His devotion to the interests of the scholars and school was paramount, and whilst he expected much from scholars and staff alike, he gave much himself. The successes at the School at Higher and Scholarship levels made the name of Heywood Grammar School respected well outside the limits of the Borough, and the School owed much to his untiring efforts and devotion to duty. The name of Arthur Oldroyd will long be remembered by those old scholars of Heywood Grammar School who received their instruction under his care."

John Farish M.A. (Oxon.)

Mr Farish attended Stockton-on -Tees Grammar School, where he was Head Boy and captain of the School football team. He won the North Riding County Major Scholarship to Queen's College, Oxford, where in 1930 he gained an Honours degree in Modern History and the next year was one of only three students to obtain a Diploma of Education with Distinction.

His first post was as Sixth Form master and Senior History Master at Birkenhead Public School, where he remained until the outbreak of war. During the war, he served firstly as an instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and then joined the King's Own Royal Regiment, becoming Second-in-Command of the Seventh Battalion and ending the War serving in India.

He was 37 when he was appointed as Headmaster at Heywood Grammar School, and also of what had become the Heywood Adult Education Centre, with its evening classes. The daunting nature of the task facing him is covered elsewhere, but he coped with and overcame all the difficulties with a minimum of ostentation which continued throughout his long career. On topics as diverse as the intolerable accommodation and the introduction of comprehensive education, bringing with it the demise of Heywood Grammar School, Mr Farish's public pronouncements were few and restrained. Out of the public eye, he battled for the good of the School and its pupils unceasingly.

One subject on which he did speak out, with some feeling and at every opportunity, was the necessity for children to stay at the School until at least the age of 16. Indeed, he saw the duration of a Grammar School education as being seven years, to the age of eighteen. He was also a strong advocate of equal career opportunities for girls and boys, his natural dislike of discrimination no doubt reinforced by his having five daughters.

Among the many changes Mr Farish introduced in his first year in office was a move to improve relations between the School and the town's Secondary Modern schools. Previously, the School had played sports only against other Grammar Schools, but he arranged fixtures with the other town schools with great success.

Mr Farish led a remarkably busy life, displaying great resources of energy and stamina. As well as being Principal of both the Grammar School and the Adult Education Centre, he was associated for over twenty years with the Territorial Army, becoming Commanding Officer of the 5^th Battalion, the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was chairman of Heywood Cricket Club and an active member of the Rotary Club and of the British Legion. In 1969 he joined his wife Audrey on the Town Council.

In school, he found time to cover for absent teaching staff, and especially enjoyed teaching History. He was a keen supporter of the school plays, even to the extent of painting scenery, and regularly stood on the touchline to cheer on the school's football teams.

He was not a convert to the concept of comprehensive education, and it came as a surprise to many that he applied for the post of Headmaster at the Senior High School at Siddal Moor in 1968. (It does seem bizarre that he should have had to apply). His reason was straightforward. He was determined to see that the pupils he had guided through their schooling to the age of sixteen received fair treatment as Sixth Formers under the new system.

That done, he retired in 1970, and left Heywood to live in Somerset. He took with him the gratitude and good wishes of people in all walks of life, both in the town and among his former pupils now spread far and wide.

He was without doubt a man of tremendous ability. The School and its pupils could not have wished for anyone better to oversee the fundamental changes of the 1940s. That he did it as a newcomer was all the more admirable. He then somehow overcame the appalling physical constraints imposed by the building, and saw the school's population increase from 330 to over 600. Finally, he prepared the School for the transformation to comprehensive education.

Mr Farish died in December 1981.