OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

The School Magazine

There was an attempt to launch a school magazine in 1921, but it survived less than a year due to the high cost of printing and the low circulation.

In 1929, a new attempt was made, which was to prove more successful, the magazine surviving for thirty years, with a break for the years of the Second World War. As the town coat of arms bore the motto "Alte Volo" (I fly high), the publication was called "The Flyer". With the increasing number of students, sales covered the cost of production, and the magazine flourished.

The early editions contained more or less the same features which were to continue throughout the magazine's publication. There was an editorial, mention of staff and syllabus changes, notes on the activities of the sports teams and various clubs and societies and of the four Houses, and lists of prize-winners from the previous year. The progress of former pupils was reported, as were the visits of school groups to places of interest, education and entertainment. Most of the rest was taken up with the literary efforts of the pupils, which were variable in quality, and sometimes in short supply until pressure was brought to bear.

After the war, during which the lack of materials and pressures on school time prohibited publication, the magazine was revived in July 1946, in time to cover the retirement of Mr Oldroyd. By this time the School had its own insignia, depicting the mythical phoenix rising from the flames, and bearing the motto "Sapientia Resurget" (wisdom will rise again), and from the second post-war edition the magazine was re-named "The Phoenix".

It continued in the same format throughout the 1950s, but despite the irresistible rise in school numbers, proceeds from sales could not keep up with the spiralling costs of production, and a temporary suspension of publication in 1960 became permanent. Some aspects of school life in the last years of Heywood Grammar School are therefore unrecorded.

Sport

From the School's opening the lack of adjacent, or at least nearby, playing fields was a major and insurmountable problem. The building had been sited in the centre of town for use as a Technical College, and provision for playing fields was not considered. The location, once so conveniently central, was far removed from any area of open land suitable for use as a sports ground.

As early as 1915 land at Siddal Moor was rented, and it was eventually purchased by the County Council and fenced in 1927, and water supply laid on to the dressing rooms. Strangely the field was then rented out for sheep grazing, only for the tenant to introduce other livestock instead. Not surprisingly, his tenancy was ended, but the field was again rented out for sheep grazing for many years.

Early outdoor sport was limited to football for boys and hockey for girls, with a very restricted range of athletic activities in the summer. In 1929, the School Sports Day still included, for both junior and senior pupils, events such as the sack race, skipping race, obstacle race, potato race, dressing race, three-legged race, egg and spoon race, bean bag race and tug-of-war. Only a few standard races and a long jump would now be considered suitable as athletic activities for a secondary school. It was not until the 1950s that the discus, javelin and shot were introduced as field events, and athletic matches arranged against other schools.

Over the years, cricket, tennis, netball and rounders were introduced, and the athletic programme modernised to include a complete range of track and field events.

Indoors, physical drill was part of the original syllabus, and swimming was included in the 1920s, lessons taking place at the public baths. Only when the school appointed full-time Physical Education teachers in the 1950s was competitive indoor team sport introduced, in the form of basketball.

To commemorate the Coronation of 1953 School Colours were awarded for football, hockey and gymnastics, and the practice continued, with basketball being added the following year. The four houses did battle annually at most of the sporting activities provided by the school, and among the annual highlights were the town's annual Sports Day and Swimming Gala, at both of which the school excelled over many years.

Leisure

There was an abundance of clubs and societies from the earliest days of the school.

The French Circle and the Debating Society were among the first to appear, to be followed by the Historical and Geographical Society. Mr Howarth began the Chess Club soon after joining the school, and over the years such diverse organisations as a Rambling Club, Scientific Club, Natural History Society, Music Club, Film Society and many others sprang up, some to survive many years. Visits were arranged to an abundance of places of entertainment and enlightenment, and holiday trips both at home and overseas became annual events, some of them extremely ambitious. Pen pals were found in various countries, particularly in the years immediately after the Second World War.

There were Boy Scout and Girl Guide troops at the School as late as the 1940s, and a School choir well into the 1950s. House socials and Christmas parties were held annually.

Groups were formed for more strenuous activity. There was a gym club, a basketball club, and a very successful canoe club.

A Dramatic Society was formed in the 1920s, but it was only after the Second World War, when Miss Peers and Miss Wood took over, that annual school plays were successfully produced. In 1960 the same two ladies began producing staff plays, which they did until the school closed.

Mr Farish and the cast lead the applause for Miss Peers after another successful 1950's school play

The Old Pupils' Society

A society for former pupils was set up as early as 1917, even though few people had left the School by then, and of those that had most of the young men were serving in the war. At that time the School motto was "Pactum Serva" (Keep Faith), and members called their society "Old Pactum Servans". This was abbreviated to OPS, which over time was generally assumed to mean "Old Pupils' Society", and so the name was formally changed.

The intended main activities of this original OPS included dances, whist drives, concerts and lectures, but the only sections to flourish were the Dramatic Society and the Old Boys' football team. With hindsight, it is apparent that there were simply insufficient former pupils to sustain the OPS, and in 1928 it wound up, with the funds in hand being used to provide a four-year scholarship for a pupil to attend the School.

The football section decided to go it alone. They changed the team name from "Old Buccaneers" under which they had been playing to "Heywood Grammar School Old Boys". Until 1937 the team continued to play only friendly matches, and there was controversy when they then applied to join the Bury Amateur League. Some members considered the playing of competitive football as being against the Corinthian spirit which the School should uphold. Nevertheless the team joined the league and stayed until the outbreak of war. It was revived in 1946 and the following year joined the Lancashire & Cheshire Amateur League.

At this time the OPS was also re-formed, the inaugural meeting being held in October 1946. Membership was open to all former pupils and their spouses, and annual subscriptions set at five shillings, for which members also received two issues of the newly re-named Phoenix.

The football team was now joined by hockey, cricket and tennis teams, and a badminton team soon followed, but in 1947 only a hundred and fifty members had enrolled out of an eligible two thousand. The OPS had been intended to be "the centre of social, cultural and athletic life of the town", but meetings to discuss the formation of chess, netball and table tennis groups were poorly attended, although a drama group had more appeal.

In March 1948 a plea for support appeared in the Phoenix. The next edition proposed a Littleborough branch of the OPS to try to maintain contact with former pupils from beyond Rochdale, and a coach was organised from Littleborough for those attending the Annual Dance.

Progress was difficult, and although 180 former pupils attended the farewell presentations to Miss Lythgoe and Mr Corlett, only 133 paid their 1948 subscriptions.

A pattern emerged. People would make an effort to attend special events such as reunions or dances, but were unwilling to participate in running the society, so that only 10 people attended the AGM in 1951, but all 250 tickets for the 1952 Re-Union Dance were sold. Subscriptions were left outstanding and memberships allowed to lapse, and with those on National Service having free membership, finances were stretched.

The hockey section was the first to succumb to the apathy. In 1955 they had to cancel a third of their fixtures, and only played the rest by recruiting non-members. The following season they entered no teams in the league. The badminton team left the league in mid-season when they were unable to raise a team.

Soon, all that was left was an Annual Dance and a football section, and by the mid-1960s the society existed on paper only. Heywood Grammar School Old Boys football team continued for many years, but the OPS fell by the wayside.

Miss Smith continued to act as a focal point for those ex-pupils who were interested, and until her retirement and beyond was still in touch with some of the former OPS members.