God's Choir
One Man's Musical Journey
Mesnes Road, Cherry Gardens
Arley Hall Garden, Cheshire
Wigan's Thomas Linacre School
Motto - Progrediamur (May we advance)
Introduction
Being able to attend this wonderful innovitave Secondary Technical School with its inspirational headmaster, William S Brace and his team of dedicated teachers was a most welcome privilege for the majority of its pupils for which they will be forever grateful. From 1954 until leaving in 1960, I and another 400 or so lucky fellow pupils were able to take advantage of the facilities of this experimental and gloriously well equipped laboratory for the academically curious. Encouraged to believe that anything was possible, we had the opportunity to follow our dreams, however modest or bold, into a brave new post-war world and achieve great things. Few of us realised at the time that the country had not yet recovered from the hardships imposed by war and this new school was part of the big plan to provide young people with the education and technical skills required to get the economy moving again into a modern and more optimistic future. However places at these elite schools were limited and consequently although many more children might have had the ability to take advantage of what was considered to be the gateway to university and scholarship, the pass threshold in the eleven plus exam was quite high and many pupils were sadly denied the opportunity others had.
The school had state of the art (1950s era, CNC machines not yet invented) metalwork and engineering workshops, well equipped chemistry and physics laboratories, maths, english and german teachers second to none and sports facilities to match. After-school clubs also thrived with chess, photographic and swimming clubs and highly successful athletics, rugby and football teams which took part in and enjoyed competition against rival institutions both locally and further afield. Many of the pupils featured in the picture below would go on to achieve success in swimming galas and gain awards for life saving, such as the RLSS Bronze Medallion, Bronze Cross, Award of Merit and Instructors Certificates.
Culture also featured well in day to day activities with annual drama productions and weekly morning concerts provided by the talented teachers at the school and some local amateur performers. The latter were intended to give pupils a glimpse into the broader world of classical music, mainly from the great composers of the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Local musicians and vocalists would be invited to give Thursday morning recitals, which included popular classics, opera choruses and parlour songs of the twentieth century, but the stars of many of the concerts were the staff themselves. Mr Livesey, the Chemistry Master who was a fantastic pianist and organist, performed at many of these concerts, and was the accompanist at many a speech day at the Queens Hall, seated at the magnificent organ backing the school choir and making my hair stand on end (Could it have been "Jerusalem"? I can't remember). Mr Pegg, one of the the German Masters and inspiration behind the swimming club, was also a terrific pianist who featured quite prominently at these morning concerts, his signature tune being a virtuoso performance of San Saen's Danse Macabre on the schools grand piano. Mr Holt who taught Engineering and Metalwork and also played the violin was a regular recitalist too as was the school brass band, very ably taught and conducted by art master Mr Hilton.
The best of both worlds where both the academically gifted and those with practical skills could succeed and prosper, an educational academy of the highest quality and a superb foundation for any career path pupils were later to follow.
Thomas Linacre School Swimming Club c1958?
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Linacre - A Brief History
Thomas Linacre was born in Canterbury in about 1460. He entered All Souls College, Oxford in 1480 and distinguished himself in Greek. He then studied in Rome, gaining a knowledge of Greek and Latin which made him one of the foremost humanistic scholars of his time. He also studied medicine at Vicenza, receiving his medical degree at Padua. Ten years later, back in England, Linacre became physician to King Henry VIII and regular attendant to many of the most prominent people in the country. He was also the close friend of Sir Thomas More and Erasmus. After 11 years as a physician, Thomas Linacre resigned to become a priest.
He devoted the fortune from his medical practice to the foundation of chairs in Greek medicine at Oxford and Cambridge University and to the establishment of the Royal College of Physicians. After Linacre obtained his charter for the College, no-one except a regular physician could practice in and around London.
Thomas Linacre was rector of Wigan between 1519 and 1524.
Source: University of Oxford, Linacre College web site.
Arley Hall Garden, CheshireOther Articles on this Site
The Lindsays of Haigh
An Oridinary Wigan Family
Thomas Aspinwall
Miners Agent Skelmersdale
It's a Funny Life
A Tale of the Folly of Youth
Wigan Old Bank 1792
A Wigan Dynasty and a Boating Accident
Little Ships at War 1918
A Daring Raid on Zeebrugge
Private Walter Turton
Memorial - Jubilee Park Ashton in Makerfield
Not Much of a Warrior
Memories of a Golden Age of Rugby
A Cricket Calypso
The West Indies Tour of 1950
Boat Song
A Fine Poem by Walter Scott
A Walk in the Hills
A Nice Walk in the Lake District
A Lancashire Linear Walk
Eccleston (Chorley) to Upholland
Farthingale Publications:... Is a hobby web site containing articles of local interest to Lancastrians, some favourite walking and cycling routes, selected words and poetry, and some writings of more general nature as well as the authors own picture gallery. Access is available via the homepage and menu at the head of the page.
Local Interest: A Cricket Calypso; A Lancashire Lullaby; Dust Upon God's Fair Earth; God's Choir; Isaac Watts 1674 - 1748; It's a Funny Life; John Byrom 1692 - 1793; John Lancaster Wigan MP; Jubilee Park Memorial, Ashton in Makerfield; Little Ships at War 1918; Mind Your Language; Not Much of a Warrior; Peveril of the Peak; Private Thomas Whitham VC; Richmond Hill Dairies; Scot Lane School Wigan; The Brocklebank Line; The Holy City Liverpool; The Lindsays of Haigh; The Nurburgring 1960; Thomas Aspinwall Miners Agent; Thomas Aspinwall Obituary; Thomas Linacre School Wigan; Upholland Telephone Exchange; Wigan Advertisements 1960; Wigan Old Bank 1792; Wigan Soldier Missing in Action.
Walking & Cycling: Abbey Lakes to Coppull Moor; A Lancashire Linear Walk; Blackrod or Bust; Chorley Ice Cream Walk; Cycle the Monsal Trail; Cycle the Sankey Valley; Douglas Valley Dawdle; Freshfield to Crosby; Haigh to Borsdane Wood; Irwell Valley Trail (Bury to Rawtenstall); Irwell Valley Trail (Bury to Salford); Moss Eccles Tarn; Three Counties Cycle Ride; Wigan Circular by Bike.
Words & Poetry: A Lancashire Mon; A Legend of Montrose; Aw've Turned me bit O' Garden O'er; Boat Song; Calm is the Sea; Classic Poetry; Dombey and Son; Dover Harbour; Dust upon God's Fair Earth; God Bless these Poor Wimmen that's Childer; Hymn Before Action; Jeff Unsworth's dialect poetry; King Cotton; Martin Chuzzlewit; Martyrs of the Arena; Mind Your Language; Only a Cranky Owd Foo'; On Th' Hills; Poet's Corner; Redgauntlet; Rogue Herries; The Antiquary; The Bride of Lammermoor; Th' Coartin' Neet; The Darkling Thrush; The Fair Rosamond; The Fair Rosamond Comic; The Family Man; The Glory of the Garden; The Heart of Midlothian; The Pickwick Papers; The Rolling English Road; The Wreck of the Hesperus; Toddlin' Whoam; When Winds Breathe Soft; Wisdom.
Wallgate Chronicles: Adolphe Adam; A Tale of Two Cities; A Walk in the Hills; Barnaby Rudge; Bookcase; Cat Bells; Desert Island Discs; Eay Times Uv Changed; Fidelio; Frank Whittle and the Jet Engine; Fun with Trigonometry; Hard Times; Hugo Boss comes to Wigan; In the footsteps of the Manchester Rambler; Ivanhoe; Little Dorrit; Lohengrin; Rob Roy; Romance on a Budget; Semele; Surprise at the Philharmonic; The Battle of Solferino; The Bohemian Girl; The Fair Maid of Perth; The Force of Destiny; The Getaway Car; The Marriage of Figaro; The Old Curiosity Shop; The Ravioli Room; The Spectroscope; The Switchroom Wigan; Travels in Time 1960; Travels in Time 2010.