Category: 1930s

60 pages of history

We’ve published snippets from this album previously, but here’s a flip-book version of the whole thing. The album covers the years 1936–1954 and offers a glimpse at the rich variety of life and activities during this period.

We’ll hopefully be focusing on individual pictures and events in more detailed posts in the future.

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War Time Disruption

In its century of existence, Moor Allerton has seen two World Wars. Opening in 1914 just after the outbreak of WW1, the first conflict seems to have had little direct effect on the school. With just seven pupils at opening, the school itself was able to operate as usual, whatever the effect upon the home and family life of individual pupils might have been.

 However this was not the case by the time WW2 came along.  When war broke out in 1939, Manchester Council requisitioned the school building, and moved all the income tax offices from the City Centre.

Moor Allerton School itself moved out to Pownall School, Wilmslow, with about 20 of the school’s senior boys, and from there moved again to a large house in Hayes Lane, Alderley Edge, with the boys as boarders. Finally, when most of these boys left to go on to their senior schools, the school was closed down for a while. The existing headteacher moved onto a preparatory school in Derbyshire, before returning once again when Moor Allerton re-opened in 1945.

The boards of School Captains for each year still displayed in the school, record these years simply with the words ‘The War’. A simple yet evocative statement of the disruption the school faced.

Captains Board

During the conflict, a number of past Moor Allerton pupils saw active service, including Captain Alec George Foucard of the Coldstream Guards, who was awarded the MC, and a further 8 who were killed in action. A service of remembrance for those killed was held at Christ Church, West Didsbury in July 1946.

1946_Th+Rem_Service_Ticket

 

At the end of hostilities a VE Day Message signed by King George VI was sent to all schoolchildren. It included key dates for the war on the back, and a space to fill in the details of ‘My Families War Record’. One of these is still preserved in the school archives.

1946_Victory_Banner_1

Also preserved is a letter of thanks or appreciation from the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools to the women who had kept everything running at home while so many teachers were on active service – perhaps somewhat ironic in the case of a school like Moor Allerton which had to close.

1946_IAPS_War_Letter

 

It’s Christmas – Time To Play

Today is the last day of term and parents, staff and pupils have been enjoying the end of term assemblies and productions. The school is gearing up for something quite spectacular for the summer term production to celebrate the centenary. But let’s take this chance to look back over 75 years to the kind of show the Moor Allerton of the 1930s put on at Christmas.

Remember, in those days, Moor Allerton was a boys-only school, so the lads had to dress up as lasses if the role required!

There’s not too much with a Christmas focus in the school archive, so if you have any photos, videos, programmes or any materials relating to Christmas at Moor Allerton over the decades, please let us have it to add to our history of the school.

Happy Christmas!

Moor Allerton School Production, Christmas 1933

Moor Allerton School Production, Christmas 1933

 

Pages from 1936–1955 photo album [Part 2]

Some more pages from the photo album showing some of the staff and pupils from the late 1930s.

Pages from 1936–1955 photo album

One of the star finds we’ve made in going through the Moor Allerton archive is this photograph album which charts every day life at the school between 1936 and 1955. It gives a fascinating insight into what went on at the school. As these first few pages from the start of the album show, some of them are familiar and still go on today – swimming trips and sports matches (how about a Dads [and Mums] v Lads [and Lasses] centenary cricket match, Mr Millard?!); but some of them seem very strange, such as the boxing competitions, mentioned in previous posts!

Look out for more pages from the album appearing here very soon.

Treading the boards – 1930s style

Moor Allerton School Production 1933We are sure you all enjoyed the end-of-term spectacular production at Stockport Plaza earlier this month.

Throughout the summer break, we are continuing to scan and upload items from the school archive, and we’ve just come across this fascinating picture of the school production from exactly 80 years ago, in 1933!

We doubt you’ll have photos older than this, but if you have a any photos, videos or examples of programmes from Moor Allerton school productions from any period in the last hundred years, we’d love to have them for the site.

Please get in touch by leaving a comment in the box below.

Another 1930s Sports Day Programme

This programme is from 1939 – the final one before the school was closed temporarily during World War II.

1930s Sports Day Programmes

1936_Sports_Cov_ImHere’s a selection of sports day programmes dating back to 1936 and 1938 – a fine afternoon of events taking place in 1936 – including a full programme of boxing!

 

 

 

 

School Magazine from 1936

1936 School Magazine ExcerptWe may be used to keeping up-to-date with all school activities these days via text, email, Facebook, Twitter and websites like this, but it wasn’t so long ago that the printed page was the only way of the school letting parents and friends know what was going on. We’ve unearthed an early example of the school magazine which dates back to 1936. It’s a fascinating record of the times, providing insights into the popular extra-curricular activities of the day (stamp collecting was apparently the talk of the playground, and there are some humorous, not to say surreal “Things we want to know” on page 4. Judging by the comprehensive round-up of sports reports, Bruce house was being well and truly beaten by Cromwell in both football and cricket. Come on Bruce!

Browse all the pages of the magazine below.