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Moss Lane School, Platt Bridge

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Cookery Class at Moss Lane School, Platt Bridge. circa 1953
Cookery Class at Moss Lane School, Platt Bridge. circa 1953
Photo: Aubrey Fairclough
Views: 3,610
Item #: 30235
Front row, with cakes, left to right
Betty Wadsworth, Mavis Hodson, My wife Jean Darbyshire, Marjorie Lyons, ? , Betty Fitzgerald, Joyce Beck.
Centre row left to right
Gladys Atherton, Kathleen Mason, Joan Reid, Pat Aspinall.
Back row, ,left to right
Irene Frodsham, June Pearson, Ethel Gorner, Eileen Shaw.
Unfortunately several have passed away, may they R.I.P.

Comment by: irene roberts on 18th February 2018 at 19:34

This is what Wigan World is all about....a lovely, nostalgic photo from the days before "Cookery" became "Domestic Science". My school-made Christmas Cake was made in "Domestic Science" at Hindley Grammar School many years later in 1968 but the aprons and caps are not a world away from those on the photo and I remember paying half-a-crown in Meeson's Toffee-Shop in Wigan for an empty Quality-Street tin to keep it in between stages.....first a newly-baked cake, then a marzipan covering a few weeks later, then flat-icing, followed by decorative icing and finally proudly taking it home. Toffee-shops used to send tins back to the factories to be re-filled and pop-bottles were sent back to the manufacturers for re-filling. We didn't call it "re-cycling", it was just common sense!

Comment by: Philip Gormley. on 18th February 2018 at 21:10

I remember buying a small piece of 'devil's nose', a short while ago, from a pie shop, only to discover that my purchase had reached the table, in three all-too-easy detachable parts and hadn't carried in quite the same way as 'devils nose' of yore; although the fruits did show some unity. The girls shown here are obviously well-pleased with their efforts, and it's hard to imagine the component parts of their cakes buckling under the slightest touch. Their Christmas cakes look 'spot on'.

Comment by: Caroline on 20th February 2018 at 20:49

It is a lovely photo.I believe it was called Domestic Science because we had to learn about nutritional food values and their effect on the body.I remember learning about the workings of a fridge as well.

Comment by: Jinksi on 21st February 2018 at 15:15

Irene,how much did we get for taking pop bottles back to shops.Was it more if they had the tops on. Can't remember.Used to take ours back to Penningtons in Spring View ( plus any we could find ) .

Comment by: irene roberts on 21st February 2018 at 16:00

Threepence! Can't remember if there was a difference if there was no top. x.

Comment by: Jinksi, on 21st February 2018 at 22:10

Irene,thanks for that.Just remembered it was 2pence without top.

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 23rd February 2018 at 11:40

I well remember Domestic Science at Ormskirk Girls Secondary School.....first you made your apron & cap ! I also learnt how to scrub a wooden table, wash pots & tea towels properly, it was a while before we ever got cooking. We had a flat upstairs, fully furnished, learnt how to dust, polish, make beds with hospital cornered sheets etc etc.
Today they would say it was sexist role playing but the day they gave up teaching children to cook was a retrograde step...progress.....I wonder ?

Comment by: irene roberts on 23rd February 2018 at 14:57

We went to Chorley the other day, Helen, and on the way back some first-year high school children got on the bus carrying Tupperware-type boxes containing what looked like cakes they had obviously made at school. I carry a wicker basket for my shopping and a day never goes by without someone saying, "We used to use those for Cookery at school"! It is really handy for carrying cakes, pies and bread and I wouldn't be without it, (I actually own FOUR due to attending 1940s events). x.

Comment by: Veronica on 25th February 2018 at 07:45

I remember the 'cookery' classes we went to from St Pat's to Whelley School trudging up Scholes to get there with our baskets. As Helen says we learned to cook and clean and sew as well. We made a cap and apron and embroidered a tray cloth and learned to set a tray! I remember having to buy some hand cream ( Nulon) and one of those little wallets with nail file and scissors to do our nails. This was one of the first lessons before learning to bake. Sometimes on our way we went to Price's cake shop to buy cream for whipping for a Victoria Sandwich cake or yeast for making bread. I remember the fun we had just walking to another school - it was such a novelty to go inside and see the 'hi-tech' of a classroom kitchen. It was so far ahead of St Pat's school. What we learned there stuck with me all my life as did the sewing learned in our school. It was a bad idea to drop these lessons from the school curriculum,after all they are life skills. Many young women nowadays can't sew a button on and don't own a needle or thread!

Comment by: irene roberts on 25th February 2018 at 12:08

We did Cookery, Veronica, but not Housewifery.....making beds, polishing etc. I wish we HAD learned them. We did a little sewing and knitting in junior school but not at the grammar school. I "muddle through" but have never been a brilliant housewife...Kim and Aggie would have a field-day in our house!

Comment by: Ben on 26th February 2018 at 10:19

Veronica you described beautifully just what's missing from today's curriculum - life skills - and a charming story to boot. The photograph is wonderful.

Comment by: Veronica on 26th February 2018 at 15:50

They were happy days at school then Ben. We weren't under the same pressure that children are under now- what they have to work at doesn't leave room for the skills we learned. Then again we were being prepared for being 'housewives' I suppose...not high flying career women. But as you say it wouldn't do any harm learning a few skills that would come in handy later on. Housework is easier now anyway with all the equipment available - thank goodness - plus all the kitchen gadgets for baking and cooking - not that I bake anymore!

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