Login   |   Register   |   
Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Wigan Album

St George's C. E. Junior School, Wigan

21 Comments

St George's School, Wigan
St George's School, Wigan
Photo: Keith
Views: 3,514
Item #: 30724
Thanks to Norman Sharples who posted this photo nearly 10 years ago. All I've tried to do is to lighten and sharpen it a little. I believe that my late mother's father Jonathan (John) Brown, who I never knew, attended this school, as did several other relatives.

Comment by: TD,. on 29th August 2018 at 22:16

Good job Keith. The slope down to the front of the Wigan school in the image and the child entering, reminds me of Aberfan and those poor children in the Welsh valleys during the sixties.

Comment by: Roy on 30th August 2018 at 00:11

My mother went there until she left to take a job at the age of 14 in 1925, I have her 'School Exemption Certificate' in my possession allowing her to leave school.

Comment by: Veronica on 30th August 2018 at 06:56

I have never noticed before that it's such a fine building, being tucked away and only seen from the Douglas side. I believe it's now a nursing home or it was.

Comment by: walt(north yorks) on 30th August 2018 at 07:58

Keith, great photo and now very clear, thanks. The chap on the steps to the left appears to me to be the caretaker with his bib-n-brace type overalls, non to happy with the little fellow who appears to be in a rush - perhaps late !. Roy, why don't you post a copy of the 'Exemption Certificate' I'm sure it will be of great interest to many and compliment this picture. TD, I know what you mean about the similarities to Aberfan, just a few years ago I stood on the very spot where the tragedy happened, a sad silent place and now a memorial garden.

Comment by: Angela on 30th August 2018 at 13:10

Door on the right was girls and infants, door on the left was boys. Stuff of nightmares that school.

Comment by: Veronica on 30th August 2018 at 14:04

The school building does remind me of something out of a Dicken's novel. It would most likely have been scary for a child first starting school no doubt.

Comment by: tom on 30th August 2018 at 16:20

Went to st Georges 1946 to 1951 Gregory was the headmaster used to go dancing upstairs 1950s rockandroll had just started

Comment by: DerekB on 30th August 2018 at 17:25

The middle sections were the upstairs and downstairs halls with classrooms off them. The middle section whose windows can just be seen below street level was an indoor play area with access from the left hand side of the building and where school dinners were served.

Comment by: Donald Underwood on 30th August 2018 at 19:00

I was a St Catherine's but at the beginning of the war we shared St George's whilst Air Raid Precautions were fitted.Two of the St George's teachers I recall were Miss Annie Sanderson & Miss Wardle

Comment by: DerekB on 31st August 2018 at 15:01

Donald, two others I remember from that period were Miss Hitchen and Miss Johnson - both of which would have been drummed out of the SS for being too severe.

Comment by: TD,. on 31st August 2018 at 17:17

Veronica, I agree its fricknin.

Comment by: Veronica on 1st September 2018 at 09:08

I wonder if any of the children ' ran' home at playtime from there and some mother had to ' drag' her child back - I know it happened in my day. Modern schools seem more 'child friendly' now TD.

Comment by: tom on 1st September 2018 at 10:51

Veronica I ran home a few times from st Georges. Across to longshoot nobody bothered teachers not interested back then

Comment by: Veronica on 1st September 2018 at 12:46

I did run home once Tom from St Pat's, like a lot of infants in those days we didn't realise we had to stop 'forever'! Mam took me back with a jam butty in my hand. The thing was the gates weren't locked then like they are now... Such happy days! ;o))

Comment by: Angela on 1st September 2018 at 15:43

Veronica you hit the nail on the head with Dickens. Gloomy awful place, still makes me shudder when I see pictures of it.

Comment by: Ken R on 1st September 2018 at 19:25

Is Norman Sharples still around? My wife Betty Williams knew a Norman Sharples from her time at St. Georges ( 1938 to 1943) and would like to contact Norman if possible

Comment by: Veronica on 1st September 2018 at 19:25

It's something that never leaves you isn't it Angela. They throw a few toys in but you never really got to play with them. Too many children wanting to play with the same toy!

Comment by: Norman Cunliffe on 2nd September 2018 at 18:19

I attended St.George's School from 1936 to 1943. I have nothing but good memories of the school; it certainly wasn't Angela's 'stuff of nightmares' nor Veronica's 'scary'. The school's facilities were far superior to most primary schools of that era. A large hall with separate classrooms downstairs for Infants and a similar hall upstairs for Juniors. Downstairs in the basement (called the Drill Room) was an area that could be used for indoor games.Adjacent to the Drill Room was the Dining Room. I think I would be safe in saying that few,if any, other Primary Schools in Wigan could match those facilities. In the 1940's, the middle section whose windows can just be seen below street level was a large cookery classroom where girls from a local Secondary School came for cookery lessons.
Miss Glover was Headmistress of the Infant Department and Mr. Mortimer Headmaster of the Juniors. Every Friday at Morning Assembly, Mr. Mortimer used to inspect all the boys' clogs. My friend, Peter Norburn often had the cleanest clogs.
Ken R, asks if anyone knows Norman Sharples; I must have been in the same class as your wife Betty but sorry, Betty I don't remember you, nor Norman Sharples. However, the ALBUM Editor mentions Norman Sharples at the top of the page in relation to the photograph of the school.

Comment by: Veronica on 6th September 2018 at 09:37

You have triggered a memory for me there Norman. Having footwear inspected and also hands and nails. Being told I had 'piano fingers' - ironic really as we did not have a piano at home! There wasn't room for one thing! Next door neighbours did own one and in the days before the 'telly'we heard it being played quite a lot... And singing as well. The school facilities at St George's were amazing for the time - I recall walking to Whelley School for Domestic Science ( we called them Cookery lessons). Just shows the disparity between schools in Wigan at the time.

Comment by: Angela on 8th September 2018 at 17:04

Norman, during the 60's the place was tired, cold and run down. The staff also left a lot to be desired.

Comment by: NORMAN CUNLIFFE on 28th September 2018 at 06:33

Angela,in the late 1950's,I considered applying for a teaching post at St. Georges, but changed my mind.Your comments have made me realise that I probably did the correct thing !!!

Leave a comment?

* Enter the 5 digit code to the right of the input box. Don't worry if you make a mistake, you will get another chance. Your comments won't be lost.