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Adult education schools

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
The teachers of the Severn Street Adult School with George Cadbury at Woodbrooke in 1890. “You boy on the end, sit up straight !” Viv.

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Here’s the Balfour Street early morning school members during WW1. Viv

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Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
These men are members of the Little Bromwich Adult School. The photo of these men shows a group with great pride. Being able to play a musical instrument as part of a band and wearing a very smart uniform must have been a proud achievement in their lives.

Features of most adult schools were, usually, the study of the Bible and building an awareness of democratic and non-party methods of working. These men (and women in other adult schools) would have, otherwise, have had no access to any formal education.

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This was once the Midland Adult School Union (MASU) building on Severn Street. (I think it moved to new premises at Gaywood Croft, Cregoe Street, Edgbaston).

By 1960 the Severn Street building became home to the Birmingham Athletic Insitute and by 2004, it was in a sorry state and boarded up with an uncertain future. Thankfully it was saved and has now been renovated.

Some history of the movement from the book: The Last Class - The Story of The Midland Adult School Union 1845-2020 :

Started in 1845 it taught reading and writing, initially within Severn Street Board School then as the membership grew, classes spread across the Midlands. It provided an education for Life through study and discussion and established the first place of respite, St Oswald’s Camp, for its members which resulted in a Social Life without the use of pubs.

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These early morning adult schools must have been a massive help to adults who wanted to improve their education and for those working. Viv.

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Source: British Newspaper Archive
it seems that the house is still there although the front looks different to that of todays view but if it was a garden party it makes sense to me that it was held at the back of the house in the garden..

lyn

 
Hi

I have a family bible presented to my great grandfather by the officers and members of the Holliday Street Early Morning School when he left to seek his fortune in the USA - October 1905. Its inscribed and signed by the Superintendent, Henry Boucher . Can anyone suggest/provide advice as to where I might be able to source more information please?
 
Could the Early Morning School have been held in the Wesleyan/Methodist schoolroom on Holliday Street ? Just a suggestion and, if so, the building was still there in the 1950s, so it was probably captured somewhere in photos of the street.

From British History Online:

"Holliday Street mission hall, a brick school chapel, was opened by the Wesleyans in 1875, and cost £1,060. In 1892 sittings were available for 200. Alterations to the building were notified to the Wesleyan Chapel Committee in 1928 and 1933, and in 1940 there was a main hall, seating 150, with three ancillary rooms, of which one was built as a school hall. Church membership in 1932 was 25. The premises were sold in 1955".
 
Could the Early Morning School have been held in the Wesleyan/Methodist schoolroom on Holliday Street ? Just a suggestion and, if so, the building was still there in the 1950s, so it was probably captured somewhere in photos of the street.

From British History Online:

"Holliday Street mission hall, a brick school chapel, was opened by the Wesleyans in 1875, and cost £1,060. In 1892 sittings were available for 200. Alterations to the building were notified to the Wesleyan Chapel Committee in 1928 and 1933, and in 1940 there was a main hall, seating 150, with three ancillary rooms, of which one was built as a school hall. Church membership in 1932 was 25. The premises were sold in 1955".

I cannot find any reference to an Early Morning School at Holiday Street, but there are mentions of the Schools being attached to Wesleyan Methodist Churches.
 
ive noticed that these adult leaning places could have been set up in pubs..churches..halls etc just noticed on below map there was a boatmans hall in holliday st...just a thought..also a snippet dated 1885 about the building of a new boatmans hall in hednesford which also mentions the one in birmingham which was in holliday st so i just wondered if this was where the adult school was held..snippet is on post 20

 
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