Wigan Album

I was a pupil at Thomas Linacre from 1953 to 1958 and Since then I have never come across such excellent school workshop facilities as we had there.The same could also be said regarding the science labs.

There between 1958 & 64. I'm with you on that Dave

Me too John, Sept 58 to Dec 64. It was a sad day when the school merged with the Grammar school. I remember the final assembly & Mr Smith's final words: The Thomas Linacre School is now closed.

Fabulous facilities at TLS I have very fond memories of this workshop, run by Basher Collins, who taught me that "You don't lean on a lathe boy, you stand poised like a boxer". I had a blast at Linacre and wore my school uniform with pride whenever we passed grammar school kids we threw our shoulders back and marched like champions, I'll never forget it.

I think that many of the staff felt that they were beggining a new kind of education, and Mr. smith perhaps more than most. It must have broke his heart to say that.
I visited the school not long after the amalgamation and teh workshop masters were all dispirited because they had hardly any pupils do their subjects. Sad. Even as a theoretical scientist I still appreciate the things that I learned in our workshops. It certainly gives me an edge on our student intake in Engineering!

When first installed, the forges were unusable, as the flue from the canopy just went up about 15ft and opened into the workshop. What the architects were thinking of, goodness knows, as when you lit the forge you simply filled the place with smoke. Eventually they altered things so the flue went outside through the roof and things were O.K.