M.M.S. Magazine - Summer 1957

Most children at this school remember Sonja Leach of 2C. Six months ago Sonja went to Boston Spa Hospital for spinal trouble. She has spent over six months in a "plaster jacket." During this long and painful time she has been wonderfully cheerful. From the newspapers we learn she requested records from the music organiser and insisted on rock and roll. The nurses sent a letter to Bill Haley, the 'pop' singer, telling him this story and asked if he would send his autograph. Bill Haley did better than this—he wrote a cheery letter and sent six of his recordings!

Our good wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery from us all, Sonja.

The first postage stamps ever made were the famous Penny Black and Twopenny Blue of Great Britain and were issued on May 6th, 1840. Before that time letters were taken to the Post Office and the fee for the transit paid over the counter. The letters were then postmarked with a "Paid " mark. In those days it was expensive to send letters long distances as they were carried by Postboy on horseback or in mail coaches which took sometimes several days over journeys from London to the North. At the time Queen Victoria became Queen of England, in 1837, this country was coming to the top in mechanical inventions and trade and population was increasing rapidly. The first railway was only twelve years old and it was thought that railways should carry the mail. It was then that Sir Rowland Hill, with the help of a printer, produced the first postage stamps, the Penny Black and Twopenny Blue, which are still considered to be the most beautiful stamps ever made. At that time the stamps had to be separated by scissors. With Great Britain's idea of postage stamps firmly established other countries began to follow. After Britain was Brazil whose first stamps appeared in 1843. Within ten years stamps were all over the world. In 1850 a Belgian schoolmaster started stamp collecting. King George V's collection is said to be worth £100,000. The most valuable stamp is the British Guiana 1856 worth £1,340.

The Stamp Club has thirty-two members, boys and girls from all forms. Mr. Hinkins runs it in the activity lesson. He helps us to sort out stamps into sets and tells us interesting things about them. For instance there is a "Columbus discovering America" stamp, a "Queen Astrid death stamp" when she was killed in a car crash. Some boys collect special stamps only like Air Mail, Animals, Scenery, Flowers, Transport, etc.

Every club meeting begins with a short talk such as mounting the stamps, water marks, stamps in sets, stamp history, stamps with stories to them, special kinds of albums, fakes, misprints and postmarks, approvals and stamp auctions, etc. The rest of the time is spent sticking in stamps and exchanging with other members.

At approximately ten-twenty we entered Dewsbury West Riding Court. Ascending two flights of steps we found ourselves in the gallery. The court was hushed as the cases were being heard. We were seated on long pew-like benches.

Leading the court were three Justices of the Peace, two men and a woman made this. In front of the judges sits the clerk of the court and in front of him the counsel for the prosecution.

Most of the cases were small motoring offences. With these the offender had only need to write a letter stressing he was guilty of the offence and he was sorry. Then he would be fined a small sum of money.

But if the defendant pleaded not guilty he has to appear before the court in person and would have the choice of defending himself or paying a lawyer. The last case proved to be a lesson in British justice.

The police had the roads measured and all the road maps showing that district. The policemen stated the case. There had been an accident involving a Ford saloon car and B.S.A. Bantam motor-cycle. The cyclist and his wife, the pillion passenger, were injured and taken to Batley Hospital. The cyclist gave his evidence first after swearing the oath. He claimed that the car came out of St. Pegg's lane without stopping at the crossroads and that while trying to swerve round the back of the car he had collided with its rear. Three more individual eye witnesses claimed more or less the same story. These witnesses were questioned in turn by the counsel for the defence.

The counsel for the prosecution then questioned the driver of the car. Then after summing up the case it was put before the judges, who, consulting each other, found the car driver guilty. He was fined five pounds with the costs at the top of that. With this the court adjourned.

On Tuesday, 25th September, 4HB. went to Field Head Nursery to look round. We had a very enjoyable afternoon. First of all we looked at all the babies and toddlers. When we had been with them about ten minutes Miss Margen called us in and the Matron showed us round the Home. It is a very comfortable place and very large has almost everything that the children are lacking is parents' love. When the Matron had showed us round (the Home) we went and looked after a baby each.

I looked after a baby called Stephen. He was 2 months old and he was in for adoption but he had a mother so he must have been illegitimate. While I was wheeling him round I got him off-to sleep. When I had wheeled him round once Sister told us we had to take the younger babies in. I took him out of the pram and he was still asleep. My arm was aching. At last Sister came and showed us up to the dormitory. I put Stephen in his cot. Then, it was time to go. I did not want to leave him and I kept creeping back. I though that it was a very interesting visit but I 'still' prefer to be a hospital nurse.

Type of Firm. It is a small but prosperous light engineering firm which is very typical of this district, examples—Newsomes, Rogan and Dawson. They mostly tend to specialise on one or two things which they can do well and give excellent service. Heaton's specialised products are welded steel drums for the wire drawing trade. They also make small parts, e.g., fettling combs and shuttle boxes for the textile trade. A small sideline was the re-clothing of card tooth sharpeners (a card tooth is a short piece of steel wire, one of thousands on the surface of a roller used in a carding machine which prepares wool for weaving). The reason why this small firm flourishes is because it is in the heart of the woollen industry. One thing that saves the firm's money is that it is only a few hundred yards from the railway.

Factory Organisation. The firm buys all the steel and iron used but the quality of the steel and iron must be very high to stand the strain of the wire; they buy sheet steel 3/16in. thick x 4 sqr. For the making of combs tempered steel is needed. There are two main departments, they are the Bobbin Departments and the Textile Machinery Department.

General. It is a small firm which has been going on since the late 19th Century. The people who work there are all friendly, which prevents inefficiency. They have had no strikes and some of the people have had many years with the firm.

Method: Take 4ozs. of good BLAND soil and cream with 4ozs. of best STEWART soft soap. Break 2 COLLOMOSSE yokes in some HARFORD glasses and beat well. Sift in 5ozs. of BOOTH plaster of paris until a soft consistency is obtained. Using DORMAND humour make quite sure that the mixture is not too dry. If liquid is required use a little CARTWRIGHT ink. Pour the mixture into a greased LEACH fish bowl. COOK over a ROBINSON burner for 20 minutes. Do not BYRNE. Turn out on to a MARTIN bench and using a SMITH lathe carefully cut the cake into two halves. Sandwich together with WHITAKER furniture cream and decorate with a BESLY red dot. If you do not possess a ROBOTTOM appetite serve with a BEVERIDGE whilst listening to HAYCOCK while you work. Using a KENYON compass cut the remainder of the cake into small rounds and feed to the PREFECTS. Hope they don't end up in the PICKERSGILL vaults!

We first saw the pigs driven into the pens. They are graded according to their size and age. In one period they kill twenty-one pigs. They go into a pen with a man who has a pair of tongs with electricity running through them. The tongs give the pigs an electric shock which stuns them. They are then hoisted into a pen where a man with a knife cuts its throat and they bleed them to death.

Then they are placed in a scalding tank where most of the hair falls out. Then when the hair has fallen out, the pigs are put into a big burner where the rest of the hair is burnt off with an oil lamp. The pigs are cooled down with a shower of water. All the black loose skin is scraped off and the pigs are then cut up the front and all the livers are taken out and inspected for infectious diseases, for example liver fluke and T.B.

The rest of the carcase is moved on the overhead rails to a man who cuts out the back bone. A man cuts it in a way for bacon and the other cuts it for pork. It is then taken into the refrigerator where a man injects it with brine and rubs its bones with salt. It into ham by smoking it with oak chippings. After it has been smoked it is put into a cotton bag and sent to the buyer by van. Some of the meat is made into pork pies. In the bakery the cooks make some dough in machines, it is then rolled out cut into rings. It is then made into a case and the meat falls in. They can make a dozen at a time. They are then glazed and put in an oven. When they are taken out they let them cool, then add the jelly. They are then wrapped in bags and distributed to shops. They make one thousand five hundred dozen per week.

A school magazine should be a most appropriate place to note that some very famous people were schooled at Mirfield. The Bronte sisters attended the Roe Head School at the end of Slipper Lane. The Brontes wrote the brilliant novels which are read the world over. You, too, will read them if you have not already done so. They are part of our history. The building still stands and has recently been put into use as a monastery for Verona Fathers—a religious community. Charlotte came as a pupil in January, 1831, and remained until the summer of the next year and returned four years later as a teacher, bringing her younger sister with her. Emily, however, pined for the Haworth Moors and was replaced by Anne. Anne was later replaced by Charlotte six months later. Again she came to live in Mirfield in 1839 as a governess with the Ingham family of Blake Hall. These experiences gave her material for her novel, Agnes Grey. Charlotte taught and wrote. She became interested in French and went to Brussels. Two of her novels have this background— "The Professor" and "Vilette." This district you will find as a rich scene to one of her most thrilling books called "Shirley." Read it, you won't be disappointed.

Roe Head School, so near our own, was not to be compared in size, nor had it all our amenities. However it did provide an education fitted to the development of genius!

Another famous one-time pupil of the Moravian School at Wellhouse, Mirfield, was the Prime Minister of Britain—the Earl of Oxford and Asquith.

Perhaps we have a budding genius writing for our magazine— who knows?