The Fire 1951 |
Text (black print) taken from the "WAKEFIELD EXPRESS"
Saturday, July 21,1951 Photographs from former pupils (captions in red text) |
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A view from the terrace the morning
after. |
A fire appliance stands outside the main entrance.
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Some of the firemen were on duty for
19 hours on Sunday. |
The Girls' Entrance ... everything above was completely gutted & has collapsed |
One of the tragedies of the fire is that many of the personal reference and record books owned by the staff were destroyed along with hundreds of pounds-worth of personal belongings. Some teachers lost notes they had been making over the last 20 years. One schoolboy lost a valuable stamp collection, others lost caps, coats, satchels, and one girl lost her prized piece of knitting. |
The headmaster, Mr. C. C. Bracewell, said he had been able to salvage the school records from the wrecked building, together with damp but intact school reports. These would be sent out. Also recovered was a blackboard and several desks. |
Firemen & appliances were working
at Thornes House on Wednesday when timbers were still smouldering 3 days later.
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Another morning-after photograph. No room in the car for the desk ! |
Chief Officer K. Colam, of the Wakefield Fire Brigade, said it was obvious that the fire had been burning for several hours. The trees surrounding the school prevented the blaze from being spotted earlier. One of the chief dangers for the fire-fighters was caused through molten lead dropping from the roof. Several firemen were hit by debris and Deputy Chief Officer E. Griffiths was struck on the back by a red-hot slate. He also received a cut hand. |
You
would have thought it could have been restored looking at this wouldn't you? Apart
from any other considerations, even in 1953 it would have cost a fraction of what it cost
to replace with this ... |
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Back to Main Index Page | Last revised: 23 February 2013 |