Derbyshire’s education chief didn’t entirely blame the government for not giving Glossop a bigger grammar school. He blamed parents for having more children.
Jack Longland told the 1949 speech day there was no chance of a replacement school in the next few years.
It was all because of the post-war baby boom, and the school governors just had to face the facts.
He said: “There are a million extra children who have to be got into schools by 1954.
“The responsibly does not lie with the Minister of Education but primarily with the enthusiastic parents who have had the extra children.”
If governors were expecting better news there was none to be had. The school was over-crowded, lessons were taking place in poorly lit and heated basements, and there was neither a gymnasium nor sufficient sports fields.
As a final blow, Mr Longland added: “We shall be straining for several years simply to find classroom space for the children now growing up.”
Thanking Mr Longland for speaking and being so frank, chairman of governors Alderman Joseph Doyle said in a hopefully tongue in cheek remark: “Now he is here I think we should be justified in putting him under arrest and holding him as hostage until we get a new school.”
It would have been a long confinement, as the replacement school wasn’t built until 1959.
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