Meet at North Ends at 2.30 p.m. Band to be in
attendance. Wait for those invited till 2.45. Form
procession and march to site of school. 1 Vicar and
towns officers. 2. School Board. 3. School Board elect.
4. Architect. 5. Contractors.
When arrived on site and parties arranged the Vicar will
offer up prayers and give a short address. The Clerk (T.
Fisher) to present to Chairman (Mr J. Fisher) the trowel
and mallet with the following address:-
“Sir, I am commissioned by Messieurs J. Nowell, J.
Hartley, J. Smith and
J. Laycock by your companions in office members of the
first School Board for this township to present you with
this trowel and mallet for which they have themselves
subscribed and purchased for you to use on this
important occasion, and I therefore in their name
present them to as a token of their personal regard and
a mark of the esteem which they have for you as the
Chairman of the School Board of which you have now all
been members for nearly three years”.
Mr. Fisher will reply – and then proceed to lay the
Memorial Stone on which when it is declared duly laid
the clerk will state the contents of the bottle
deposited beneath and read the following copy of the
Parchment enclosed therein:-
“This Memorial Stone of the First Elementary Board
School in the Township of Cowling-In-Craven was laid on
the three and twentieth day of May in the 37th year of
Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and seventy four, by Mr. John Fisher, Land
Agent, the Chairman of the first School Board for the
above named township of Cowling and in the presence of
the members of the School Board; viz. Messieurs John
Nowell the Vice Chairman, John Hartley, Joseph Smith and
Jonas Laycock, together with the contractors for
building the sd. school and the inhabitants of the sd.
Township of Cowling. The site of the sd. School
measuring 2000 sq. yds. was purchased at a cost of £350
sterling.
This new school with master’s house, and the site are to
cost £1,961.6s.Od. erecting – and the school will
accommodate 272 children, so that the cost per child
will be rather more than £7.4s.Od. which is a low
estimate, taking into consideration the master’s house,
which will contain – lobby, parlour, kitchen, scullery
and pantry on ground floor, and 3 good bedrooms
upstairs. The school will be “T” shaped, with 2
classrooms, one large which is to be a sewing room for
girls and a smaller room for single classes. There are
also to be separate entrance lobbies with washing places
both for boys and girls, as well as a coal house and
store room for the school. Then outside there will be
the cloisters or covered shed both for boys and girls to
play in, in wet weather
separately, with sufficient conveniences offices? under
the same roof for each.
A yard with offices is also to be provided for the
master, and in front of the school next to the road will
be a nice garden for the schoolmaster’s use, so that on
the whole the premises will be compact, convenient and
comfortable.
First as to the receipts – the Board has issued precepts
on the overseers for the following amounts – which have
been duly paid unto the Yorkshire Bank at Skipton – at
the under mentioned dates:
1871 July 10 to meet expenses of Board to 29 Sept. £40 0
0
1872 June 22 “ “ “ 25 March 50 0 0
1872 Aug. 3 “ “ “ 29 Sept. 50 0 0
1873 June 25 “ “ “ 29 Sept. 200 0 0
and to make the necessary alterations in the National
School which it was expected would be transferred to the
School Board to be used as an Infant School.
Thus the Board has received £340 0 0
========
from the overseers of the township to the present date
and has paid during its three years of office £76 3s.
10d. to the present time, so that with interest added
there is now lying in the Yorkshire Bank at Skipton £267
19s. 11d.
I will now give you some details as to how the above sum
of £76 3s. 10d. has been disposed of:- etc. etc.
(breakdown of sum omitted)*
Perhaps some member of the present Board will be
desirious of addressing ?
The School is to accommodate 272 children as a mixed
school; the plans for the same having been prepared by
Mr. Thomas Fisher, Clerk to the sd. School Board, and
the contractors for the erection of the same and the
amounts of their contracts being as follows:-
For masons’ works Messrs. J. Bancroft & H. Gott,
Ickornshaw £943 10s. 0d.
For carpenters’ works Messrs. James Emmott,
New Road Side 294 10s. 0d.
For slaters’ works Messrs. Samuel Thornton
Bradley, Nr. Skipton 155 10s. 0d.
For plumbers’, painters’, glaziers’
Messrs. Samuel Bottomley & sons
Crosshills 131 10s. 0d.
For plasterers’ work Messrs. Richard Hill 47 0s. 0d.
Cost of Erection £1572 0s. 0d.
===========
Signed (B.S.) Thomas Fisher, Clerk and Architect
Ladies, Gentlemen, friends and neighbours! I have a few
words to give you respecting the School Board of
Cowling. The outgoing Board was elected on 27th May,
1871, for three years, and consequently their term of
office will expire on 27th of this present month.
The Board has during its term of office held 63
meetings, of which 36 were ordinary monthly meetings and
27 were extra-ordinary meetings. Of these 63 meetings of
the Board, Mr. Nowell, the vice chairman has attended
60, Mr. Hartley has attended 58, Mr. Fisher, the
Chairman 57, Mr. Laycock 48, and Mr. Smith 46, so that
there can be no complaint as to the attendance of the
members, if you take into consideration the accidental
and necessitous causes which during three years time
might very possibly occur to prevent the attendance of
the most indefatigable members, and I venture to assert
that the attention which the members of this Board have
paid to their duties will bear very favourable
comparison with that of any other School Board!
Now I will give you a short financial account of the
receipts and expenditure of the Board during the three
years. I know that you will all be anxious to know what
has been spent by the Board as well as how it has been
spent! |
