Description:150th anniversary celebrations of Stafford Wesley Methodists Sunday School, Earl Street, Stafford. Below is an extract from an article published in the Staffordshire Newsletter on 23 April 1956:
For 150 years there has been a Sunday School and activities for young people in connection with Stafford Wesley Methodist Church. In the old days there were week day classes for reading and writing, but today (April 1956) handicrafts are a popular pastime for a flourishing youth club.
A proud record of devoted service on behalf of the young people of Stafford would be celebrated when past and present scholars and teachers join in special meetings and services to mark the 150th anniversary of the Earl Street, Methodist Sunday School. In connection with the celebrations, a history of the Sunday School was prepared by Mr Cyril Baker, who continued the story told by his father, Mr William Baker in an earlier publication.
The founder of the school Mr William Jones was Stafford’s first Nonconformist Mayor, in 1837, and an Alderman and a Borough Magistrate for over 20 years. He was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, which was formed in the town in 1784, following a visit of John Wesley; Mr Jones told in his autobiography that after reading of the beginning of a Sunday School in Lancashire, he decided to commence one in Stafford. He visited Burslem to buy a quantity of books and the school opened on 7 April 1805, in a room in St. Chad’s Place, where he had commenced preaching. His first woman teacher later became his wife.
Starting with 30 scholars, the Sunday School grew so rapidly that in August of the same year, with numbers between 300 and 400, permission was obtained to use the Assembly Room of the newly erected Shire Hall. These were the days before compulsory education and in addition to religious instruction, the scholars, if well behaved and capable, were taught to write. The teaching was extended to two or three evenings a week. Rules for teachers were strict by modern standards, forbidding attendance at “the races, card table, ballroom or theatre”.
In the early years of the Sunday School, all the scholars were taken to St. Mary’s Church after morning and afternoon school. In 1811 Mr Jones laid the foundation stone of a Wesley Chapel in Chapel Street, predecessor of the present building. The school was later moved to a part of the new chapel, and in 1842 it was provided with a home of its own in the schoolroom built at the rear. In those days it was considered proper to keep boys and girls apart and out of sight of each other. There was a partition for this purpose and teachers addressed the children from a raised platform from which the teacher could see them all.
In 1863 the school was again on the move. It had been decided to build a new chapel on the site of the old one. The Sunday School had to transfer to the nearby British School, which became the Stafford Institute. The following year land was acquired for the present school in Earl Street, but it was not until eight years later, in December 1872 that the building was opened. It cost £1,300. At this time the school recorded over 500 scholars. The Superintendent was Mr John T Cox. Like other schools, attendances have shown many fluctuations, particularly during the troubled years of war. In the 1914 to 1918 war the school was used as a billet for troops.
The celebrations commemorating the completion of 150 years work commence on 7th May with a tea and meeting to which the scholars past and present were specially invited, the Rev. J. Arthur Hoyles, Secretary of the Stoke-on-Trent, District Synod was to give an address and the Chairman of the Stoke District (the Rev. Raymond C Mace) would preside. On the following day, the 150th anniversary services would be held when the preacher would be the Rev. H F Mathews, of the Cheshire Training College, Alsager. A public meeting would be held on Monday 9th May at which Mr C Baker would preside and the speaker would be the Rev. H F Mathews.
Reproduced by kind permission of the Staffordshire Newsletter who retain copyright.