J5 step back in time at Quarry Bank Mill - report by Mr Wardle

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The boys in Junior 5 had a fantastic time at Quarry Bank Mill at the begining of November. J5D went on 7th November, accompanied by Mrs Davies, Mr Bennett and Mrs Carr while J5W made their way to Cheshire on 14th November with Mr Wardle, Mrs Lincoln and Mr Wardle's Mum. (It felt a bit like an old people's outing on J5W's visit at times, having to cope with Mrs W and Mrs L!)

J5D gather outside the Mill

The boys had a fabulous time and were lucky to be escorted by some excellent guides.

J5W's guide, Brian, took us into the Mill to see cotton being spun on a traditional spinning wheel. The woman who was demonstrating then showed us how the cotton was used to produce cloth on a loom. We didn't have time to see the whole demonstration in one chunk as we were due at the Apprentice House by 11:15.

At the Apprentice House we were greeted by a guide who told us that she would be acting as a skivy and a teacher. She firstly got into the role of a teacher and gave some of the boys a hard time when they dared to look her in the eye. That was just not the done thing in the old days - oh how I wish we could turn the clocks back! Mrs Lincoln and Mrs Wardle, of course, remembered the Victorian times first hand...as does Mr Bennett! The boys then wrote in a sand tray, used slates and used feather quill pens.

Next we went upstairs to see the living quarters of the apprentices - two to a bed and very cramped. We don't know just how lucky we are these days. The room was dark and dingy and would have been very smelly with so many children crammed in. It was smelly for us anyway as Max Hodkinson was with us so we had an idea of just how horrible it must have been!

We paraded down to the sick room where our skivy showed us leeches and other revolting things, such as Brimstone and Treacle, together with something called Vomit Tea. After sitting in the Superintendent's Parlour to hear a story about a girl who ran away, we gathered together in the kitchen to look at some of the food that the children would have been eating in those days - porridge and scouse. It didn't look very attractive to us and our butties seemed far more appealing.

J5W audition as scarecrows in the Apprentice House garden

After lunch - and a hefty piece of Harry May's birthday cake - we resumed our journey around the mill and saw how progress improved things in the mill. Machinery became automated and more cloth was produced. The apprentices had dangerous lives, many being injured by the heavy machinery.

We were shown how to join two pieces of cotton together, ready to be made into thread. Sadly, Mrs Lincoln struggled with this and some of the boys sorted her out (I tried to 'sort her out' by gagging her with it but that didn't work either!).

We finished off our tour looking at the vast water wheel that powered the machinery in the factory. Then, with money burning a hole in the boys' pockets we went to the shop to buy some goodies. Slates and quill pens were popular purchases - the boys seemed very pleased with their aquisitions.

We left the Mill car park at 3:15 and returned to school dead on 4:30. It was a really great day and the boys were a credit to our school. The questions that they asked were amazing and the interest they showed in the subject was astounding. Well done, J5! It is good to see history brought to life and we are lucky to have such a good place to visit so close to us.

Report by Mr Wardle

The boys listen intently under the shadow of the mill

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J5 step back in time at Quarry Bank Mill - report by Mr Wardle

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