greenfields photos on Flickr

Archbishop John Heenan at Greenfield Approved School, May 1963 by The Makerfield Archive

1

“I was in greenfield house approved from 1968-70. The school was opened in 1963; don't know when it closed but I had a good 2 years there ... and all the teachers in the school was great with us.”

[JG, via sthelens-connect.net in 2015]

“I spent six very happy years in Billinge, 1963-69, as a teacher at Greenfield House, which opened as a Boys' Approved School in mid 1963.

The premises had previously been used as an orphanage and the people in the Billinge community were not at all happy at the change. To understand why, it is necessary to realise that an Approved School was a sort of open prison for juvenile offenders and was administered under Home Office supervision rather than under the Department of Education. Billinge residents were appalled that juvenile offenders were to be housed in the village and I understand that a number of public complaints and appeals were made to prevent this happening. These were unsuccessful and Greenfield received its first “pupils” in May 1963. The Catholic Arch Diocese of Liverpool administered the school as an Intermediate School, which housed boys aged 13 to 17. The Diocese already had a Junior Approved School at Formby and a Senior School at Widnes. Greenfield House completed the range of provision for Catholic boys who were committed by the courts for a variety of offences. Committal was for three years although boys could be released earlier if their behaviour was satisfactory and the School believed they were unlikely to re-offend.

The school accommodated fifty boys and had a staff of three teachers, three trade instructors, two House Masters, a Head Master, a Deputy, various cooks, and administrative and ancillary staff. Although regarded locally as a junior prison, the school, like all other Approved Schools, did not lock up its students. As the staff numbers indicate they were closely supervised during their waking hours and had a night supervisor on duty in the dormitories when the day staff went off duty.

Outside of school hours, the boys were offered a wide range of sports and hobbies including canoe building and canoeing, fishing, photography, boxing, handicrafts and swimming. The school has its own mini-bus and outdoor education including hiking; camping and map reading was a regular activity. The school functioned as a regular boarding school and its pupils were soon frequently seen around the village on their way to the new library, to church at St Mary’s and to the shops, particularly Brown’s Hardware. After the first two years local residents were happy to have the school and volunteered that it was less trouble than the orphanage had been.

My time in Billinge was a particularly happy time. Initially the three teachers lived in schoolhouses on the Windsor Road estate. I was the first teacher to arrive having transferred from a much larger Approved School in Bristol. When we arrived in Billinge at lunchtime one day complete with three children we found that the house we were to move into at 52 Windsor Road, was finished but had not been cleaned. The rooms were littered with builders’ rubble and of course no floor coverings had been installed! And our furniture was to be delivered from Bristol at 8am the next day. The Head Master, Mr McCarthy, had assured us that “Yes the house was finished” and “Yes it was all ready for us to move into”! Not the best introduction to Billinge. When we later bought our own house at 26 Trent Road, we made very sure that it was finished and cleaned and fitted up before we even thought of moving in...

What of the Greenfield House boys? Although they had all been in trouble with the law in their home-towns, very few of them were any trouble when they came to Billinge. Most came from Lancashire with the occasional one from the Potteries or Cheshire. All were very easy to get on with and from a teacher’s point of view they were the best students I ever had. Not the brightest, but respectful, enthusiastic, cheerful and appreciative - far better to teach than many classes in “ordinary” schools. Why were they there? Mainly because of the homes or areas from where they came. Certainly as people I found them great and would be happy to regard the vast majority as friends...”

[Bert Morris, via Billinge History Society c. 2002]

The above photograph, by Barry Farrell, is from the 2 June 1963 edition of The Catholic Pictorial. The accompanying text reads:

“ARCHBISHOPS don't go down on their knees for just ANYONE. There has to be a really good reason – and Archbishop Heenan found one last week when he was in Billinge. It was at Greenfield Special School when he visited he children who wrote to him in Rome. In one of the school rooms he met 14-year-old Christopher Coady and his 15-year-old friend Malcolm Griffiths who between them made a book case. “Did you make it by yourselves?” asked the Archbishop admiringly. “Yes, Your Grace”, chorused the boys. So down on his knees went the Archbishop to examine the boys' work closely!”

Greenfield Masonic Temple by Brandon Bartoszek

2

Hyde, Greenfield Street School Nursery Class by Mike Serigrapher

4 3

1935 or 1936. The cross looking girl with the wheelbarrow is my Mum.

Even I can remember those little portable seesaws. Probably banned now due Health and Safety going mad. Back then a crushed ankle might keep you off school for a week but then we just got on with it.

MVA on Route 50 in Wilton by zamboni-man

5

Maple Ave Fire Department, Wilton EMS and New York State Police on the scene of a MVA in Wilton, NY. March 24, 2012.

Greenfield Village by Liza Lagman Sperl