(or the demise of Burnley Grammar School)

Reform of education was a hot topic even when I was young. This harks back to a time when a Grammar School education was seen as a chance for working class kids to take a step up in the world with a better education and, hopefully, a chance to enter one of the professions. The ruling classes had their concerns and by the mid-1960’s, they decided to replace grammar schools with a system of comprehensive schools. I attended Burnley Grammar School between 1967 and 1974. There are few grammar schools left; Burnley’s was over 400 years old when it was finally closed. The closure was highly controversial and many parents considered Lancashire County Council, who took the decision to close it, to have been pursuing a political agenda in which local education outcomes took second place. That is now history.

When I passed my ‘11 plus’, I was the first child for several years to attain a grammar school education from the area of Stoneyholme. My mother was a refugee from Eastern Europe and often misunderstood how things worked in England; although my grades were good, I was sometimes unprepared – I certainly wasn’t prepared to receive a yearbook, The Brun, at the end of my first academic year in Burnley Grammar School; I was intrigued.

Looking back I realise they provide a snapshot of life – not just at the school, but also of the town. The yearbooks painted a picture of school life and, through the advertisements, of businesses – some of which are now gone. I never threw away my copies of The Brun, and towards the end of 2013 I wrote some articles on them, and on the town of Burnley. The level of interest prompted me to write an account of the final years of Burnley Grammar School which, along with my articles, became: Burnley.

The local newspaper, The Burnley Express, was very supportive of the project and I am very grateful for their support.