An amazing find
In 1885, with a vision for quality education for boys in the region, a group of forward-thinking locals opened the South Shields Boys High School, in Mowbray Road. It was the first school funded by the Boys Public School Company and its president, Lord Aberdare, laid the foundation stone the previous year.
The school leaving age was 10 at the time, and had risen to 14 by the early 1930s. The resulting pressure on school places led to the construction of the present-day building in Harton, and in 1936 the Boys High School moved to its new location in Harton, bringing with it boys from Westoe Higher Grade School.
The school went through several name changes, becoming South Shields Grammar Technical School for Boys in 1953, and later, Harton Comprehensive, Harton Technology College and now Harton Academy, with Sir Ken Gibson at its helm for the past 20 years.
I have to thank Ken for his support during this time as I rummaged through the school's archives to create this site, and who I wish the very best for what I hope is a long retirement.
The Remarkable Surprise
But I’d like to go back to the very beginning of the school, when that first foundation stone was laid in Mowbray Road.
Recently, a remarkable discovery was made.
After the tragic death in 2021 of Steve Norman, of Minnesota, amongst his effects was found the silver trowel used to lay the school's foundation stone on 29th May 1884!
How this historic artifact found its way to Minnesota remains a mystery, but Steve was an inveterate collector. Thankfully his friend, Julian West, alerted me to the find and I was able to buy it.
I am very grateful to Julian, and also to Joel Thingval for faciliting the purchase and shipping of it, as without their wish for the trowel to find its way home, it may never have been seen again.
So, after framing it, it was my honour and pleasure to present it to the school at its Summer Concert on July 20th, 2023, as a symbol of its enduring history.
Mike Todd, Rothbury, 20-Jul-2023
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