BGSB Learning Resource Centre

The Reverend Henry Bury Founder of the School c. 1600

Reverend Henry Bury is believed to have founded Bury Grammar School sometime around the 1600s. During his lifetime and then in his will, dated 1634, he endowed BGS and the Parish with a gift of "...some 600 books and some other things" for the use of "schoolmasters and others who seek for learning and knowledge".

This collection of books must undoubtedly be considered the first library to which the boys of Bury Grammar School had access. Most of the books were of sermons or ecclesiastical matters, which is not surprising given Henry Bury was ordained.

To put this gift into perspective, there were 1229 volumes in the All Soul's Library in 1635, in 1602 the Bodleian at Oxford had 2000 volumes, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, had 600 in 1637. Since the 1540s there had been a growing appreciation of libraries in universities.

For Bury Grammar School to have access to 600 books was exceptional at that time.

Unfortunately, there is no surviving portrait of Henry Bury, so his appearance is a mystery.

 "[Henry Bury] believed that books were the aptest teachers... the "Bury" Library... must have been one of the first free libraries in England" T.C. Porteus, Writing in ‘Lancashire School Founders' (1929)

The Reverend Roger Kay – re-founder of the School 1726

The Reverend Roger Kay - re-founder of the School in 1726

This is a copy of a portrait of the Roger Kay, which was presented to the School by a descendant  of his (Thomas Nuttall), and hangs in the Roger Kay Hall.

Reverend Roger Kay was born in 1663 and educated at Bury Grammar School and St. John's College Cambridge. He re-founded BGS on May 6^th 1726 by an endowment indenture signed in his parish of Fittleton, Wiltshire. He also prepared a set of school statutes. A man of great leaning himself, he recognised the importance of books and a library for the school.

He instructed the Trustees (Governors) that they should spend £4 per annum on useful school books.

He also writes in his Statutes, "... and when it can be done, I desire them to furnish the study belonging to the Schole [sic] with the most useful Schole books." These were to be "for the use of the master and the uppermost scholars."

The Reverend Canon Cane - preaching on Founders' Day (c.1878)

"This faith in books is one of the superstitions of the age."

The Reverend W H Howlett – Headmaster 1879-1919

When Howlett was searching through cupboards in the old School building (now the Parish Church Hall), he found a large number of books from the original library. The present whereabouts of many of these books is not known.

 Leonard Ralph Strangeways – Headmaster 1919-1936 Leonard Ralph Strangeways - Headmaster 1919-1936

Strangeways Library 1938-1965The Strangeways Library 1938-1965

The numbers of pupils in Bury Grammar School continued to grow into the 1930s. The School's academic standing was rising. Improvements to the facilities were now required. More classrooms and a decent library were needed.

The Governors obtained a loan from the Hulme Trust and in 1936 awarded a contract for the construction of a two-storey link between the Roger Kay Hall and the main corridor. There was to be a spacious library and a Book Room on the lower floor.

Work continued throughout 1936, but in mid-September news reached the School of the death of its Headmaster, Leonard R. Strangeways. It was decided that the new Library should therefore be named in his memory - it was to be called the "Strangeways Library". For its time it was a useful and valuable addition to the School.

The Strangeways Library was to serve as the School's library for the next 27 years, until in 1965 the boys moved out of the 1903 building and into new accommodation on the other side of Bridge Road.

The Strangeways Library was named in memory of L.R. Strangeways, Headmaster 1919-1936 and served as the School Library from 1936 until 1965.This photograph was provided by D.S. Hodgkiss

Mr D.S.Hodgkiss - Recollections of the Strangeways Library, February 2005

" I have managed to find the enclosed photograph, taken in the Strangeways Library in the early 1960s. I am afraid it gives you a limited view of it. The Library was a single, rectangular room on the bottom floor of the Girls' School building as it now is. It measured about 50 feet by 20 feet. The shelving lay on three sides: as you can see the right hand wall had shelving under the window, and the left-hand and end walls had probably six rows of shelving. Some open storage space behind the Librarian's table, a notice board and a tablet bearing the words: "Strangeways Library" completed the provision. As you can see, the view through the window, of the side wall of part of the building, dos not compare with yours today [in the LRC]. The three Assistant Librarians were, from left to right, Barlow, Hilton and Robertson."

Derek Saunders Hodgkiss, Master in Charge of the Library 1961-1976

Derek Hodgkiss, who came was born in 1926 and educated at The Manchester Grammar School, came to Bury Grammar School in 1953. He remained here for nearly 36 years until 1988 and served under four different Headmasters.

In 1961, he became Head of History and also Master-in-Charge of the Library. During his stewardship, the new Library in the present school building was conceived and organised, He ensured that there was little unused stock in the Library. In 1976, upon the death of Mr. Asquith, the Second Master, he was called upon to become Second Master and control of the Library passed to Mr. Hateley.

He attached great importance to the Library and therefore endowed a prize for the Principal School Librarian.Walmsley Library 1965-2002

The Walmsley Library 1965-2002

The opening of the new library in 1965 was announced in The Clavian under the heading "Nova bibiotheca scholae buriensis" , and in this article the firm Walmsley Ltd. of Bury were thanked for helping with the costs - leading to the Library's name.

In the 1968 Clavian, C.D. Taylor of the History Sixth asked, "Will future generations of bookworms be found basking in the sun on a roof garden above the new library?"

This was perhaps a joke, but less than ten years later, it was found necessary to extend the Library to accommodate the resources and users. On Thursday 29^th September 1977, Sir Richard Southern opened the Library Extension on the night of Prizegiving. Mr Hateley, then Master-in-Charge of the Library, wrote in The Clavian that it was "the Promised Land". The Extension accommodated the Record Library and the Resource Centre.

In 1999, the entire Library stock was entered on the computerized Library Management System, "Alice" and planning started to transform the Walmsley Library into a Learning Centre for the new Millennium.

"An outstanding feature of the library is the involvement of pupils. There are 13 senior librarians, drawn from the top four years, and there are also junior librarians drawn from younger pupils. The pupil librarians have and impressive esprit de corps; they put books away, help to maintain good order, publicise the library around the school, recommend new purchases, staff the enquiries desk, and even repair damaged stock. They are enthusiastic, efficient and courteous."An extract from the Independent Schools Inspectorate Report of 2000

The Learning Resource Centre 2002Learning Resource Centre

2002 saw the opening in September of the Learning Resource Centre, the construction of which has been taking place throughout the previous year. This magnificent facility, built in the former Quadrangle, replaced the Walmsley Library, which had served as the Library for 37 years. The LRC, as it is known, contains the School's Library, an ICT suite of computers, and Sixth Form study facilities.

Designed by Peter Skinner, the building was formally opened by the BBC broadcaster Martin Henfield on Monday 24 February 2003, at a gathering including the Headmaster and the Chairman of Governors.

In 2004, a fingerprint recognition system was introduced for borrowing books.

While in 1994 the book stock stood at around 12,000 volumes, in 2005 it is approximately 10,000. However, the range of resources available to the boys of BGS is now far greater than at any other  time in the School's history - with the internet, periodicals and news]papers, and various other electronic and audio-visual resources available at all times.

Information compiled by Richard Stanton (BGS 2008) for the 5^th Anniversary of the LRC

The Student Librarians

An outstanding feature of the LRC at Bury Grammar School is the involvement of pupils. Senior librarians are drawn from the top four years, and junior librarians from younger pupils. The pupil librarians have an impressive esprit de corps; they put books away, help to maintain good order, publicises the LRC around the School, recommend new purchases - and are always enthusiastic, efficient and courteous.

1975-76 Librarians	1975-76 Librarians	1977-78 Librarians
1977-78 Librarian	1978-79 Librarians	1978-79 Librarians
1971-72 Senior Librarians	1974-75 Senior Librarians	March 1996 Senior Librarians
1999 Senior Librarians	2004-05 Librarians	2004-05 Librarians
2005-06 Librarians	2010-11 Librarians	2011-12 Librarians
2012-13 Librarians