THE Museum at Hanson Academy in Bradford is almost unique as there are only a handful of schools in the UK who have their own museum.
At this point in time there are several different exhibitions running. One charts some of the developments in new materials and technologies from the mid to late 1900s, showing how the modern smart phone has developed from the dial telephone, music player and camera in just a few short years.
Another exhibition celebrates hand-made African production, displayed in the museum as a market stall. Created mainly for the tourist markets, the products demonstrate very high levels of skill with limited resources. They include items made entirely from recycled materials such as drinks cans and plastic bottles.
The latest exhibition is a remembrance of World War 1 and came about as a result of the last article the Telegraph & Argus published about the Hanson museum. Following an appeal for local historians and ex-students the Academy was contacted by Sharon Knott, who has written two books about the men commemorated on Farnley War Memorial.
She pointed out that our own war memorial is listed in the Imperial War Museum records and commemorates 50 Hanson old boys who gave their lives in the Great War. The memorial, which was originally installed in the library at the Hanson Boys School in Byron Street back in 1923, now hangs in our own library. On the basis of this it was decided to try to track down the lives of some of these young men.
Another person who contacted the Academy was former student Sandra Pickles, who attended Hanson Girls School during the 1950s. Sandra was particularly interested in searching through Census records and old newspapers. Both Sharon and Sandra have contributed to many hundreds of hours tracking down these men.
The contribution of the Bradford WW1 Group cannot be overemphasised. Ray Greenhough was responsible for digitising the Bradford Roll of Honour, which can be found on the Bradford WW1 Group website. Without his work it would have been impossible to track down our young men. Indeed, Ray was very helpful in providing may additional details.
Nicholas Hooper researched and wrote the bibliographies for the Bradford Grammar School Roll of Honour and two of these students also attended Hanson. See bradfordgrammar.com/old-bradfordians/bradford-grammar-school-in-ww1/
Nick has added a great deal of depth to some of the stories and offered lots of advice. He was the inspiration for adding military details to many of the stories.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website was a wonderful resource as was ‘A Street Near You’, and slowly the stories started to come together over the summer holidays.
John Jackson is an ex-student of Hanson Boys’ School and also contacted the Academy following the T&A article, having written a history of Hanson School. He is also a member of the Undercliffe Cemetery Charity. John and his colleagues have provided the back story for several of our young men who are buried or commemorated there.
Richard Coomber, Jean Britteon and the team at shipleyww1.org.uk had already researched some of the Hanson lads and their stories added another depth and confirmed what Sharon and Sandra had tracked down. Thanks also to the staff at Cartwright Hall who have donated unwanted display cases.
Our WW1 exhibition centres around a soldier standing over a grave; this was going to be the main display until I became involved with the Bradford WW1 Group. Group president Tricia Restorick has offered help and encouragement at every stage. Some of her work has been updated in poster form and can be seen in the Sharing Remembrances section of the exhibition.
It was due to Tricia that the display was broadened, to commemorate the contribution that Commonwealth soldiers made to this war. A total of 1,770 poppies were made by Hanson students using timber, fabrics and plastics and represent the number of Bradford Pals who were killed or seriously injured on the morning of July 1, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. The poppies hang in two curtains of red. This number is a poignant reminder of the contribution made by Bradford men as it closely matches the number of students and staff currently at the Academy.
Surrounding the central tableau are seven replica gravestones representing the thousands of Commonwealth soldiers who also gave their life fighting for this country. Together with a model of the proposed Commonwealth Grave Memorial planned to be built behind the cenotaph in Bradford, it is anticipated that this will commemorate the contribution our multicultural families have made in both world wars.
Replica medals are displayed in our museum and a scale model of trench warfare, together with a complete shrapnel shell which all emphasises the nature of the conflict and the utter waste of human lives.
It is anticipated that further artifacts will be secured over the coming weeks and the Academy is very keen to speak to people who might consider loaning items or photos from that period of our history.
* The museum is open to all members of our school community and is also available to local schools who might wish to visit and undertake workshops.
Members of the public are welcome, by appointment, and should email me, Brian Russell, at russellb1@hanson.org.uk
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