Ward End Adult School

The Ward End Adult School was held on Sunday mornings in 'The Barn', St.Margaret's Road, Ward End before the 2nd World War. It was run on a sort of religious basis, like a church (non-denominational, I think, but similar to Methodists) with hymns, prayers, bible readings and guest speakers, some of whom were described as 'Rev'. My father, William Joseph Shakespeare, was 'Registrar' and 'President' from 1930-1940. I have the original Register from December 1930 to November 1938 showing details of attendances and subscriptions paid. The average attendance was around 40-45. The register shows the names and addresses of all those attending the meetings. For some reason that I do not understand, the attendees were given 1 of 2 different kinds of attendance marks. A black mark (in pencil) if they attended before 9.30 (later changed to 9.45) or a red mark (in crayon) if they attended after 9.30 (9.45). There is an occasional reference to 'breakfast' in the Agenda Book, so the early or late attendance might refer to those who had breakfast and those who didn't. I also have a notebook detailing the 'Agenda for running the school' from December 1935 to October 1940. This shows that they also held Whist Drives, Suppers, Annual Outings, Annual Parties and Music Festivals. They also had occasional 'Egg Collections' and ran a 'Sick Club'. There were a lot of Committe Meetings and there appeared to be 2 committees, 1 for the Men and another for the Women. Apparently this was because the Women had their own separate school. There are various interesting little snippets of information, like the Woodworking Class, which only got one mention (not very popular I guess!), a request to move the bagatelle table and a solitary note,only for May 9th 1937, for the National Anthem to be sung at the end of the service. I believe the school closed in the late '40s/early '50s, so I was too young to meet most of the people who went there, except my uncle Jim (Arthur James Shakespeare) and Mr. Mort, a blind man, who was introduced to me by my dad when I was about 10 years old. Among the surnames appearing in the above Register and Agenda are Adams, Aston, Baker, Burton, Boden, Burt, Brewerton, Chamberlain, Clee, Dawson, Daniels, Flowers, Mort, Mildenhall, Moseley, Padley, Peel, Stenberg, Stockton, Tandy, Wildbore, Weston, and many more. I have a photograph of 25 members of the school (plus 2 children) taken outside 'The Barn' in the mid 1930's, which I will gladly copy to anybody interested. I would also be interested to hear from anybody with information about the Ward End Adult School and would welcome any help identifying 25 of these people ( I recognise my dad and Mr.Mort!)