The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has. Confucius

      ‘A boy or girl’ is better trained to think by associating action with thought than by the exclusively bookish forms of instruction.’ James Harrod,  Headmaster of Sibford 1906 – 1930 He worked out a policy whereby such subjects as English, history, geography, and mathematics should be correlated as far as possible with manual training. (Pestalozzi advocated this a century before).

In   1837   Thomas   Pumphrey   opened   a   workshop   for   boys   at   Ackworth,   and   in   the   same   year   similar   work   was   started   at Bootham.   In   the   early   forties   we   read   of   a   lathe,   a   bench   and   tools   in   use   at   Penketh,   and   of   bookbinding   and   craft-work   at Rawdon. Sidcot   includes   work   in   wood   among   the   activities   for   boys   in   the   fifties,   and   Joseph   Pease,   a   Quaker   philanthropist,   provided lathe,   bench,   and   tools   for   a   workshop   at   Wigton   in   187   I   .   An   account   of   the   development   of   work   in   drawing   and   woodwork at   Saffron   Walden   shows   the   craft   to   have   beginnings   about   the   middle   decade   of   the   nineteenth   century.   By   the   eighties   we find   the   work   at   Ayton   such   that   pupils   were   making   knife-boxes,   book-   shelves,   deck-chairs,   coal-boxes,   and   some   did   inlaid work. I900   an   exhibition   of   craft-work   done   at   Leighton   Park   showed   good   results   from   work   on   the   lathe,   and   included   examples   of cabinet-making   and   model-yacht   building.   The   Board’s   Inspector   at   Sibford   in   1903   says   that,   in   a   workshop   which   is   really   too small,   the   standard   of   work   achieved   is   really   excellent,   both   in   plan-drawing   and   accurate   execution.   He   con   siders   the planning   of   the   course   very   good,   including   as   it   did   ‘an   adequate   number   of   joints   as   ground-work’   which   were   executed   to   a much   better   standard   than   the   average   work   of   boys.   He   also   commended   the   boys   and   their   teacher   for   the   construction, with   a   little   help   from   the   village,   of   the   excellent   pavilion   on   the   playing-field.   There   is   much   other   evidence   of   a   strong tradition of craft-work in the schools. Penketh   had   advanced   so   far   in   workshop   equipment   as   to   have   a   lathe,   bench   and   tools.   In   this   lean-to   workshop   on   the   side of   the   boys’   playground,   an   eyewitness   has   left   on   record   that   Thomas   George   Howell   (1838-45),   built   and   rigged   a   fine   three masted   model   ship,   for   which   he   made   bales   and   barrels   for   cargos   and   furnished   it   with   guns   in   the   upper   deck   for protection    from    pirates.    The    guns    were    duly    charged    with    powder,    and    had    fuses    of    touch-paper.    The    mimic    battery discharged itself as the vessel sailed towards the middle of the pond on the common, not far from the Friends’ Meeting House. One   craft   teacher   at   Sibford,   Reg   Rowntree   introduced   an   early   structured   approach   to   his   teaching,   which   in   a   loose   way included   element   of   design.   When   a   boy   joined   the   school   he   was   required   to   choose   a   board   of   timber   from   the   'dying   shed'. Throughout   his   course   he   would   look   after   that   particular   board,   bringing   it   into   the   workshop   to   be   stored   on   the   roof   trusses for   final   seasoning   before   working   on   it.   His   final   task   was   to   produce   a   piece   of   work   from   that   board   which   he   would   plan and design himself.

These were also the days when teachers tended to reside in one job for large periods of their careers. Roland Herbert, craft master at Sibford was there for thirty one years. Examples of boy’s work, although the school was co-educational, can be found on this link to my Memories of Sibford. James T Bailey was perhaps the most influential exponent. His work and experience being detailed in his biography - Baily, L. (1959) Craftsman and Quaker: The Story of James T. Baily 1876-1957. London: George Allen and Unwin.

This   boy,   in   his   after   life   reminiscences,   tells   of   that   day   of   supreme   excitement   —the   5th   November   -   which   the   school celebrated   as   Guy   Fawkes   day,   with   a   good   display   of   fireworks,   and   a   bonfire   withal,for   which   their   Quaker   friends,   the Crosfields of Warrington, sent a cartload of resin barrels From   their   Soap   Works.   What   a   blazing   event   it   must   have   been,   for   it   attracted   the   people   of   the   village   and   the   country around! One   of   these   celebrations,   Richard   Routh      the   first   Superintendent   of   the   Friends’   School   at   Sibford   Ferris,   in   Oxfordshire,   had the good fortune to witness on the occasion when he visited Penketh School to get an insight into its working. The   school   of   the   present   has   therefore   a   just   claim   of   presedent   for   keeping   up   the   day   ,   which   is   really   the   survival   of   the much older custom of the old Beltane fires , which Druid priests kindled on the hills of Lancashire.