The New Building

Over the period of the construction of the new school building there is record of regular meetings of the Management Committee to discuss plans and progress and at one stage a description of Janitor’s duties had to be drawn up.  While there might have been factors other than the pressures caused by the building of the new school it would appear that the building work and the depositing of material from the foundations in the playground area was causing some degree of inconvenience.

As now, contractors did not always adhere to agreed timescales.  In July 1936, there was concern with the lack of progress in the painting of the new building.  Wm. McKerracher, Glasgow was warned that if he did not proceed immediately with the execution of his contract the next lowest offer for the work would be accepted.  At the same meeting Tawse Ltd. received the contract for the formation of the new roadway from Princes Street and for the same treatment to the terrace in front of the building.  The joint cost to be £427 10s.

It is good to see that the Education Committee of that time were getting their priorities right.  Quotes were taken for the laying and fixing of under-felt and linoleum in the staff apartments and a suitable carpet for the Headmaster’s office!  The cost and type of carpet is not recorded but the floor covering for the staff apartments was supplied by D. Anderson, Thurso at an estimated cost of £17 2s 6d.   As completion of building was approaching insurance cover was also considered and the school was insured for £14000 and the furnishings for £500.

The official opening of the new extension took place on 24^th March 1937 and the note in the logbook for that date is fairly brief.  It first mentions that the Rector, Mr Ironside, was at the opening of the new school in Lybster in the forenoon and then tells that the Rector lunched at the Royal Hotel, Thurso before going to the opening of his own school by Colonel Horne, Convener of Caithness.  The Caithness Education Committee had in the first instance asked Sir Archibald Sinclair MP to open the school but he had to decline due to a previously arranged engagement.

The John O’ Groat Journal carried a report of the opening of the new building and the following summary,  given by John Dallas in the 1962 school magazine, is worth reprinting here.

‘The ‘New Building’ was opened by Col. E.W. Horne, Convenor of the County.  At 3 o’clock a large number of people was assembled on the site.  Pupils and teachers marched up to form a square in front of the new building.  A gold key, presented by the contractors, was handed by Mr MacDonald, architect to Col. Horne who stepped forward and opened the door.  At that moment the Union Jack was hoisted on the flagstaff on top of the building signalling the opening of the new extension.  The people then filed into the school to hear Colonel Horne make the official declarations.

Provost Harper, Wick, Chairman of the Education Committee called upon Provost Brims, Thurso to introduce Col. Horne.  Provost Brims expressed thanks to the Scottish Education Department and the County Council for having supported the erection of the new building and said he visualised it as the nucleus of a complete school building for all the children of Thurso.  Col. Horne began by giving a short history of education in Thurso, some facts about the founder of the Miller Institution and then went on to say that in the past the tendency had been to sacrifice the body to the mind but that now the tendency was to have more play and less work.  Whatever side was correct it was their duty to see that suitable and healthy provision was made for the children of today.  He thanked the contractors for the beautiful key they had given him to perform the ceremony.   A vote of thanks to Col. Horne was proposed by Sheriff Macgregor, K.C., another to the Contractors, Architects and Surveyors by Bailie Sinclair, Wick and Col. D.K. Murray called for a vote of thanks to Provost Harper for the manner in which he had conducted the proceedings throughout the day.

The photograph of the event published in the local press at the time is hardly clear enough for reproduction here.  It does show a large crowd outside the new building waiting for the opening of the main door with the gold key.  The building does not look markedly different from now, except that the 1937 building at the time of opening did not yet have the chimney cans in place but a flag pole is clearly visible above the front entrance.

The Miller Academy main building, opened in 1937, as it looked in 1996 after it had been externally repainted and fitted with new double-glazed windows.

The gold key used on that day now resides in its presentation box in the safe at Miller Academy within the building it opened in 1937.  This Key is a most impressive, well designed, heavy piece of silver gilt measuring twelve centimetres in length.  On one side it is inscribed, ‘Miller Academy, 24^th March 1937’ and on the other, ‘Colonel E. W. Horne, C.B., C.M.G’.  The key was supplied by J. Calder, Watchmaker and Jeweller, 4 Sinclair Street, Thurso. 

The Gold Key was not left at the school in 1937 but returned to the school via Rector Donald Grant of the new High School.  Mr Grant received the key in 1959 from Colonel N. D. Leslie of West Calder, Midlothian, the grandson of Colonel Horne.  Time has moved on even for the locks on the doors and now the key cannot serve that purpose as new and more secure fastenings are on the school doors.  Indeed there are few original locks left in the building and the bunch of keys now required to open the doors of the Miller would give a grown man muscles through carrying them for any length of time! An electronic entry system now replaces some of the original locking arrangements – with even the outside toilet block requiring a ‘Key Fob’ for entry.

Within  two months of the opening of the new school building the Thurso School Management Committee were asking for additional work to be carried out at both the Miller Institution and the West Public.  A formidable list of requirements was sent to the Caithness Education Committee:

1.                  The construction of new offices (toilets) at the West Public School.

2.                  The erection of two shelters at the Miller Institution on sites agreed upon.

3.                  The erection of a temporary shelter at the West Public school.

4.                  That the West Public School should be re-desked with dual desks.

5.                  That an electric clock be provided for each room in the new school at Miller Institution.

6.                  That half-a-dozen ladders, or sets of steps, be provided for the book stores in the new school.

7.                  That the Rector’s room in the new school be furnished.

8.                  That personal lockers in the staff rooms in the new school should be provided.

9.                  That the steps at the end of the terrace be widened to the full width of the terrace, and that the space between the old and new schools be paved with flagstones to the width of these steps as extended.

10.              That additional steps be provided for access to the lower school.

11.              That an electric bell connection to the old buildings and an alternative bell-push in the science room be installed.         

Shortly after the list was presented to the Committee the architects were asked for estimates and by October 1937 the architects had placed the information with the Clerk to the Works and Finance Committee.  After some discussion, it was decided to recommend to the Education Committee the erection of the two shelters at the Miller Institution at a cost of £103 each.  It was further decided to recommend the erection of a bicycle shelter with the material from the existing shelter at the school.  This cost would be a modest £25.  The steps at the end of the terrace and further steps to provide access to the lower school building were also deemed desirable as was the installation of a connection for the electric school bell to the old building.  The Education Committee readily approved the recommendations and considered some minor changes to the steps to the old building and the Science Department as the work proceeded.  At one point it was considered that the narrower stairway should be blocked off and walls by the wide stairway lowered but this appears not to have happened as recommended by the architects though some changes to the initial design did take place.

The question of lockers for the staff rooms did not receive favourable consideration and the provision of a shelter, new toilets and 100 dual desks at the West Public School was left over to another meeting.  This further consideration resulted in the approval for the boys and girls toilets and the desks.  The boys’ toilets being built new on an alternative site in the grounds and the girls’ toilets being completely renovated internally.  The site of the boys’ old toilet was filled up to the level of the lower playground and to save the cost of a shelter the shed used as a gymnasium provided a shelter.

The installation of electric clocks in Miller Academy classrooms did not proceed on the recommendation of the architect.  The architect’s report stated, ‘Owing to the fact that during the night the electricity is generated with a much smaller engine with different timing the Local Electricity Company will give no guarantee that the clocks will be accurate.’  It would appear that there was a strong possibility that every clock in the school would have to be adjusted every morning.  It was thought possible to purchase one clock at a cost of £4 for the Rector’s office as an experiment to see how the system might operate.  At a later date electric clocks were installed throughout the school but at the present time it is much less expensive to purchase a new battery driven clock than have repairs carried out to a faulty mains driven clock.

At this time the Town Council, through the Town Clerk, were looking for some way to have pavement laid on the footpath along Princes Street where it adjoined Mina Villa.  More than one request was made to the school authorities for them to bear the cost but this they rejected.  They did look into the feu ownership to strengthen their case for not carrying out work they considered to be the responsibility of the Thurso Town Council.

The transfer to the new building would appear to have been fairly painless in so far as timetabling and curriculum were concerned.  There is certainly little mention of problems in those areas in the logbook.  However, Mr Ironside, the Rector, had definite problems with one of the cleaners appointed by the Management Committee in September 1937.  His entry in the log for 15^th October is as follows;-

‘I had great trouble the whole week owing to the defective cleaning of the new school.  I tested the sweeping every morning with a brush and came to the conclusion that an attempt at a thorough cleaning was made at the week-end and thereafter for the rest of the week the rooms were done in a sort of way and not always that while the corridors, cloakrooms and gymnasium were untouched.’

This was after the cleaner had received a warning the previous week!

In time for the opening of the new building the janitor was given a new and very detailed contract outlining his daily, weekly and periodical duties.  He, at the time of opening, was earning £140 per annum but was being helped ‘unofficially’ in his job by his wife whose wages were apparently included in his yearly sum.  It was felt that to ensure everything was above board and that the janitor and cleaning staff in all the buildings were covered by insurance, the janitor’s wife should become an official employee of the Council.  This was done by giving her the notional wage of £35 per year but it must come out of the janitor’s wage since she had already been helping him with the work.  This seemed to be acceptable to the janitor and his wife though the janitor was somewhat surprised by a reduction of £1 in his payment of £15 per year for lighting fires and cleaning for the evening school.  He questioned this reduction and had it re-instated and further pushed his luck by asking for a new barrow.  The Committee must have been in generous mood as it is noted that he received a galvanised one with a pneumatic tyre.

Many of the official records for the Miller Institution show the Management Committee to be preoccupied with the appointment of cleaners and their duties and the duties of janitors.  There are long reports on applicants for jobs, the votes they received in the selection process, the short leets and finally the successful candidates.   Letters for jobs, for increases in wages and resignations are a large part of business meetings and almost in equal prominence is to be found the inadequacies of some of these employees.  The cleaners’ work is frequently criticised by the Rector and the janitor also got his fair share of criticism.

The janitor did do work on his own accommodation in Mina Villa.  Sometimes without recompense and on other occasions with the backing and financial support of the Authority.  On one occasion the Janitor, Mr MacLeod, indicated that he would distemper and paint part of his dwelling if given the materials.  This was agreed and it is assumed the work proceeded.

Not all cleaning jobs were performed by the janitor or the cleaners.  Window cleaning, in the early days of the new building, at times went out to tender.  Before the Second World War an advert was placed for the cleaning of all windows of all the buildings at the Miller Institution.  In the first instance there were no offers.  At a later date window cleaning was obtained at £9 per term with the windows having to be cleaned inside and out at Christmas and the Summer.  The job was taken on by two individuals, William MacLeod and Hamish Mowat.  By 1953, the situation regarding cleaning of windows had apparently changed.  The Management Committee asked Mr Ironside to remind the janitor and cleaners that inside and outside of all windows should be cleaned in the summer vacation.  Clearly an indication that they were not entirely satisfied with past practice. 

Mr Ironside wrote to the Management Committee on 5^th May 1941 complaining that on the 18^th April, the janitor was not on duty.  In the new building neither the furnace nor the boilers were lit and it was intolerably cold.  The Committee decided to ask the janitor for an explanation.  It was not the first or the last time that a janitor’s absenteeism would be somewhat of a problem.  In November 1946, the school had to close at 1pm as the janitor was absent from duty for no good reason, it was claimed, and he was reported to the Education Committee.  It was indicated to him that any future such occurrence might result in his dismissal.  This apparent dereliction of duty was only four months after the Caithness Education Committee had granted an increase of wages to £5 per week, the amount to include his ‘War Bonus’!

The heating referred to was not itself fully reliable and on occasions was prone to breaking down.  Despite the newness of the system it was not working entirely to everyone’s satisfaction and engineers were required to examine the equipment.  There was a particular problem with two of the radiators requiring replacement.  Some radiators still do not operate properly more than half a century later.

The furnace was coal fired and the contract for the supply of coal was competed for by local suppliers.  The school always stipulated the type of coal required and generally went for a good quality English variety.  There were three or four competing businesses but the most commonly successful ones at that time were Hunter’s and Reid’s.  Fifty years ago coal was being priced at 39/- per ton and firewood at 2/9d per cwt (hundred weight).  The contract asked for a delivered and stored price.  From time to time the Gas Works got in on the act and got in touch with the school offering to sell coke over the eight coldest months at what was claimed as the very competitive rate of 35/- (£1.75) per ton.  This was generally accepted as there was always a need for fuel.

In 1957, after advertising for a supplier of wood for the school fires and getting no response the Thurso Area Management Committee had no alternative but to purchase wood from Munro Brothers at the going commercial rate of 4/- (20p) per bag.

The offices in the new building were heated by both radiators and a coal fire.  Both fireplaces are still obvious though they have been blocked off for many years.  A photograph taken at the opening of the new building shows tall chimney stacks with no chimney pots but a union flag can be seen flying clearly from a high flagpole. A photograph taken some months later shows that the pots have been added and no doubt other finishing touches were added over the months after pupils moved into their new school building.

The new school, it was hoped, would have a motivating factor as far as attendance was concerned.  Just as now, the authorities were concerned to ensure that absences rates were not too high and then too the onus seemed to be on the Rector to account for the lapses in attendance.  Mr Ironside was required at the end of 1937 to reply to a letter from the Education Committee pointing out, ‘that the general level of attendance at Thurso Miller Institution last session cannot be regarded as entirely satisfactory even when due allowance is made for illness.’  It is noted that the Rector’s reply was satisfactory but I have no indication as to the nature of the reply.

While the standard of teaching and learning at Miller Academy appears to have been of a high standard over the years in all areas there were times when particular subjects were a cause for concern.  One such subject was Music in the latter part of the 1930s.  Throughout the 1930s, the log book makes reference to the frequent absences of the Music Teacher.  No doubt those absences might have been for good reason but they nevertheless had a devastating influence on the quality of the Music provision.  At the instigation of the Inspectorate the Management Committee wrote to the Education Committee stating, ‘something should now be done to bring the teaching of Music in Miller Institution up to standard.’  The upshot of this was the advertising for a fully qualified Music Master for the Thurso district and the retiral of the present part-time Music Master.

After consideration of the applicants for the post of Music Master it was decided to appoint Albert E. N. Williams who was at that time working as an assistant teacher in Castletown School teaching Art.  He was to be appointed on the understanding that he obtained special recognition of his qualification by the Education Department.  This condition would suggest that the candidates were not all as well qualified as had been hoped for and that Mr Williams was appointed as a man of known quality able to teach both Art and Music and  able to obtain the necessary qualifications.  Unfortunately, however, the matter of Music provision was not that easily resolved in the short term.  Castletown was reluctant to release Mr Williams without a replacement as some of the pupils were being prepared for the Day School Certificate (Higher) in Art. 

After some negotiation and discussion at the Education Committee, it was decided that Mr Williams should continue at Castletown for the remainder of the session and the Music Teacher in Thurso be informed that his services would not be required after the close of the current session.  Mr Williams duly completed his transfer in the summer of 1939 and he has been remembered by a number of correspondents in their memories of the school from that period.

A memory sheet returned by Barbara S. Fraser (Mackay) from Reay who was a pupil at Miller Academy from 1939 to 1943 listed her teachers and even gave the nicknames of some.  She paints a short but informative picture of some aspects of the school at the outbreak of the Second World War.

Teachers:

David Sutherland (Chops), Jack Wilson (Fuzz), Elizabeth Duthie (Betty Todd), Sandy Bruce (Brucie), A. Meiklejohn (Meikie), Miss M Wallace later Mrs Sutherland (Mary Tiptoes), Miss Florrie Dunnett, Mr Williamson, Miss A. Dunnett, Miss M MacKenzie (Maggie), Mr E. Stewart, Miss C. Murray, Miss M. MacDonald (The Mouse), Mr D. Sutherland replaced by Mrs Jack Sutherland, Mr J. Wilson replaced by Miss A. McFarlane, Mr E. Stewart.

Miss E. Duthie who taught History and Geography, so quote a former pupil, sailed in like a ‘man of war’, firing on all guns.  Grim faced, ready for the fray.  We all sat subdued – even the most ebullient of the boys.  However, she was an excellent teacher and fear forced us to listen and concentrate and woe betide anyone whose mind was allowed to wander.  The strap was readily available.

Some years later after I had gone through a long and serious illness I found her to be a caring and sympathetic person.

Mr Bruce, Maths, was my favourite teacher.  The master of the witty remark that was not expected to be laughed at in the classroom but that was appreciated after he left the room.  The hapless recipient of the remark could only grin weakly.  Mr Bruce had a habit of working out the algebraic exercises on the blackboard to halfway through and then his favourite expression was, ‘of course the rest just works out’.  Throughout the years former pupils remember his witty remarks with appreciation and affection.  He encouraged my aptitude to maths.  I found him so approachable and always did well in that subject through his encouragement.

The ‘new’ Miller Academy was a bright, modern building compared to the original Miller Institute building which was still being used along with Mina Villa and the separate buildings which housed the Science, Art and Domestic Science rooms.

I started school in August 1939 from the Reay Primary School.  War was declared on 3/8/39.  We were given a week off school for the Education Authority to make provision for air raid precautions.  Not long after that we all had to carry gas masks at all times.  We had gas mask drill once a week and when the Town Air Raid Siren blared the town pupils ran home taking their country friends with them until the ‘All Clear’ went.  An air raid shelter was later started at the school.  I do not think it was completed and certainly never used. 

Gradually we lost teachers to the armed forces and eventually nearly all the boys who started school with me that day in Class 1A did their stint in the forces during the war or immediately afterwards.  I heard later that one had lost his life in the Merchant Navy at 16 years.

On reflection we had an excellent, wide ranging education.  The standard was high, keeping up with the academic reputation that the Miller Academy/Institute had always enjoyed country wide.  My memories are happy ones and beneficial.