The 'Letting' of the School Grounds and Premises
The
Miller Institution playing fields and gymnasium were in great demand from a
variety of voluntary groups after the building of the new school and have
continued to be so. It was hired to
a variety of groups for different activities despite a recommendation soon after
its opening that it should only be used for educational purposes.
It was not always without some problem.
The main complaint was the condition in which the gymnasium was left.
The Home Guard, ‘Dad’s Army’, was in trouble over breaking the rule
of soft shoes in the premises and eventually, after some protracted
correspondence, had their let permit removed.
This happened just as they found other premises so the school or the Home
Guard, at that point, pursued the matter no further.
James Wilson records an amusing incident regarding the Home Guard’s use
of the school grounds which continued after their removal from the gymnasium.
He tells of a Home Guard mortar practice when the group fired, in error,
a live mortar, with propellant but no explosive charge, from the front of the
school. The mortar landed at the
Millbank Bowling Green conjuring up the spectacle of soldiers crossing the river
and asking, ‘please can we have our bomb back?’
Another
group taken to task was the Scouts. Former
Thurso Provost and teacher, D. K. Sutherland, was approached regarding the
leaving of the gymnasium in an untidy state.
He responded that the gymnasium was dirty when they entered it and that
it was left in a better state than it had been found.
However, he was not prepared to continue with his let of the premises and
he withdrew from the Miller gymnasium and presumably obtained another meeting
place. A more unusual request for the use of the playing fields was made by the
Thurso Pentland Ladies Football team wishing to have two week’s training.
Obviously a big match was coming up.
The
grounds were extensively used by groups for a variety of sporting and gala
events. The SCWS (Scottish
Co-operative Wholesale Society) Thurso used the grounds after the war for their
Children’s Gala and Sports and by 1957 they were applying for the kitchen too
so that they could prepare refreshments for competitors and the public.
At
a meeting in 1957, an application for use of the West Public by the Thurso Scout
Troop was approved so apparently the ill feeling over the Miller Gym had
subsided. The Girl Guides also took
advantage of the letting of the West Public for the newly formed 2nd
Brownie Pack. Eleven years earlier
the Miller Gym had been requested by, and granted to, the Girl Guides for their
Christmas Party and it was given to the Wolf Cubs for a similar event with both
lets being in the name of Miss J S Ryrie, Duncan Street.
The
school gymnasium has been used by a number of badminton groups over the more
than sixty years since its opening. Immediately
after the Second World War a Mr Warner applied for the use of the gym for Thurso
Badminton Club on Monday, Thursday and Saturday evenings and on Saturday
afternoons. By the late 1950s, they
were still using the facility on the stated evenings and the 1st
Thurso Scouts were being accommodated on the Friday evening.
An application, in 1957, by Ormlie Badminton club for the gym on Tuesday
was put on hold until it was ascertained if it was required by the Country
Dancing Group. This latter group,
being a Continuation Class, got priority.
In
1955, the Clerk of the Thurso Schools Management Committee was asked to write to
Mr A. Bruce, Headmaster of Continuation Classes to ensure that the rule of ‘no
smoking’ in classrooms be observed. Additionally,
the Clerk was to write to the Thurso Badminton Club asking them to refrain from
putting cigarette ends and ash on the gym floor as ashtrays had been provided
for the players! As an afterthought
they were reminded to wear proper footwear.
Continuation
Classes were popular with students at a time when release from work to study was
not easily obtainable. Classes
ranged from Country Dancing and Woodwork type hobby classes to evening classes
for apprentices starting out on training at Dounreay.
For these latter classes the Education Committee had agreed to provide
Science and Technical teachers at a variety of schools until the apprentice
training building at Dounreay was ready. By
early 1956, the Miller Academy, along with Wick High School, had made rooms
available for both evening and Saturday morning classes.
Even Rector Grant’s ‘Prep.’ room, set aside for pupils in lodgings
who required an atmosphere more conducive to study than they could obtain where
they were staying, was in use for one school session.
The
photograph below shows the Miller Calder Badminton Club ‘A’ and ‘B’
teams from 1973-74 who were successful in the Caithness Badminton Association
Competitions winning both the Division 1 and Division 2 titles.
This club has used the Miller Academy gymnasium since 1959.
A number of the team members are former pupils of Miller Academy and, of
course, Sandie Mowat still works at the school.
Back
row left to right;
John
Simpson, Brian Gardiner, Jimmy Mowat, Alan Mowat, George Vallance, and Ron
Mackenzie.
Middle
row left to right:
David
Crowe, Eileen Manson, Linda Hall, Barbara Bremner and Alistair Gunn.
Front
row left to right:
Jenny
Sloss, Margaret Mowat, Sandie Mowat, Kathleen Simpson and Pam Crofts.