| AdminHistory | The Brass Classes Advisory Committee was appointed in May 1911 to advise and report on proposals to alter the classes for the 1911 - 1912 session at the Municipal Technical School, Suffolk Street, Birmingham. Classes were to be divided into two sections, each comprising one course of two years duration, namely Artistic Brass Work and Mechanical Brass Work, broken down into both elementary and advanced courses. The existing name appears to have been dropped after November 1912, when the sub-committee considered the appointment of a new instructor, but the committee appears to have been reconstituted as the Special Sub-Committee of the Brass Classes Advisory Committee in December 1912 when it decided upon the appointment, with the minute sequence continuing.
By 1914 the special sub-committee was also formulating proposals for the establishment of day classes for brass workers, with a view to appointing (or rather re-appointing) an advisory committee comprising members of the Technical Education and Evening Schools Sub-Committee, including the Principal of the Suffolk Street school, along with three members recommended by the Brass Masters' Association and two members to be recommended by the Brass Workers' Association. The new sub-committee was appointed in July 1914. The aims of the scheme of instruction proposed was not only to develop the mechanical skills of future brass workers in all areas of the trade but to promote the pupil's understanding of his civic and social duties as a member of the community, but the day class scheme had to be put off in January 1915 as a result of the disruption caused by the outbreak of war the previous August.
After April 1915 the sub-committee did not meet again until April 1922, when it once again put proposals forward for staff grading, and renewed the impetus to sett up of day classes in brasswork, including the purchase of new machinery for the Brass Shop used by the school at Rosebery Buildings, at that time deemed inadequate. Modifications to the teaching programme were also proposed, including arrangements for future class visits by members of the sub-committee during the session. In May 1923 it was reported to the sub-committee that student numbers on the courses had slackened off over the last few years, for which it was proposed that better advertising to young employees and the offer of financial assistance to cover the course fees might attract younger workers to the classes. These figures improved during the 1923 - 1924 session, although by March 1924 the sub-committee appears to have been disbanded. |