| Description | Bushmore Adult School was established as a branch of Moseley Road Institute to undertake Adult School and mission work in Hall Green. It was one of several Moseley Road Institute branch schools established to further expand adult school work to other areas of the city, the others being Greet and Hay Mills Institutes, and together they constituted the South Birmingham Friends' Institutes Trust.
A Men's Adult School first commenced in 1932 at Pitmaston School, with Barrow Cadbury (1862-1958) opening the first meeting. By the time the Adult School transferred to a hut in Pitmaston Road which had been left there by the builders of the new housing estate in that area, there was a membership of between 20-30. Under the guidance of Mr T. Doust, the members transformed the hut so that it could be used as a meeting place for the Adult School.
In c. 1934, the school transferred to Bushmore Adult School Centre on Creswell Road, Hall Green, which was built by the South Birmingham Friends Institutes Trust and was opened by Barrow Cadbury and his wife, Geraldine Cadbury (1864-1941), their son, Paul Cadbury (1895 - 1984) and his wife, Rachel Cadbury (1894–1993). The school's President was Barrow Cadbury and its Vice-President was his son, Paul Cadbury. Membership increased rapidly to over 40 men when the school transferred to Bushmore Adult School Centre.
At some point, probably around the same time as the Men's Adult School was started, a Women's Adult School began which was active until at least 1977. From the summer of 1934, there was a Children's Sunday School, and in 1937, Hall Green Friends Meeting was invited by the Bushmore Executive Committee to be more closely associated with Bushmore Children's Sunday School, as the Committee wanted to encourage close co-operation between the two organisations. Friends were happy to take up this role, becoming fully responsible for the Sunday School.
The Centre was equipped with a stage in the main hall, and table tennis tables and musical instruments were provided which could be borrowed. The land around the centre was divided into plots and allocated to members for cultivation, and there were tennis courts available to Adult School members. There was a Youth club, offering physical education, football and games to young people, a Girl's club, a Junior's club, an adult's Social Club which held Saturday evening dances, teas, concerts, whist drives and other entertainment, sewing classes, and a Sunday Evening Meeting for worship. By 1937 there were also plans for a drama group to be established.
Reporting in January 1935 for the previous year, the Executive Committee minutes state that there were 175 children on the Sunday School register, with a need for more teachers to manage the demand, and 125 women on the Women's Adult School register with an average attendance of 70. No figures are given for the Men's School. The Social Committee had run 15 whist drives, 11 socials and 1 concert in 1934.
The Centre also offered help to those in need when it could. In December 1936 the Executive Committee decided that weekly Whist Drives would be held in the New Year to raise funds for the relief of Spanish refugees suffering in the Spanish Civil War.
During the Second World War, the school ceased, but resumed again on September 15th 1946, with Arthur Hoyle once again as Leader, S. H. Mellor as Secretary, Mr Bannister as Treasurer. There were 17 members.
In 1979, the papers in this series were given to the Midland Adult School Union Secretary by Gill Hoyle, the daughter of Arthur Hoyle who died in April 1976.
Bushmore Hall was sold in 1983 by the South Birmingham Institutes Trust.
See SF 2/1/1/10/4/9 for records of the South Birmingham Friends' Institutes Trust, and SF/3/15 for records of Moseley Road Local Meeting, Institute and Adult School.
Moseley Road branch schools were involved in the Moseley Road Pastoral Committee and United Pastoral Committee and records for these can be found in SF/3/15/3/1-2. |