Heywood & Hopwood May 2016

identify and celebrate individual students,
Albert Mansbridge
discuss their aspirations, look at what they did
for a living and find what some of them went on
to become. In the book, not only does he discuss
the reason why Rochdale was chosen as the site
for this great experiment in worker education but
also asks what motivated the first students to
join and, following their experiences, how they
used their knowledge.
ere have been a number of histories of the
WEA but Gary Heywood-Everett wanted to write
one from the point of view of the studentworkers
by asking – who were they ? , what did
Gary Heywood-Everett
they do it for? what did they go on to be ?
His interest is from both an educational and a social
inclusion point of view. ese working men and
women, often factory hands during the day, managed
to summon up the energy and intellectual curiosity
to study Economic History and Politics both in their
free time and in an organised class at the weekend.
is is in addition to writing high quality essays for
their tutor. e WEA tutorial class marks the first of
thousands of such classes throughout the UK and worldwide.
e book, entitled ‘Rochdale’s Pioneers of Worker Education: the WEA class of 1908’ tells
the story of how the WEA tutorial class came into being through the energies of local
people within the Rochdale Educational Guild, discusses the social situation faced by those
who came forward for study and looks at who the students were and what they went on to
become, some on a national stage. Drawn from the mills and often the poorest
neighbourhoods in Rochdale, this first group of students were indeed pioneers of worker
education.
If you are interested in buying a copy of this book, you will find it on Amazon.com, at Create
Space online store or, if you haven’t got computer access, give Gary a call at 07745201263.
To advertise call 07976 289967 or 0797 443 4793 or email sales@streetwisemag.co.uk
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