The History of MGS in 50 Objects

The non-teaching staff play an often unseen role in the life of the school, and yet they have made an immense contribution to the success of MGS.  The earliest reference to a named individual not emp…

The origins of the sport of podex (pronounced “Puddocks”) are not clear. The sport has been a memorable part of school life for generations of boys and yet there is no evidence that podex was an MGS …

This week’s object has the curious distinction of being older than the school itself – though only by about twenty years. It is a printed missal: the book that a priest would need on the altar for th…

Now in its 143rd year of consecutive publication, Ulula is the single most important source for the more recent history of MGS. Founded by F.W. Walker it began life in July 1873 primarily as an acade…

The school’s coat of arms originate from those of our founder. Originally, the coat of arms used were Hugh Oldham’s Episcopal arms. Heraldically, this is incorrect and the error was pointed out to th…

The Great War had not been over long, but planning for a permanent memorial to the fallen was a priority for the school governors from as early as 1919, when a committee was set up. At this stage, th…

It was a sweaty afternoon in May 2011. And, having just sedated another Politics set with a lesson on interest groups (surely one of the greatest misnomers in the English language), I set about readi…

The owl currently in the school refectory is one of few items from Long Millgate to have survived the move to Rusholme, and, rare books and archive documents aside, one of the oldest. The owl dates f…

We have no photograph of Norman Birnage in the school archives and he certainly doesn’t appear on the MGS ‘Wall of Fame’ along the main corridor, yet his contribution to the our history and heritage …

Every school child has surely experienced it – the fear, however irrational, of receiving one’s completed work back from one’s teacher.  There will be red pen, undoubtedly, but how much?  Will the fe…

Recently, I spotted a couple of pages of photos from a family album being auctioned on eBay, and dated April 1922. The images looked familiar: the rickety hut with Black Hill in the background, the k…

The school has had an organ since 1890, when an instrument was installed at Long Millgate following a bequest from the will of Daniel Procter. His prizes for French and German are still awarded to si…