Occasionally, there were building troubles. It was some time before the boiler in the new extension building was coaxcd into performing properly, and during the winter of 1959/60, a close watch had to be kept on temperatures in many parts of the school. An overflowing tank over one of the rooms caused minor flooding in September 1959; in the following month a domestic boiler burst, and in September 1961, heavy rain caused flooding in the basement. The boys playground was reduced even more in size in October 1959, when a minor subsidence occurred, caused by the laying of drains. Repair work took a few days. Mr. G. Little, caretaker for 21 years, left to go to another school in June 1959, his place being taken by Mr. G. Taylor.

Whilst the building of the extension was taking place, there was a special visit by Sir Edward Boyle, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Education. He came to Manchester on 22nd September, 1959 to look at the city's problems in finding sites for school development in central areas, visiting Ardwick in the morning. In addition to seeiiig the building work in progress, he went into the basement classrooms, the Geography room and Housecraft room. Accompanying him on his visit were the Chief Education Officer, Mr. J.K. Elliott, H.M.I., Mr.E. Bullock, Chief Inspector, Mr. W.T. Stevenson and Alderman Leslie Lever. After his visit, Sir Edward wrote to the Headmaster saying how impressed he had been by all he had seen. During these years consideration was given to possibilities for extending facilities, and a favoured idea was to develop the school on the land making up Tiverton Street and Exeter Street, once this became available through clearance and development plans. First priority, once more land bad been acquired, would be to bring the workshops from Bank Meadow.

In addition to regular annual visits by Alderman Leslie Lever, other visitors included Mr. W. Grant, and Miss F. Elliot, the Heads of the new Technical High Schools in Wythenshawe, groups of students from Didsbury Training College, 3 representatives from Durham University, Professor Shoji from Hiroshima, an educationalist from Iran, and Headteachers from Primary Schools who came in several groups to hear more about the work of the school and how their children had progressed since coming to Ardwick. Inspectors and officials visited prior to Sir Edward Boyle's visit; Dr. K. Laybourn, Chief Inspector by 1963, came on 3 occasions to talk about future developments, and on one occasion, his Deputy, Miss Beddoes came. Mr. R. H. Keast, District Inspector was a regular visitor and other Inspectors came as the need arose. H.M.I. Mr. Bullock paid several visits, as did some of his colleagues - Mr. Batty, Mr. White, Miss Brunt and Miss Johnson.

The number of visits out-of-school to lectures or places of interest was extensive. Mr. Hughes regularly took the Sixth Form Science groups to lectures and exhibitions; Mr. Noble led the Sixth Form in support of conferences on the Commonwealth and organised by the Council of Christians and Jews. Miss Welborn and then Miss Lord took girls out on many visits with a Careers interest, particularly in the area of the Nursing Services and Mr. Carruthers organised Careers visits for boys. Mr. Quigley and then Mr. Donnan took groups to Art Galleries and on sketching expeditions. Miss Kellett continued the Geographical visits to Malham, and developed 6th form fieldwork outings. Mr. Johnson continued this and also arranged visits for Commonwealth Institute lecturers. Mr. Booth often took his 5th and 6th form girls on commercial visits and Miss Turnbull took 40 5th year girls to Manchester Airport and arranged a demonstration by the North Western Electricity Board for 3rd year girls, and one by the Fire Brigade on "Safety in the Kitchen" for the 4th years.

Mr. Allardice occasionally took some boys to Openshaw Technical College, and in July, 1963, Mr. Clarke took his Biology 6th and a 2nd year form to Belle Vue. In January 1959, 50 boys and girls, with staff, heard a special lecture "The Trans Antarctic Expedition" at the Free Trade Hall, and a smaller number heard one on "Transport On and Under the Sea". In that year 20 boys had visited both a submarine and a frigate. Another interesting lecture at the Free Trade Hall for 72 boys and girls from the 5th and 6th was on "Automation". In the summer of 1963, the 3rd year had an excursion to Coventry Cathedral and Kenilworth and Warwick Castles, and in both 1962 and 1963 a representative from the Youth Hostel Association spoke to a large group of boys and girls about the work of the Association. On the invitation of the organisers, 11 girls from the 6th form, led by Miss Turnbull, assisted at the Ardwick Old Folks treat in December 1959.

Halle concerts were as popular as ever, at first on a Senior and Junior basis, but later on a year group basis, Theatre visits abounded - a small group of 6th formers to Stretford, the annual lst year Christmas visit to the Library Theatre; groups to see "Julius Caesar", "Henry IV, Part I"; "Merchant of Venice"; "Much Ado About Nothing"; "Macbeth"; "St. Joan" at either the Library Theatre or the Opera House; arid a visit by 60 from the 3rd year to see the "Taming of the Shrew" as part of Manchester Schools Arts Festival. Mrs Shelley trained several girls for the Flower Arrangement Competition, and, as a result, 1 gold, 2 silvers and I bronze medal were gained, as well as 4 merits. A group of 40 girls were able to see a performance of "Swan Lake" in October 1960, and the choir and several staff went to the Llangollen Festival in July 1959. Mr. Davies led a group of 23 to Norway in August 1960, and at Easter 1961, the Headmaster, assisted by Mr. Davies, Miss Turnbull, Mrs Woodhead and Mrs Leech led a party to Switzerland, staying at Interlaken and enjoying many excursions into the mountains. In 1962, the same leaders took a group to Baveno in the Italian Lakes,visiting Stressa Locarno, Lugano and Lake Como. In 1963, the destination was Reith in Austria, giving an opportunity to see Innsbruck, Seefeld, the Achensee and Oberammergau. For these journeys, parents' evenings for those involved were held before departure, and, after the visit, a social evening was arranged which included the showing of personal slides and a 35 mm film of the journey. Mr. Cox repeated his organised visits to France by taking a group to Paris in April 1962 when they had tours of the city and spent some time at Versailles. On an earlier visit, at Easter 1959, the temperature in Paris was the. hottest for 70 years.

The school had been able to obtain a film camera and this proved useful, not only for recording visits, but also for filming sports afternoons and other activities, including some practical classroom work. Tape recorders were now coming into more frequent use, especially in the French Department, which had a special one delivered exclusively for departmental use. Education films, particularly in Science and Geography were used extensively, and one of the responsibilities of the Laboratory Technician was to set up the equipment as necessary. The school had its own projector as well as a slide projector and the old epidiascope, and films were obtained from the M.E.C. Film Library.

Speech Day was held in July and became the. culminating event in the School year. It continued to be in the Free Trade Hall, with a morning rehearsal. Each year the choir made delightful contributions. Councillor Hatton occupied the chair as Chairman of Governors - by 1962, he was also Chairman of the Education Committee. On each occasion up to 1963, the vote of thanks was proposed by Alderman A. Moss as Chairman of the Education Committee until his term of office ended. In accordance with tradition the vote was seconded by the two Senior Prefects who were:- 1959, N, Dawson and Sheila Cartledge; 1960, N. Dawson and Cynthia Kime; 1961, P. H. Maddocks and Marjorie Wood; 1962, D. V. Carr and Joyce Naylor; 1963, A. Jones and Frances Seddon. It was also traditional for the Senior Prefects to make a presentation to the Chief Guest, a gift which was generally a piece of craftwork from the school workshops. Previous donors of priizes continued with their generosity and Councillor Parkinson gave an additional prize for Mathematics from 1961. At each ceremony, Mrs. D. Ross, mother of a pupil played the organ and senior scholars H. Taylor, Barbara Knott and Gladys Miller, as well as former Senior Prefect, R. Burrill, accompanied the choir on the piano on one occasion. Alderman Leslie Lever always attended and the Lord Mayor (Alderman R. E. Thomas) was able to attend in 1962, as was his successor (Alderman R. C. Rodgers) in 1963, both being accompanied by the Lady Mayoress. IN 1959, the Chief Guest was Canon Wilfred Garlick, Vicar of St. George's, Stockport; in 1960, it was the Lord Bishop of Manchester. Mr. Terence Lawson, Secretary for the Council for Education in World Citizenship came in 1961, Mr. Gordon Franklin, Secretary of the Shaftesbury Society in 1962, and the Rev. W. Gordon Robinson, Principal of the Northern Congregational College in 1963. All these distinguished gentlemen made contributions in a stimulating and lively way to the success of the event.

The Staff often attended M.E.C. courses, and the Headmaster made a two day visit with other Heads to H.M.S. Fisguard at Tor Point on the invitation of the Royal Navy. Several members of staff, mainly ladies, visited the Llangollen Music Festival one evening in July 1960. During these years there were a certain number of staff changes, but these still remained comparatively small. Mr. Hirst retired in July 1961 after 37 years as Chemistry master. With his departure a firm link with the past was broken, and the school lost a most kindly, skillful and repected teacher. A further break with the past occurred in April 1962, when Miss Welborn retired after 29 years, 13 of those years as Senior Mistress. A tribute to her in "Torch" especially referred to "the quiet calm which always pervaded rooms in which she taught, a calm which emanated from her own personality and her quiet voice". The affection with which she was held was made plain by the numerous gifts and good wishes she received apart from "official" gifts. Miss Lord took over her duties as Senior Mistress, and Mr. W. E. Barnett replaced Mr. Hirst. A University student Miss Kenyon had helped with the Chemistry in November-December 1959, on a part time basis, during a period of staff illness.

Miss B. Barker (Girls P.E.) left in July 1959 and was replaced by Miss A. M. Singleton (September 1959), who became Mrs. Brewer. In turn, she left in July 1962, being replaced by Mrs. O. Medcalfe in September. Mr. J. L. Cule (English and Library), Mr. B. P. Langan (Boys P.E.) and Mr. N. Lowrie Pearce (French and Spanish) also left in July 1959, being replaced by Mr. W. R. Sykes (English and Library), who also took much of the boys PE until an appropriate appointment could be made, and Mr. G. J. Davis (French and Spanish). It was not until September 1960 that a permanent Boys P.E. and Games appointment coould be made when Mr. A. W. Hilton joined the staff. Mrs. R. M. Crawley held a temporary post for History and English from September 1959 to July 1960. Mrs. G. Corlett (formerly Miss Hitchinson) left in July 1960 and her work in Biology was taken over by Mr. R. A. Clarke. Mrs. Shelley (Housecraft) left in July 1960, being replaced by Miss G. Stevenson - soon to become Mrs. West. Mr. J. C. Quigley (Art) left in December 1960, and Mr. H. Riley helped for a term in a temporary capacity each afternoon and Friday mornings until Mr. N. G. Donnan began in April 1961. Mrs. L. Noble (English) became a temjporary appontment in April 1962 - an appontment which later became permanent. Two further links with the past were broken in 1962. Miss M. Kellett (Geography) left in September after 21 years and Mr. J. B. Stater (Mathematics) retired after 29 years in December. Mr. A. Rooney took over Miss Kellett;s cxlasses for a term until Mr, H, Johnson was able to begin in Janusrt 1963, and Mr. D. H.J. Gay replaced Mr. Stater also in January. Miss M. H, Greenhalgh left in December 1962, and this left a gap in English and Music. Mr. W. J. Cornwall succeeded her as Head of English in January 1963 and Miss P. Stone began at the same time as part-time Music Teacher, becoming full time in June. Mr. W. R. Sykes (English and Library) left in April 1963 with Mrs. E. Talbot taking up a temporary appointment to the end of the school year, and in July 1963, Mrs. West (Housecraft) and Mr. A. A. Carruthers (Mathematics and Science) both left.