The school always closed on the occasion of Municipal and General Elections. There was a holiday on 14th November 1973 to mark the marriage of Princess Anne to Captain Mark Phillips. The Queen's Silver Jubilee in June 1977 was commemorated by special events in addition to a day's holiday. A special Charity collection was made for the Royal Institute for the Blind; there was a Jubilee Music Concert on the evening of May 24th; prizes of £3 were awarded for the best painting on a Jubilee theme from both Upper and Lower Schools, with work done in the competitors' own time, and similar prizes were available for the best project on the same theme. In 1974, the Speech Day ceremony had to be held in the afternoon because of the fuel crisis. The Headmaster acted as Chairman, giving a brief report and welcoming the Chief Guest, Mr. P. Thompson, Senior Secondary Schools' Inspector, who was thanked at the end of the proceedings by Senior Students Robert Simpson and Jacqueline Ingham. This annual ceremony for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th forms continued to be an internal afternoon affair in the years that followed. In 1975, Councillor Sally Shaw, took the chair, and the Chief Guest was Councillor F. Balcombe, Lord Mayor of Manchester, accompanied by the Lady Mayoress. John Wigglesworth and Lesley Hallam were the Senior Students. In April 1976, the Headmaster again took the chair, this time to welcome and introduce Councillor Sally Shaw as Chief Guest, and Charles Ramsay and Christine Farrell thanked her on behalf of the school. Each year, the band contributed to the programme and Miss Irlam arranged a delightful floral display on the platform. Prizes and certificates were awarded much as before, except that, nevitably, some of the donated prizes changed as the years went by. The Leslie Lever Trophy winners were- 1974 Dermot Livingstone; 1975 Harold Guthrie and in 1976 Weston Samuels -all for individual Art work. In 1973 Susan Keeley and John Carney won the Lord Woolton Essay prize, and Warren McGuire won in 1975 when it was next awarded.

There were changes from time to time in non-teaching personnel. The establishment allowed for a Registrar, Clerical Assistant and part-time assistants according to the number in school each year. In May 1974, Mrs M. Hughes (formerly Mrs Moran) left after several successful years as Clerical Assistant, and Mrs C.Whiteoak gave up her part-time appointment. Mrs M. Southwick, joined in April 1974, and by September, as Mrs Fox worked in the Resources Centre until December 1975. Mrs N. Crowther, then Mrs Crosby and finally Mrs Wood all assisted until November 1975 when Miss S. Hempstock was appointed. She left in June 1977, at which time Mrs Maat (Mrs Bradshaw) began. In 1976 Mrs McCauley began as assistant in the Resources Centre and in July 1977, Mrs Leech, who had been in charge of the office since July 1956, retired after 21 years of outstanding loyalty and service, and Mrs J. M. Wallis,who had been an N.T.A. (part-time) since November 1968 and the Clerical Assistant from June 1977, took over as Registrar.

When Mr. O'Kelly, caretaker of "H" Building was ill in hospital for a long period, Mr. Lancashire acted as temporary caretaker there from June 1974, until Mr. O'Kelly resumed in October 1976, apart from a short period when Mr. Andrews helped. Mr. A. Gilbody retired as Caretaker in "A" Building in 1978 after many years service, and was succeeded first by Mr. .lohnson and then Mr. Wood. At the end of 1977, the school was shocked by the death of Mr. R. Newsham, a most lively and co-operative caretaker of "N" Building, who had been in charge of that buiiding since 1953. He had indeed been a real part of the school and was greatly missed. Eventually, his sister, Mrs Clarke, took over his responsibilities. From 1974, it was possible to have the services of an assistant for Domestic Subjects and Art on a part-time basis and Mrs Higham performed this duty until 1977 when she was succeeded by Mrs Long. Similarly, the Workshops Department had assistance from Mr. B. Brentnall from December 1975. In July 1974, Mr. E. Wilson, Senior Laboratory Technician retired after many years of excellent service. Mr. W. Beckett took over his duties and was assisted for some time by Mr. Scott, then Mr. McGinty, then Mr. Cretney, and by Mr. F. Cavanagh from March 1975, and also Mr. Birtinshaw from February 1976. In April 1976, Mrs G. Anderson retired as Cook Supervisor in "H" Canteen, having worked there for 30 years. Mrs Harding took over temporary responsibility, followed by Mrs A. Tomlinson for a while until eventually Mrs Haigh was appointed from November 1977. Mrs P'mblott,who had organised the canteen work in "A" Building since 1952,continued her good work, but Mrs Woolley's long period of fine service in "N" canteen ended when she retired in July 1978, being succeeded by Mrs Hindley.

Mr. Booth

Mr. Noble

Inevitably there were staff changes, but not excessively so. Mr. Noble retired in July 1974, after 27 years at the school, during which time he had taught most subjects in the curriculum, but latterly French and History. Mr. Henshaw took over from him as 2nd year Tutor, with Mrs B. Booth and then Miss G. M. Mason as Deputy Tutor. Mr. Cox also retired at that time, after 19 years as Head of Languages Department, and Mr. J.B.Creighton was appointed to take over his responsibilities. Mr. Lee retired in 1974, having been responsible for the Upper School Library since 1967. This library,originally in "A" Building, was moved at this time to a new extension classroom at the end of the corridor from the Hall in "H" Building. Mr. W. E. Barnett unfortunately had to retire in July 1974 because of ill-health. Happily he was able to resume again in January 1977, working with groups in the Lower School. Mrs E. C. Jones had taken over his responsibilities as 3rd Year Tutor, and she continued in this capacity, with Mr. P. Moloney as Deputy Tutor. In July 1975, Mr. A. Spencer (Mathematics) retired, and Mrs Robinson (History and English) also retired then on health grounds. Mr. Booth, who had built up and maintained an excellent Commercial Subjects Department over 25 years eventually retired in May 1975 following a lengthy period of ill-health.

Miss Grier

Mr. Cornwall

In .luly 1976, Miss Grier retired after 34 years. Her outstanding series of drama presentations in the Technical High School were highlights of a long and distinguished period of service as Head of History. Mr. W.J. Cornwall (Head of English) and Mr. B. R. Bedford (Head of R.l.) both retired in July 1977. Both had been identified with the development of the school since 1967-indeed Mr. Cornwall; had been Head of English for several years in the Technical High School. In July 1979, Miss Irlam retired. Her record was quite a remarkable one, serving in the Ardwick area for 46 years -27 of them as Deputy Head or Acting Head of the former Ardwick Girls' Secondary School and finally as Senior Mistress of the present school. Her conscientious approach, insistence on high standards and real concern for the under privileged or unfortunate ones deserve the highest praise. Her place was taken by Mrs S. Woodhead -a strange coincidence of name. One other link with the past was sadly severed abruptly when Mr. H. Roberts, who had retired in August 1972, died in May 1976, and many former colleagues attended his funeral. Equally sadly, Mr. E. McDonnell, the first Headmaster of the Nicholls School had died in May 1974, when he was Headmaster of Birley High School.

The Headmaster continued as Chairman and Convenor of the Manchester group of High School Heads and as a Governor of Openshaw Technical College. He also continued as a member of various sub-committees mentioned in the previous chapter and took part in many important conferences and discussions on important issues of the day. In June 1974, he was honoured by being invited to accompany a group of 14 selected Manchester boys and girls (4th and 5th years) to Leningrad, led by the Deputy Chairman of the Education Committee, Councillor K. Eastham. The party were guests of the City Soviet for 14 days and the experience was a memorable one.