A BOOK outlining the history of Cowley school has been republished as part of a series of memorial celebrations in honour of the school’s founder.

Cowley Schools: Intentions, Interpretations and Interference, penned by former Cowley deputy head teacher Ken Taylor, tells of the history of education in St Helens over the last 300 years since 1714, the year Sarah Cowley wrote her will which transformed education in the area.

Written a year before her death in 1715, the will left her small farm estate to a body of trustees whose responsibility was to teach the poorest people in the area to read, more than 150 years before free education was introduced for all in 1870.

Originally written in 1983, the updated book now traces the history of the school over the last three centuries up until 2014.

“There are all sorts of interesting things in it and there are photographs in it going back even to 1850,” says former Cowley teacher and pupil Rita Allcock, who has helped to arrange the celebrations.

There have been two book signings at Wardleworths to mark the release of the new version, with plans for an official launch in the near future.

“On Saturday we will have our exhibition at the World of Glass and are trying to see if we can borrow the original Sarah Cowley will from archives in Preston for it,” added Rita.

And that’s not all, she continued: “We will also have a big book launch to coincide with the exhibition.”

The exhibition which will run from Saturday to March 13 and is one of several planned celebrations to be held over the next two years to celebrate the 300th anniversaries of Sarah’s death and the first Cowley pupils going to school in 1716.

“Sarah Cowley was a very forward thinking lady and St Helens became one of the first authorities to take free education seriously,” added Rita.