Mexborough and Swinton Times August 26, 1938

Retirement of Mr And Mrs T.E.Blacker

Regret will be felt in the Goldthorpe district at the imminent departure from the town of Mr. and Mrs.  T. E. Blacker, of 41, High Street, both of whom are well known in the locality. They are to leave Goldthorpe at the end of September on Mr. Blacker’s retirement from the staff of the Goldthorpe Junior School, and they are to take up residence at Flixton, near Filey.    Mr . Blacker’s retirement brings to an end a period of nearly 40 years meritorious service, and during that time he has seen the school develop from a mixed department with 200 children to a senior boys’ department with 500 pupils, and then, after re-organisation, to a junior boys’ department with about 250 children. When he joined the staff at the beginning of this century the school was under the jurisdiction of the Bolton’ School Board and Mr. T. Dickinson was headmaster.

During those 40 years thousands of pupils have passed through Mr Blacker’s hands. Members of the Dearne Education Committee at their meeting on Friday expressed regret at Mr. Blacker’s retirement and decided to send him a letter thanking him for his valuable services. Mr. D. Griffiths, who seconded Mr. W. M. Starkey’s proposal that this should be done, mentioned that he must have been one of the first pupils under Mr. Blacker, and Mr. T. Vaughan said that Mr. Blacker had done yeoman service for education in the district. Mr. Blacker’s chief hobby outside school has been gardening and he intends to devote much of his time in his retirement in this direction. He has also been very interested in sport, particularly in the schools, and has held the positions of President and treasurer to the Dearne Valley Sports Association, having charge of the finances in the year when the football team reached the semi-final of the English Schools’ Shield.

Mr. Blacker is a very prominent member of the Sarraguna Lodge, R.A.0.B., and in 1934 was exalted to the Roll of Honour. He is also a Knight of the Order of Merit, a Past Provincial Grand Primo, and a Grand Knight of the Chapter of All England. He was secretary of the Strolling Players’ Dramatic Society for three years, and was from 1903 to 1916 a keen member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, being secretary for some time of the Goldthorpe section.

Mrs. Blacker, too, has been a prominent worker, having been secretary of the local Nursing Association since its inception 10 years ago. She was a member of the Strolling Players and Look important roles in several productions, and last session conducted the embroidery class at the Goldthorpe Evening School. Her father, the late Mr. Fred Marsden, was a farmer at Bolton and her ramily connections with the farm whose site is now occupied by the Angel can be traced back nearly 500 years.