BOLTON School has a long and illustrious history in the town.

A special lunch was held to recognise the 50th anniversary of the completion of the North Wing of the building — the front wing which runs along Chorley New Road — the final piece of the Boys’ Division to be finished.

Old boys from the class of 1971 were sent a special invitation to attend to help commemorate the occasion. As 1971 leavers this was the first group to make full use of the new wing when they entered the senior school in 1964.

They were also the first pupils to see and use the school as a whole for the duration of their senior school education.

There were five alumni who answered the call and they were able to share their memories of the, then, new building. Former teachers Charles Winder, David Shaw and Howard Northam also went along to join the group.

Peter Acton, who left in 1971, gave a short address, at the end of the lunch, about the significance of the North Wing. He said: “I remember there was a smell of newness about it. It seems, looking back, that the whole of my life was set in the first term in the new building.”

The school was re-endowed in 1913 by Sir William Hesketh Lever, who later became Lord Leverhulme and the Bolton School Foundation was officially formed in 1915, bringing together the Bolton High School for Girls and Bolton Grammar School for Boys.

Lord Leverhulme always planned for the schools to share one site and a specially designed new building. There was a delay in building work due to the outbreak of World War One but this did not prevent him from continuing to make plans for the school.

In 1917 he arranged an architectural completion for the plan of the new school buildings. This was judged in 1919 with Charles T Adshead becoming the architect of the building. However work only began on the buildings in 1924, after Lord Leverhulme’s death.

The first phase of the building included both Great Hall wings, linked by the central arch and this formed the centre point of the school.

The South Wing of the Girls’ Division was also built at this time and the new Girls’ Division buildings were the first to be opened by the 2nd Viscount Leverhulme on September 25, 1928.

A year later, in September 1919, the Boys’ Division occupied their Great Hall, but there were no new classrooms for boys at this time.

The Boys’ Division South Wing was competed almost three years later, in January 1932 and the Girls’ Division West Wing was opened by Dr Winifred Cullis in 1934. The East Wing of the Boys’ Division was partially occupied by December 1956 and fully occupied in 1957. This left only the North Wings of the Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions to be completed.

This final phase of building work began in 1963 and the Boys’ Division North Wing was completed in 1964 — fifty years ago.

The Girls’ Division North Wing was a larger project as the four-storey West Wing had to be completed before the lower North Wing was added to complete the quadrangle. It was scheduled for completion in 1965 but the girls only occupied the premises from January 1966.

Lord Leverhulme’s original plan for the school also included a central, shared chapel which was to rest between the two Great Hall wings and opposite the central arch to create a third, central quadrangle.

However, due to lack of funding, this was never built.

In 2013 work was completed on the School’s new Riley Sixth Form Centre which sits in the chapel’s intended space and completes the final link between the Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions.

The Riley Centre celebrates its first anniversary at the same time that the North Wing celebrates its 50th.

During the 2015 to 2016 academic year Bolton School will celebrate the centenary of the formation of the Bolton School Foundation and the centenary of the 19th (Bolton School) Scouts.

As part of the festivities the school will also commemorate 500 years of education in Bolton.

If anyone has memories of being either a pupil or member of staff at Bolton School Boys’ or Girls’ Division we would love to hear from you. Contact Gayle McBain on 01204 537269 or email gmcbain@theboltonnews.co.uk