THE 66 schools throughout East Lancashire who have been using our local history and language resource "Spotlight on the Century", were invited to enter several competitions linked to this theme.

Although the entries are still being judged and results not yet published, we feel that readers would enjoy reading some of the high standard of written work for themselves.

Pupils of Griffin Park Primary School in Blackburn have delved into the history of their area and sent us this fascinating report.

Griffin Lodge: This stands next to Griffin Park Primary School and was the Dugdales family house from about 1824 to 1936.

Have you ever walked past the fine old building called the Griffin Lodge, and wondered who used to live there? Have you ever thought how nearby streets, such as Griffin Street and Pink Place first got their names and why? Do you know why the area that Griffin Park Primary School was built on became a public park?

The children of Griffin Park School have been busy finding out the answers to some of these questions.

To find out the information about names, ages, occupations and places of birth we have used the Census of 1861 and 1871. To find out more we used newspaper articles from the Blackburn Times, people's memories and books, especially the Griffin Park School Logbook which goes back in time to 1870.

The land on which Griffin Park and Griffin Lodge stand was owned by the Boardman family but passed to the Dugdale family when Elizabeth Walmesley married Thomas Dugdale in 1824. Thomas Dugdale's family originally lived in Great Harwood. Thomas was born in 1797 and when he grew up he worked on King Street, Blackburn, as a surgeon. He bought more land at Witton and had Griffin Lodge built. Thomas gave up his work as a surgeon to concentrate on running the cotton mill with his two sons.

As we know from the Census, Thomas was involved in railways. He was one of the men who got together to raise money to build the first railway to reach Blackburn.

This linked the town to the main line at Preston and is the one we still use today. Thomas Dugdale died in March 1875 and soon afterwards his son Adam married Agnes Harrison of Stalybridge near Manchester. Adam and Agnes lived at Griffin Lodge.

Thomas Dugdale gave money to build and to maintain Griffin Church of England School and he gave land on which St Philips Church was built. Both Thomas and his son Adam were made mayors of Blackburn, Thomas from 1845 to 1855 and Adam from 1878 to 1880.

The last member of the Dugdales to live at Griffin Lodge was Agnes Dugdale, the widow of Adam. She died in 1936 aged 83. Her funeral service was held in St Philips Church and children from Griffin School lined the street outside. After 1936 the Lodge was used as offices by the General Post Office and then stood empty for some years. The land around the Lodge was made into a public park in 1937 for the use of everyone. Below is a quote from the Blackburn Times dated August 1937. A New Park: "A public park for the Witton end of Blackburn is welcome news. Griffin Park will be a real oasis in a thickly populated and largely built-up area where children have nowhere to play except the streets, and adults nowhere near home where they can repair for a rest in pleasant open-air surroundings. The decision therefore of the Corporation to turn Griffin Estate into a public park has given satisfaction."

It added: "Apparently a proposal that the estate should be used as playing fields for school children has been dropped for the Borough Engineer has been instructed to prepare a scheme for its conversion into a park - Griffin Park - with the same amenities for recreation as other parks in the town provide."

Researched and written by Naomi Brown, Lauren Taylor, Ryan Smith, Paul Morris and Nathan Morrison, Year 6 pupils, Griffin Park Primary School, Blackburn.

School saves a tree

THE subject of environmental education is taken seriously by most schools in East Lancashire, and Pleckgate High School, Blackburn, is no exception. In the midst of preparations to celebrate Christmas, Year 10 pupil Carrie Johnson has spared a thought for the fate of the Christmas tree. "The annual ritual of decorating a tree is an essential part of Christmas. But every year thousands of people buy trees without giving much thought to where the tree comes from or how many are cut down year after year. And when the season is over most trees are tossed aside with the left over food and used gift wrappings

"At Pleckgate High School we are trying to spare a tree from this undignified end by reusing the same imitation tree we used last year. This is not only an environmentally friendly gesture, but makes economic sense.

"It's also a lot less messy as by the end of Christmas, fake trees are still intact and often look more alive than the real thing.

"By reusing a plastic tree we could all reduce the number of real ones destroyed, ensuring that they will be there to be enjoyed for the rest of the year."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.