Meal-time in a stark dining room at Bluevale School in Netherfield Street East, Dennistoun, 1916. The matron at the front of the room is leading the children, some of whom have their heads bowed, in saying grace. They are preparing to eat a simple meal of soup and sandwiches; the latter are piled on plates held by their teachers and on the table in the foreground.
The provision of school meals in Glasgow before 1914 had been patchy, relying largely on the activities of charities such as the Poor Children's Dinner Table Society. School Boards were authorised to provide meals to pupils under the Education (Scotland) Act of 1908. However, the Glasgow Board was slow to provide meals until the First World War, when thousands of Glasgow mothers were recruited to work in factories producing guns, shells and other munitions and were unable to return home to cook for their children at lunch-times.
Reference: D-ED 5/1/2
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
Bluevale Public School, Bluevale School, boots, charities, children, clothes, dinner ladies, Glasgow School Board, matrons, milk, Poor Children's Dinner Table Society, praying, primary schools, sandwiches, school dinners, school meals, teachers
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