Free Library and Technical School

At the monthly meeting of the Denton Urban District Council, held on Monday evening, Mr Oldham, the chairman of the Technical Instruction Committee, read a letter from the Rev Lawrence Scott, pastor of the Unitarian Church, Denton, stating that his brothers, sisters, and himself were prepared to convey to the Council the following properties: The Lads' Club buildings and its contents; the engine room and electric plant, the three cottages in Queen street, and a plot of land adjoining the Lads' Club, containing an area of about 1,330 square yards. The land was to provide accommodation for the proposed technical schools, and towards the cost of these buildings his family were willing to contribute the sum of ,800. They, however, wished that the gymnasium and some of the other rooms in the Lads' Club should be used as at present for the purposes of Lads' Club. Mr. Oldham said the gift in all amounted to £6,760. He moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Scott and family for their gift. Mr. J. Woolfenden seconded the resolution, which was unanimously adopted. [Manchester Times Friday 8 March 1895]

On the 27 February 1897 Councillor Edwin Oldham JP, hat manufacturer and chairman of the  laid the foundation stone of the  north wing, which was to house the Free Library and Technical Schools. On completion of the extension and other alterations, William Mather MP opened the new Free Library and Technical School on the 18 January 1900. To commemorate the Festival of Britain in 1951, the hall on the ground floor of the south wing was reconstructed and named the Festival Hall.

See also Denton Lads' Club

Sir William Mather MP LLD MInstCE (1838 1920) was head of the Mather & Platt Salford Engineering Company. A Liberal MP, he was a widely respected and influential man who was an industrialist, entrepreneur, humanitarian and politician. Edwin Oldham JP was born in Marple, Cheshire, in 1854 and in the 1901 census he was described as a Hat Manufacturer living on Seymour Street, Denton.