Wakefield - Alverthorpe Working Mens Club
Visiting the Mayor of Wakefield September 2005
In September 2005 two things happened:
- I met a distant cousing, Patrick Bagnall for the first time ever. Found via a mutual interest in genealogy
- Patrick and I were invited to meet the Mayor of Wakefield, who had important information to interest us both
Patrick and I went to the Town Hall and met the Mayor, Cllr David Hopkins, who showed us two Mason's Mallets presented by Messrs Bagnall Bros to the Mayor. One, made from ebony, was presented at the laying of a foundation stone for Alverthorpe Working Mens club - a building I didn't know they had built. The inscription reads "Alverthorpe Working Men's Club, presented by G. & H. Bagnall, 12th August 1911", confirming that Messrs Bagnall Brothers were George and Harry Bagnall. The building's two foundation stones, laid the same day by the Mayor (Albert Hudson Esq.) and the Mayoress on behalf of the committee, still survive on the building.
The other mallet is made from ivory and is unfortunately damaged. Its base is inscribed "17/4/27" - 17 April 1927 - which rules out my earlier guess that it commemorated the Drury Lane Library (built 1905). What it actually commemorates is still unknown - if you have any information, please get in touch. Many thanks too to Mr. Jubb for arranging our visit.
