A GLOSSOP historian is celebrating 100 years of working class education with a book that documents its history.

Dr John Smith has worked with the Workers’ Educational Association for more than 40 years as a tutor and adviser.

Set up in 1907, the Glossop branch aimed to provide a university-quality education to working class men – and later women – who did not have the opportunity to gain a degree.

Lecturers from Oxford University, paid for by the government, would come to Glossop and teach classes in the liberal arts.

Dr Smith, who writes a weekly column in The Glossop Advertiser, said: "At that time it was almost impossible for working men and women to get into university.

"They didn’t get a piece of paper or a degree or take exams.  But it gave them a chance to improve their reading and writing skills, to change the way they thought. That was supposed to feed back into the working population."

He said the WEA made a huge difference to some people’s lives.

"Some young men and later some young women who came through the WEA moved on from taking WEA classes to getting state scholarships and going to university and getting first degrees."

A famous example was William Mansfield Cooper who, after attending WEA evening classes, went on to win a scholarship to Ruskin College Oxford, later becoming a barrister and finally Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester.

"For individuals it could provide a ladder out of working class life," said Dr Smith, who himself won a state scholarship to study at Oxford.

He wrote the book based on research carried out by five members of the Glossop WEA.

Association secretary Dave Eglin said: "Over the last 100 years this branch has continually provided a programme of vocational and interest classes for local people."

Courses are due to start this autumn in Glossop on the issue of American Presidential power.

For further details of this course and for further information about the WEA please contact Mr Eglin on 01457 856413.