422 Community Hub – reopening an iconic Victorian building
Zoë Freedman2022-04-05T09:10:35+01:00The Mechanics Institution Public Hall, Library and School was built in an age (1880) before state education. When cholera was endemic, and poverty was rife. Probably inspired by the writings on the Manchester working man by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles. It was the second free public library in England and along with the other facilities transformed the fortunes of numerous generations. It enhanced the work of Sir Edwin Chadwick, born opposite the building, who founded the Poor Laws Board and persuading the Government to pass an Act requiring factory owners to provide 3 hours schooling for working [...]