| Disgrifiad | Encompassing over 120 years of Normal College records, the Archive’s collection of Bangor Normal College Reports offers a deep insight into the everyday details that enabled the school to run and a comparative look at how college life changed over the years. The first official volume of 1863-1888 provides the comprehensive principals of the new school as well as names of donors and life subscribers who contributed to the making of the college. Throughout each annual report in this first edition, it states the members of the committee of management present at the meeting, the annual financial report, information on student uptake and pass rate and the life subscribers for the year as well as other details of the daily workings of the school. However, it is important to note the remaining editions are inconsistent in regards to the period between meetings, bilingualism and the information included in each report; although some key aspects remain the same in each edition such as income and expenditure accounts and crediting the committee of management at the opening of each report.
With each report spanning around 5 to 10 pages, a common theme that emerges throughout editions after 1917 is the inclusion of the ‘Principal’s Report’. The principal at that time contributes around a 3 to 4 page report of the functionality of the school and remarks on any issues the school may have had and how they were resolved. This can range from anything such as the furnishing of the George Hostel, reintroducing Welsh into the syllabus, the resignation of a housekeeper or a plague of rats. During the 1937-1949 edition, issues of war service pay and war bonuses were discussed as well as the cost of the Normal College and George Hostel air raid shelters of £96 2s and 2d. With the 1974-1978 edition, the bilingual reports begin with Welsh on the left. However, the editions still continue to be highly inconsistent with the formatting of each report and the time between each meeting remains irregular. |