BURY ST EDMUNDS SCIENCE AND ART CLASSES
Bury St Edmund's Science and Art Classes are first noticed in an advertisement in the Bury Free Press of January 1888 'Art and Science Classes, Bury St Edmund's conducted by W T Griffiths, headmaster of the Ipswich School, every Wednesday commencing on the 25th inst. at Rooms over the Offices of the Bury Free Press, Abbeygate Street....Students will be prepared for any of the Drawin Examinations for the Certificates and Prizes offered by the Government Department of Science and Art or for Oxford and Cambridge local examinations. On 19 January 1889 'Bury St Edmund's Science and Art Classes, under the Management of a Local Committee and conducted by W. T. Griffiths, will re-commence at the Rooms at 61 Abbeygate Street, on Wednesday the 23rt inst.' They are last noted as being held in the Town Hall, Bury St Edmund's in 1894. A Bury St Edmund's School of Art is first noticed in a letter in the Bury & Norwich Post on 21 March 1899 'a new art school opening' and on 15 January 1900 'School of Art' is reopening at the Town Hall. In 1907 it was situated on Cornhill, Bury St Edmund's when the headmaster was Arthur Burt, ARCA, AMC. and regular exhibitions were held of student's works and of Suffolk artist's up until the start of the Second World War with an exhibition of the works of Alfred Munnings held in the Art Gallery in the School of Art Buildings in September 1939. In 1947 a committee was formed to consider re-establishing the School of Art. It had closed by 1960 when the plans for the premises as a retail store were submitted.