40 years ago, parents and their supporters illegally occupied a comprehensive school in Liverpool in an attempt to prevent its closure. The story of their battle became a nationwide cause célèbre. Throughout the 1970s, Liverpool had suffered from a sharp decline in its economy. Major employers such as the docks, car manufacturing plants and other industries suffered terminal regression that resulted in high levels of unemployment across the city and associated levels of poverty. The adult population of Liverpool struggled with jobs that were poorly paid or they faced dependency on welfare payments from the government. To say that pupils who were of school leaving age faced a bleak future was an understatement.
