Pole Vaulting, Abiriba School, Calabar, Nigeria, ca. 1930-1940

Tinted lantern slide showing a group of six boys pole vaulting at Abiriba School. The boys wear a uniform of khaki shorts and a khaki or white shirt in the image. The crossbar is made from wood. Missionaries first entered Abiriba, an Igbo iron-working area, in the early twentieth century. Agwu Otisi, a priest of the witch-doctors' society, was keen to set up a school in the village and to learn about the new faith of Christianity, eventually becoming a Church Elder. The school was under the charge of Rev. R Collins. This slide comes from a set on mission, culture and industry in Calabar, southeast Nigeria generated by the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland (which was incorporated with the Church of Scotland in 1929.)