Memorial to John Whitaker he opened a free Sunday School in Pickford Street, which accommodated about 40 children. In doing this he was inspired by Robert Raikes who had initiated the Sunday School movement, and by David Simpson, a local Anglican priest who had earlier provided schools for poor children in the town. Unlike most Sunday Schools, Whitaker's school was non-denominational. In 1814 he followed this by opening a much larger purpose-built Sunday School in Roe Street. The school was financed by public subscription and by the children paying a small weekly fee. Whitaker died in 1820, but the school continued to flourish, and
Ron Raikes Ron Raikes Ron Raikes (March 11, 1943 – September 5, 2009) was a farmer and former Nebraska state senator from Lincoln, Nebraska in the Nebraska Legislature. He was born on March 11, 1943, in Lincoln, Nebraska and graduated from Ashland High School. He graduated from Iowa State University in farm operations, University of California-Davis with a master's in agriculture business management and a Ph.D. in agriculture economics. He is a former member of the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board and current member of the Nebraska Farm Business Association, Nebraska Agriculture Relations Council, Nebraska Land Improvement Contractors Association, and Agriculture Builders