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Week St. Mary School |
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In December
1976, Week St. Mary's Women's Institute
compiled a booklet entitled "Week St.
Mary School - This is your life" as
their entry for the Baker Cup
Competition. We are extremely privileged
to be allowed to reproduce the article
for the benefit of those interested in
village life; those who just wish to
reminisce, whether past pupils or not;
or who simply have a fascination for
history. Thank you ladies for
your effort. |
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Week St. Mary School
THIS IS YOUR LIFE
o-o-O-o-o
compiled and presented
by
WEEK ST. MARY WOMEN'S INSTITUTE
December 1976 |
P R E F A C
E
This short history of their village
school has been compiled by members of
the Week St. Mary Women’s Institute as
their entry for the Baker Cup
Competition 1976. Material has been
collected from many sources — from past
and present pupils and teachers, from
School Log Books and County Records.
Acknowledgements and thanks are due to
all who have assisted in the production
of this book, especially to Mr. E.
Hearn-Cooper for the line and wash
illustration on the cover.
Competition
Committee:
Kathleen Gubbin, Hettie Hutchings,
Kathleen Watkinson, Agnes Smale & Gwen
Hughes
Week St. Mary, December 1976 |
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Week St.
Mary School
I N T R O D U C T I O N |
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There you stand, grey and silent, at the
top of the hill. You are built of solid
Cornish stone, simple in design, with a
slate roof and a modest porch. But your
playground is empty, your gates are
broken down, there are holes in your
roof, and your bell has gone from its
belfry. In the window is a sad notice:-
FOR SALE.
But you
were not always so desolate. For nearly
a hundred years successive generations
of our children passed through your
doors, and masters and teachers worked
together to give them an education that
would fit them for life in the
community, and in the world beyond.
So, Week St. Mary Village School - this
is your life.....
You were
built one hundred years ago, in 1876,
six years after Parliament had passed
the Elementary Education Act, which made
regular school attendance compulsory for
all children, between the ages of five
to fourteen.
The
newly-formed School Board had appointed
a Mr. Amos Grey and his wife, Elizabeth,
as the first Master and Mistress, and,
until your building was finished, they
used a rented room in the village; there
were ten children on the first register.
The numbers
quickly rose, and by the end of the year
fifty-four children trooped into your
new schoolroom. It was a large one,
which could be divided by a wooden
partition. But it had very little
equipment; there was no blackboard, no
cupboards, no tables, and as yet, no
cloakroom. The toilets were outside in
the yard, but of course, with no water
supply.
At the
opening ceremony the Rector, the
Reverend G. H. Hopkins, offered prayers,
and then he addressed the assembled
members of the Board, the two teachers,
and the children. No doubt, he stressed
how fortunate the pupils were to be in
this new school, and would certainly
exhorted them to work hard, and to
respect their teachers.
And work
hard they did, as indeed did their
teachers! For at that time teachers’
salaries depended on a government grant,
and this, in turn, depended on the
standard of work achieved in the school.
This was assessed by the results of the
School Inspectors’ examination of the
scholars’ work in the “three Rs”,
singing, and plain needlework. In
addition, parents had to pay 2d per week
for the first child in the family, and
1d for all the others.
By 1879
there were eighty-seven children in the
school, and Mr. Grey found the teaching
so arduous that he applied for a paid
Monitor to help him. This young man had
to take his own lessons from Mr. Grey,
in the evenings.
One great
difficulty in the teaching was the
haphazard attendance made by the
scholars. Since the government grants
depended also on the weekly attendances,
the registers were very important, and
numbers had to be recorded each day. But
conditions of life in country areas,
during the nineteenth century, were not
conducive to regular school attendance.
The weather was a constant hazard; snow,
frost, rain and gales in winter made the
country lanes almost impassable, and
many children lived two or three miles
outside the village.
Listen to
Mr. King, the schoolmaster who came to
Week St. Mary in 1882:-
"I found it
very hard to get any continuous teaching
done. Parents in those days expected
their children to help at busy times on
the land, at corn-tilling, potato
picking, hay harvest, and even
whortle-berry picking. Then there was
the Village Fair, Sunday School treats,
and Market Days in Launceston and in
Holsworthy." I wrote in my Log Book: “It
is a disgrace that children should be
allowed to stay away as they do. What
with Chapel Anniversaries, Bands of
Hope, and seaside outings, the
attendance is thoroughly disorganised.”
I was
continually complaining to the School
Board, but it was ten years before they
decided to issue summons against the
parents. The children’s health suffered,
too, and with them all crowded into such
a small space, coughs and colds, and
even more serious infections, spread
rapidly. |
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The School Choir with the
Certificate won in the County
Festival, 1914. The teacher with
them is Mr. Husband. |
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The School
Football team with Mr. Leggo
in 1919 |
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Miss Merrifield and Miss Best,
with their classes in 1922. |
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Mr. Landry, Headmaster
1923-1930, with the senior
classes. |
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Mr. Rablin, your next Headmaster, was a
very different type of man. Mrs. Johns,
one of his pupils in the early nineteen
hundreds, says: Mr. Rablin started our
first school library, with books given
to him by ladies and gentlemen of the
village. He was very musical, being a
Fellow of the Royal College of
Organists, and gave recitals on our new
organ in the Chapel. He formed a school
choir, and we entered for some of the
County Music Festivals. We came first in
Choral singing and second in
sight-reading. After I left, the choir
won the Trefusis Banner at the
Wadebridge Music Festival.
We had our
first Medical Inspection in Mr. Rablin’s
time, and I remember my mother bathing
us that morning and putting us into
clean clothes. Then she came up to the
school with us, while we were examined
by the doctor.
The last
three years of Mr. Rablin’s headship saw
some of the darkest days of the First
World War.
Mr. Norman
Gubbin was in school in 1914.
I remember
a National Savings Group being started
and Miss Tuke coming every week to
collect our pennies. We all knew that
the Germans were trying to starve us
out, and as country children we knew how
important the farmer’s work was.
Besides, round our classroom was a big
poster which read “Waste not, Want not,
Save the Nation’s Bread.”
Mr. Pauling
was another pupil at the school in
wartime. “I lived three miles from the
village school in those days. We had
plenty to remind us that we were at war,
for many of us had a father or an elder
brother at the front. In school, we had
collections for cigarettes to send to
the soldiers, and we sent 12/6d to the
R.S.P.C.A. in aid of wounded horses.
Every week we brought eggs to be sent to
the military hospitals. My friend and I
walked for miles to the farms around and
I was given a certificate for bringing
in the most eggs.
We had many
different teachers during the war. Mr.
Leggo, our Head, was called up in 1918,
and returned to the school after peace
was signed in 1919. Then we had a
collection for a War Memorial to be
erected in the village Square. On the
day Peace was signed we lined up below
the Union Jack in the playground and
sang “God Save the King”. We had a
football team then, but no real pitch,
so we played in the field behind Reeve
House.
In the
twenties, Mr. Leggo had tried to
interest parents in school affairs by
holding an Open Day. Only six parents
came, but it was the beginning of more
co-operation between school and home.
The first
Annual Prize Giving was held in 1922.
Parents were interested in their
children’s school, although the first
recorded instance of any combined action
at this time was when folk dancing was
added to the curriculum, when many
parents strongly objected.
One of the
children at school in the ‘twenties was
Miss Audrey Rogers - here she is:
I was seven
years old when I started school. My
sisters Phyllis and Winnie and I had to
walk two miles, we left home at eight
o’clock in the morning, and arrived back
at five o’clock in the afternoon. We
used to meet various people on the way
to school, the old tramp making his way
to the workhouse in Stratton, and the
roadmen, cleaning the gutters and
breaking stones for repairing the road.
At Collaton Hill and Heydah Hill there
were large stone heaps. The roadmen
would stone the road, and the
steamroller would roll them in. We had
to carry our food for the day with us,
snacks for breaks in the morning and
afternoon and a pasty for lunch. Some
children warmed their pasties on the
stove in the schoolroom, but we were
lucky as we used to drop our food into
Mrs. Horrells opposite the Chapel every
morning, and she would heat it for us,
and take us in and give us our lunch and
a cup of tea. When we were near the
village, we teamed up with other boys
and girls. The big bell on the school
building clanged out at nine o’clock,
and it was then we lined up in the
playground, the young ones in front and
the older ones behind. We marched into
the big classroom for a hymn and a
prayer, and then each class went to its
own room. I remember anything from
seventy to a hundred and eight children
on the register.
I enjoyed
my schooldays. The teachers worked hard
and so did the pupils. We took exams
around Easter time to decide whether we
went up into the next standard or stayed
where we were. If we did anything wrong,
we had to write so many lines as a
punishment, and. stay in after school to
do it. Of course, there was a cane in
the drawer, which was used occasionally.
We had the Medical Officer around four
times in the year, and our photos were
taken once a year. Our father was a
School Manager, and he and the other
managers often visited the school.
Empire Day
was a big Sports Day. We kept our
fingers crossed that it would be nice
and dry. Sports were always held in Mr.
Will Smale’s field, next to the school.
We held some wonderful concerts - the
talent was good, and the proceeds went
towards the cost of the Christmas Party
and a big Christmas Tree.
One of the
children coming over Heydah Hill to
school was Dorothy Sluggett, now Mrs.
Russell Orchard. She and her future
husband were in the same class while Mr.
Landry was the Headmaster.
Yes, I
remember those concerts. We collected
money for a piano, to take the place of
the old harmonium. But a great wonder
was Mr. Landry’s wireless. It was the
only one in the village, and on
Armistice Day, 1927, he brought it into
the school to let us listen to the
Service
from the Cenotaph. Then we all marched
down to the War Memorial in the Square.
I was never very fond of Sports Day. I
preferred playing rounders in the field.
Mr. Landry was a very popular teacher,
for he gave every child a halfpenny on
their birthday!
And what
about the lighter side of school life?
Listen to Mr. Hedric Jones, at school in
the twenties: “For the greater part of
my schooldays, Mr. Landry was the
Headmaster, and Miss Retallick was the
assistant teacher. I lived in the
village, so I could come home to my
dinner. I remember the Horlick’s milk
that we made for a drink in playtime.
While it was heating on the stove we
would help it on by stirring it with the
red-hot poker. The resulting taste was
not always palatable. The boys who
brought their dinners to school had
great fun in the lunch hour. I would
join them for “hare and hounds” over the
fields, regardless of the bell that was
calling us to afternoon lessons. Once a
week we went up to the school garden,
where we grew vegetables, and had a fine
time on our own, while the girls stayed
in the classroom doing sewing. I got on
well in class while Mr. Landry was my
teacher, and I left at fourteen to go to
work on my father’s farm.”
These
“unofficial” activities of school
children are much the same in every
generation. Mr.
Colwill, a
later pupil, says: “I don’t remember
much about lessons, for I did a lot of
“mitching” - that is, playing truant. I
would go rabbiting in the fields or
spend my time playing in the woods. Our
favourite game in the dinner hour was to
tie a rope to a sheet of corrugated
iron. Then one boy would stand on it,
while the others dragged it round and
round the school. The noise was really
appalling! In the classroom, of course,
we played all the usual tricks on the
teacher. One was to collect the mud from
our boots and make small pellets which
we would aim at the clock when we
thought the teacher wasn’t looking!” |
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The
Dairy Class, started by the
County Travelling Dairy on 1939.
Several of the senior pupils
took this Dairy Course. The
Headmaster, Mr. Sincock is first
on the left, in the second row. |
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The evacuees from Croydon, 1941.
Photographed at Odd Mill, where
they had picked daffodils to
send home. The one unsmiling
girl in the front row had just
fallen in the river. |
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In a small, isolated community it was
very natural for childhood friendships
to lead to happy marriages. Mr. and Mrs.
Higgins, Mr. and Mrs. H. Jones, Mr. and
Mrs. Pauling, and Mr. and Mrs. Martyn
all shared the same school life, and
still live in and around the village.
The
school-leaving age was still fourteen
years, and for most of the children it
was the end of formal education. Between
1911 and 1929 only five children won
places for Secondary schools, but in the
thirties eight children gained
scholarships for Bude County Grammar
School. The number of children on the
register had fallen to sixty-eight, a
sign of smaller families and greater
mobility of the population. Classes were
therefore smaller and the quality of the
teaching was good. The curriculum had
widened - cookery lessons had been
started in the school, and the boys had
been taken to agricultural
demonstrations on neighbouring farms.
Eight of the girls and two boys attended
classes in the Rectory Room on Practical
Dairy Work, while Grafting
demonstrations were given by the County
horticultural staff on the Rectory lawn.
The two assistant teachers appointed
were still always women, and they stayed
on average for about five years. The
exception was Miss Retallack, still
remembered by all age groups. She served
the school for forty years, and retired
in 1963.
The Second
World War brought great changes to
school and village. Let Miss Agnes Smale
continue the story: “The arrival of the
evacuees in Week St. Mary was a great
day, and will be remembered by many of
the Senior Citizens. The village was
canvassed by W.V.S. Workers to arrange
for their accommodation, and luckily
there were enough foster homes found.
Everyone was wondering what they were
taking on, - “Those town children are
not the same as ours” etc! At last the
day came. It was Sunday afternoon about
four-thirty on June 16th 1940. About
thirty children were brought to the
school, each carrying a little suitcase.
Then they were given a cup of tea. By
this time some of the foster parents had
arrived to choose the ones they thought
best for them. Others had to be taken to
their new homes, and the majority went
in ones and twos.
I was
fortunate, for I left it until there
were only half-a-dozen children left.
When I looked inside the door there were
two pathetic little girls sitting
together, aged five and seven. I said to
the Warden “Those girls are for me”.
Their faces just lifted up and they were
delighted to pick up their cases, and
out we came. Nobody knows what was in
their minds, having left their home and
parents. Nevertheless, they settled down
and were with us for five years. It was
surprising how well they got used to
country life.
Those two
little girls were evacuated from
Sydenham Infants and Junior School.
Another party of boys from the same
district had arrived in charge of their
teacher, Mr. P. Martin. Listen to the
girls’ teacher, Miss Pratt, now Mrs.
Skilton: “We arrived in Week St. Mary at
about four-thirty p.m. after travelling
all day in gruelling heat, with no
refreshments, save water brought to us
by courtesy of the stationmaster’s wife
at an unscheduled stop. We were received
in the village with the utmost kindness
and understanding by the headmaster and
his wife – Mr. and Mrs. Sincock - and by
Mrs. Sandercock of the Bakery in the
Square. They, with their W.V.S. helpers,
had arranged for the billetting of the
children. My party joined forces with
Mr. Martin and his boys. Our children’s
ages ran from five to fourteen. We
taught them for some time in the
Methodist Sunday Schoolroom, and
afterwards in the village school. Mr.
Sincock lent us what he could of his
small stock of equipment and books. The
villagers were extremely kind to our
children, and most of them settled in
very happily. Just before Christmas 1940
we organised a concert with our host
school. This consisted of songs,
ballads, dances and two short plays, all
in costume. Mr. Sincock left just after
Easter 1941, and then Mr. Martin took
charge of both schools. Mr. Stephens,
one of the school governors, took a
great interest in the children. He was
an official of the Cornish Bee-Keepers
Association, and he invited groups of
the children to demonstrations in his
garden. Then he awarded prizes of large
pots of honey.
What did
the children from Croydon think of their
new life in the country? Molly Tarvin -
now Mrs. Perry - was one of those
evacuees: “I was thirteen when I went to
Week St. Mary School. Of course,
conditions were very cramped, but we
managed. The age range in each class was
terrific. There must have been three
classes in my time. Miss Pratt took the
Infants, Miss Retallack the Juniors, and
Mr. Martin the Seniors. I can only
remember Miss Pratt taking us for
Country Dancing, which was one of her
keen interests, and Miss Retallack
taking me for First Aid - which I hated!
Mr. Martin was very good at reading
aloud to us. I can recall him reading to
us for hours at a time excerpts from
classical literature - “The White
Company”, “The Cloister and the Hearth”,
the speeches from Shakespeare’s Henry IV
and V, and “Westward Ho!” He read with
great gusto and style, mostly of battles
and adventures, but he held me and most
of the others spellbound. He was also a
fine artist, and possibly not many
people knew of this talent. I don’t know
how good he was as a Maths teacher, but
I wasn’t a very rewarding pupil, I’m
sure! We also learnt French. I had
previously passed the 11-plus exam, and
they tried to give us a similar
educational standard, but it was hard
going for them. We took some Royal
Society of Arts exams, some of which I
passed, and others I failed.
Looking
back, it was amazing how well we were
assimilated into village life, and
vice-versa. For me, it was a completely
new world. My “Uncle Owen” (Mr. Owen
Smale) used to say to me, “When you go
home, maid, I’ll buy a dog”, and it
wasn’t until years later that I realised
what he meant - I literally was his dog!
I followed him like a dog, and even ran
around the sheep for him to round them
up. I remember getting permission to be
absent from school to help with the
harvest and the potato picking. Anything
to do with harvesting was much more in
my line than games or sports.
I look back
to my years spent in Week St. Mary with
great happiness and affection.
Now your
buildings were open not only to
children, but to the whole village.
Lectures and classes for adults were
started in the evenings by W.E.A. and
“Keep Fit”, Dressmaking, and Drama were
all popular. The evacuees left in 1945,
and with their departure the school must
have seemed very quiet. But the
activities started in wartime continued,
and school became more involved with
contemporary life. The Police sent their
men to the school to instruct the
children in Road Safety, and the
Ministry of Information showed films.
The children were taken on expeditions
to local farms to see the latest modern
agricultural machinery at work, and to
see the dairy products of the Ambrosia
Milk Factory.
The School
was divided into houses, Red, Blue and
Green, and competed against each other
on the Annual Sports and Prize Day. It
did well, too, in the Inter-School
Sports, and the children were encouraged
to enter in the village Flower Show,
which was always held in the School
building.
Conditions
in your building were now very different
from the early days. Cloakrooms with
wash-basins had been provided, although
each child had to bring his own soap and
towel. The toilets had been modernised,
and the whole school had been
redecorated in brighter colours. The
water supply was never good, children
were still drinking from the well
outside the school and with little
cooking facilities it was not possible
to provide a hot midday meal. The
solution was found in 1948, when a
Canteen was opened in the Temperance
Hotel, with Mrs. Charlick in charge.
When she moved six years later, Mrs.
Edwards cooked and served dinner there
each day.
Our School
Meals Service gave each child a good hot
dinner for 60p per week. Punctually at
twelve o’clock each day they came
trooping down with their teachers. They
were all very well-behaved, and had
healthy appetites. The menus were
varied, and I don’t remember any child
being “faddy”. At the end of the
Christmas term we had a special dinner
of chicken and Christmas pudding. I was
in charge of the canteen for eighteen
years, and I missed them all very much
when the school closed.
Your first
woman Head was Miss Mosely, who took
charge of the school in 1951. Once
again, your name was changed. You were
now Week St. Mary County Primary School,
for, in 1952, all the “over elevens”
left for the Secondary School in
Stratton. Now there were only twenty-six
children on the register. This is what
Mrs. Pat Johns, née Martyn, tells us of
her school life at this period; “All the
girls wore aprons, and woe betide you if
you forgot yours on Monday morning. But
on Friday afternoon we had a great spree
- it was painting lesson, and it didn’t
matter if you covered yourself with
paint. During Lent, we were invited once
a week by the Reverend Townend to the
Round Room in the Rectory. There we saw
slides of the Cross and the Easter
Story. In the summer term we practised
for Sports in the Kilbroney Field, and
the seniors looked after the flowerbeds
and cut the grass around the main School
door. Sometimes we went on Nature Walks,
and I remember a wonderful outing we had
to see the new Queen Elizabeth. In
Coronation Year, we had an Open Day. The
Juniors recited a Coronation Alphabet,
and the Infants a poem to the Queen. In
school, our cutout models of the
Coronation coach were on display. We had
planted our gardens with red, white and
blue flowers, and these were much
admired.
The winter
term saw us all playing “shinty”, a form
of hockey, played in the hard
playground, while the boys played
football. Our milk at break-time was
warmed on the stove, and served to us in
blue beakers, one-third of a pint each.
It might be slightly burnt, but we were
told, “The flavour helps it down.”
Then came
the preparation for the School Concert
in the Rectory Room. It was at one of
these concerts that a Progress Prize was
first awarded to the boy and girl who
had made the most progress in the year’s
work. The names were a closely guarded
secret until Miss Mosely announced the
two winners.... from the platform. Then
followed the Christmas Party, with tea
and games and a Father Christmas, played
by Mrs. Ridgeman, the caretaker. In the
next term, everybody was at work, for
the eleven-plus exam came in the New
Year. The results came out in May or
early June; these were very important,
for they decided whether you went to
Bude Grammar School or to the Secondary
School in Stratton.
After Miss
Mosely’s death in 1958 Mrs. R. Saltern
was appointed as your new Head, and Miss
Retallack stayed as the assistant
teacher until her retirement in 1963.
Week St.
Mary Revel Day came every year in
September, and from 1965 the school
children played an important part in it.
The Infant class walked in procession
before the Harvest Queen, while the
Juniors joined in the Floral Dance. The
procession assembled at the school, and
from there proceeded down to the Square,
where the Queen was crowned.
Two new
teachers joined the staff - Mrs. Smeeth
as Infant teacher, and Mr. J. Rees as
visiting Art Master. Modern methods of
teaching were very different from those
of earlier years, and teachers were able
to take Refresher Courses to keep them
in touch with the latest teaching
practice. In 1962, during North
Cornwall’s Education Week, the school
held its own Open Day, when parents and
friends could talk to the teachers, and
see the children at work.
The health
of all schoolchildren had been regularly
checked for many years, but now
inoculations against measles,
poliomyelitus and diptheria were given
by doctor or nurse in school. The
children’s eyesight and hearing were
tested, and any dental treatment needed
was given at the School Dental Clinic in
Bude. A speech therapist visited the
school to help with speech defects, and
a psychiatrist would give advice when
needed.
Physical
education was now very different from
Mr. King’s “military drill”, and the
school was using special P.E. apparatus.
Mrs. Saltern started swimming lessons
with the Juniors, and took them after
school to swim in the pool at Stratton
County Primary School.
The
children of the sixties could not be
described as “shy and reticent”, and
they certainly did not “seem scared and
on the lookout for a cuff”.
The project
method of teaching had encouraged them
to think for themselves, and through
their activities to acquire knowledge
that had previously been gained by
repetition and memory work. Music and
Drama played an important part in the
school timetable. Besides playing in
their own percussion band the children
listened to and took part in the B.B.C.
Schools music programmes. The London
Children’s Theatre Company paid several
visits to the school; they acted plays,
and encouraged the children to take part
in them. Every Christmas, the children
produced their own plays for the
Christmas Concert, and very often baked
their own Christmas cakes for their end
of term parties.
Little so
far has been said about religious
teaching in the school. After the
denominational feuds that had hindered
the passing of the 1870 Education Act,
religious teaching in State Schools had
been strictly non-sectarian. “Scripture
Lesson” had meant the repeating of
passages from the Bible only. Then came
a full syllabus of Religious Education,
which in a Primary School consisted of
stories and activities which gave the
children opportunities to learn and
practice Christian behaviour. A short
service of worship was held every
morning, and the school held its own
Harvest Festival and Christmas Carol
services.
Here is Tom
Watkinson’s impression of school at this
time: “I first came to the school when I
was six. The day after we moved to Week
St. Mary from Hampshire, in November
1971, Mum and I walked up the hill to
the school. We met Mrs. Saltern as we
came in. She then led us into the
schoolroom where Mrs. Smeeth was, she
was to be my new teacher. When we went
in I was astonished by what I saw, there
were only six or seven children in the
whole room. Compared with the number of
children in the class I was in at my old
school, this was fantastic! It was very
strange to me indeed. Mrs. Smeeth then
introduced us to the class (what there
was of it) and told us that there were
usually more, but that five were away
that day. She asked me if I wanted to
stay there for the day, and I said I
would, Mum said I could come home for
lunch, so I stayed at the school all the
morning, and came down the hill with the
others at mid-day. After Mum had gone I
decided to sit with Michael Horrell. He
was very friendly, and so were all the
other children in the class. I spent
half a year in Mrs. Smeeth’s class. I
liked her a lot.
I was moved
into Mrs. Saltern’s class when I was
seven. This was the highest class in the
school, (there were only two classes)
and Mrs. Saltern was an older lady. We
had Assembly in the mornings in Mrs.
Smeeth’s classroom, and did P.E. in our
own room with some small apparatus.
Apart from Maths and English, which we
did from text-books, we had a history
period when Mrs. Saltern would talk to
us about something, then write about it
on the blackboard, and we copied it into
our exercise books. We also had an Art
period on Wednesdays, when we did mostly
painting.
In the
playground we often played a game called
“Stuck in the Mud”, where several people
were the chasers, while the rest of us
had to keep running; you had to stand
still if one of the chasers touched you
and shout “Stuck in the mud”, in the
hope that somebody would touch you to
set you free again. We used to bring toy
cars and lorries to play with in the
playground.
We used to
walk down to the Temperance Hotel for
our lunch, and we brought our own soap
and towel to wash with at school before
going down. Stephen Colwill was one of
my friends, although older than me.
We often
used to walk down the hill together,
when we were coming home. He always
seemed to me to be quite witty. I didn’t
spend very long at Week St. Mary School,
being there for about a year, and then
it was closed, but I enjoyed my stay
there very much indeed. |
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The playground, photographed a
few days before the school was
closed. Parts of both the
original building and the 1906
addition can be seen. |
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The children, with (left to
right) Mrs. Saltern, Mrs.
Edwards and Mrs. Smeeth -
outside the Temperance Hotel,
1973. |
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By the Seventies, you looked decidedly
old-fashioned. Although you had been
modified over the years - (you now had
mains water and oil-fired central
heating) - you did not conform to the
modern specifications for school
buildings. You had no kitchen and no
playing field; the Infant classroom had
windows that were far above the
children’s eye- level, and the toilets
were still outside, in a small, badly
shaped playground. With only
twenty-three children on the register,
you were too expensive to run. A new
school was to be built at Jacobstow,
three miles away, which would
encorporate four old schools into one.
The other villages concerned being
Jacobstow itself, Poundstock, and St.
Gennys, six of your children joined
pupils from those schools for the
Foundation Stone-laying ceremony on
November 10th 1971, on the site of the
new school at Jacobstow; a tin
containing photographs of the four old
schools, pre-decimal coins, and pound
and ounce weights was also buried. A few
weeks later, a Statutory Notice of
Closure was fixed to your main door.
On March 30th 1973 the Minister for
Education, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher,
officially opened the new school from
Helston. One pupil from each of the four
old schools was chosen to go to
Jacobstow to hear her speech, which was
re-recorded for the occasion, and David
Prouse, one of the eldest children, was
the representative from Week St. Mary. A
few days later, Mr. Henchley from
Stratton came to the school to take
photographs of the children in your
playground, and also, with their
teachers and Mrs. Edwards, outside the
Temperance Hotel.
The new school would be ready for the
children in time for the Summer Term,
and the last ceremony in your life took
place in the Junior classroom on April
11th 1973, the final day of the Spring
Term. Parents were invited to the
school, where farewell presentations
were to be made to Mrs. Edwards, and
Mrs. Dorothy Orchard - who had been
school caretaker for some time. Mrs.
Saltern and Mrs. Smeeth had organized
and subscribed to a collection for this
purpose, and here is Mrs. Smeeth to
recall the occasion: “We thought it
would be a nice idea to give Mrs.
Edwards and Mrs. Orchard a parting
present, in recognition of their work
over the years, that had been so
essential to the children’s welfare. The
parents subscribed very willingly to the
collection, however, what we didn’t know
was that we ourselves were to receive
presentations from the School Managers -
it was a complete surprise! Mrs Saltern
received a stainless steel tray and
tea-set, and I was given a sweet dish,
and also a little silver brooch, which I
treasure very much.
One of those Managers making the
presentations was Mr. Norman Gubbin,
himself a past pupil and an early
contributor to your story. The room was
filled with children, parents, and even
grandparents, and to many there it was
the end of a part of village life they
had always known.
When the children and visitors had
departed the staff closed the school
gate for the last time. Mrs. Smeeth was
to join the staff at Jacobstow in the
new term, as head of the Infant
Department, a position which she still
occupies; Mrs. Saltern continued her
career with the Teachers Supply Service
for some time, and has now retired.
Low, as you stand empty and silent in
1976, you still remind us of all the
activity that went on in your classrooms
in the past. Your children have left for
many different careers. They can be
found in farming, commerce, banking,
engineering, building, nursing, and
Local Government, and many have gone
abroad. But all look back on their
schooldays with affection. Michael
Horrell has not yet entered that wider
world, for he only began his schooldays
in your Infant classroom in 1970, but he
is the last speaker in this record: “I
live very near the old school, and when
I feel “teazy” I go there and play
around a bit and sing. That school had a
lovely smell - sometimes I stick my head
to the window that’s broken and breathe
in the air, it always revives me, and I
sort of feel better. I hope they don’t
pull it down - I think it ought to be
there always.”
And what of your future? Speculation in
the village still continues - who will
buy you and to what use will you be put?
A dwelling-house? A youth centre? A
builders yard or a furniture store? Or
demolition, and old people’s bungalows
replacing your unwanted buildings. No
one knows. |
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So,
our village school,
that was your life! |
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The school, at the end of its
life. |
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The
Temperance Hotel
(with the Cattle Market stalls
just visible). |
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Week St. Mary children, with Mr.
Bill Gordon and his
minibus, start out for Jacobstow
School. Summer 1976 |
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Week St. Mary children lead the
Harvest Queen's procession,
September 1973. Although now at
the Jacobstow School that had
been given the afternoon off for
the special occasion. |
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The
crowning of
the
Harvest Queen
in The Square,
September 1973. |
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C O N C L U S I O N |
Now, in 1976, the school stands empty
and silent, still reminding us of all
the activity that went on in the
classrooms. We are sorry those times
have gone; we miss the sound of the
hymns in the morning, and the school
bell announcing playtime. We miss the
“crocodile”, going down to lunch at “the
Temperance”.
But, as we see our children piling into
the blue and white minibus in the
Square, we know they are enjoying a full
school life, with all the advantages
that a new school can offer - modern
buildings, green playing fields, a
heated swimming pool. The story of our
school ends where it began with the
children. |
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A typical Menu as 'enjoyed' by the
pupils at the Temperance Hotel |
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JANUARY 15th - JANUARY
19th |
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Monday |
Meat pudding, potatoes, greens. |
Blancmange and jam. |
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Tuesday |
Roast beef, potatoes, greens. |
Mince tart and custard. |
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Wednesday |
Bacon and egg flan, potatoes,
greens. |
Rice pudding. |
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Thursday |
Fish, potatoes, greens. |
Chocolate biscuit and junket. |
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Friday |
Mince, potatoes, greens. |
[blank] |
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MARCH 26th - MARCH 30th |
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Monday |
Roast lamb, potatoes, greens. |
Date squares and custard. |
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Tuesday |
Stew, dumplings, potatoes,
greens. |
Ice cream. |
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Wednesday |
Cottage pie, potatoes, greens. |
Isle of Wight pudding. |
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Thursday |
Fish, potatoes, greens. |
Chocolate. |
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Friday |
Spam, potatoes, beetroot. |
Fruit pudding and custard. |
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