School’s out - forever

Fifty years ago, the children of West Deeping left school for the Easter holidays, never to go back!

West Deeping Church of England School, now the Village Hall

It’s easy to guess from its architecture that what is now West Deeping Village Hall – the distinctive red brick building on King Street – used to be the village school. Since it opened in May 1900, until it closed 50 years ago on 6th April 1971, many generations of children passed through the doors of West Deeping Church of England Primary School.

Memories

Some former pupils have kindly shared their memories and, to fill in the gaps, there is information in the village archives. See Virginia Hall’s book, A Portrait of West Deeping and visit West Deeping Heritage website for more history: https://wdheritage. wordpress.com

We have only one or two photographs of the school interior – one from the late 1930s before gas or electricity were installed, when there were still paraffin lamps. The impressive display of artwork was probably for an Inspector’s visit – no-one can remember there being such things as Parents’ Days!

Everyone remembers the two classrooms, one for the infants and one for the juniors, with a glazed partition which could be pulled back to make more space, and the woodblock parquet flooring had that distinctive smell of new polish at the beginning of every school year. There were two big potbellied stoves, fed with coke and lit every morning by the school caretaker (Mrs Laurie Wilson in later years). Marion Crowson (née Wilson) remembers winter days when the stove would get red hot! A canteen was added in 1949 to provide hot meals for children even though they all lived within walking distance of their homes and few mothers went out to work. The toilets were outside, originally with separate buildings for the boys and girls. Until proper sewerage came to the village, the ‘vaults’ had to be emptied regularly!

Teachers

Many people’s most vivid memories are of their teachers. Only a few people might remember Miss Grassam and her assistant Miss Garford, in post until 1935. Some people will still remember Mrs Mary Rodgers who taught here from 1936 to 1942. She stayed in the village and was an enthusiastic member of the Evergreens for many years after her retirement.

Many more remember Miss Florence Day, the headmistress from 1942 to 1967, and the infant teachers Mrs Peach and Mrs Fathers. Debbie King (née Jibb) remembered Miss Day’s kindness as well as her rather erratic driving and several attempts to pass her driving test. Mrs Wilson Smith was the Headmistress for the last few years and moved to the William Hildyard school when West Deeping closed. Debbie, herself a hairdresser, particularly remembered Mrs Smith’s beehive hairstyle, kept in place with lots of lacquer. One of Marion Crowson’s memories is of Mrs Peach bringing shortbread from Stamford for her mid-morning break with Miss Day.

Miss Florence Day

Memorabilia

Very few pieces of school memorabilia have survived, as far as we know. Thanks to former pupil Nick Sandall, we still have the school bell (one of the five objects described in I’d rather be in Deeping in the Jan/Feb2021 issue).

When the school closed, Nick also salvaged some wind and weather charts – filled in daily from September 1968 until the last entry, for 3rd April 1971, a few days before the school’s closure. Another avid collector, Allan Crowson, kept the rubber stamp for ‘West Deeping School’. It’s now rather perished but was probably used many times on school books and correspondence. The blackboard and easel, recently refurbished by my husband, are still used occasionally for village events.

Village school interior in the late 1930s

Wind and weather chart 1971

Marion Crowson still has a booklet that reminds her of music lessons: ‘Twice a week we had the BBC radio on - Singing Together on a Monday and Rhythm and Melody on a Thursday.’ Theresa Briggs (née Marsden) went to the school for only brief periods during the 1960s, between her father’s postings abroad, but fondly remembers her favourite thing – a doll’s house, brought out for rainy playtimes.

Photographs

There are several photographs in the village archives – some from Florence Day’s own collection. Only one is dated, the photo of a Christmas party in 1950, kept in a scrapbook by Ann Frary (née Sells). Teachers, familiar faces, outfits and documentary evidence have helped to date others.

Thanks to Terri Collins and a note made by her father, Francis Bullock, in A Portrait of West Deeping, we are able to date one photograph to a very precise period – June to October 1944! The girl at the right end of the front row who had been evacuated from London during the Second World War, to stay with her grandmother, Emma Merrishaw, the village postmistress. Janet was in Miss Day’s class of 8 to 14 year-olds and remembered school days when they went out picking rose hips from the hedgerows, picking peas or lifting potatoes in the fields. There are several entries in the Log Book which mention these ‘war efforts’. Miss Day recorded on 10th September 1944 that ‘55½ pounds of hips have been collected this week’. 1 Jane Lewis 2 Ian Jibb 3 Deborah Jibb 4 ? Day (Miss Day’s nephew) 5 Margaret Carratt 6 Frances Ferris 7 Paul Neal 8 David Wilson 9 Rosalind Beagles 10 Colin Strickland 11 ? Day (Miss Day’s nephew) 12 Christopher Wilson 13 Sheena Melton 14 Maxine Rippon 15 Karen Grimwood 16 Jonathan Sandall 17 Pamela Carratt

Miss Day & Mrs Peach with schoolchildren 1944

Miss Day & Mrs Peach with schoolchildren 1957

Closure

Numbers had dwindled to less than 20 children by 1968. Mrs Fathers, the assistant mistress, was only allowed to teach for three mornings a week, leaving Mrs Smith to teach the infants and juniors together the rest of the time. The announcement came from the Local Education Authority that, along with ten other ‘one-teacher’ schools in the county, West Deeping was scheduled to close.

There might be a few parents who still remember the public meeting in May 1969 to protest against the Education Authority’s decision to transfer their children to schools in Market Deeping. They were up in arms – particularly about the transport arrangements which meant children as young as 5 sharing the bus that took older children to the Secondary Modern School and would involve an hour and a half of travel every day. These worries continue to challenge parents whose children go by bus to school - up to the present day! On 5th April, the day when the school officially closed, the children (and parents) must have had very mixed feelings – regret, nostalgia and some worries about going to the much bigger schools in Market Deeping. Marion Crowson was able to remember most of the names in a photograph probably taken in 1957 or 1958. (She’s the blonde girl in the middle of the back row.) Probably taken in January 1969, this is the last school photograph we know of. With the help of several of the children featured we can now name all except two! (Thanks to Debbie King, Jonathan Sandall, Karen Whitworth (née Grimwood) and Maxine Rippon.)

School children in 1969

Memories

Ten years ago we recorded some of the memories of village residents – John Berridge and Grace Marsden are no longer with us, sadly, but the recordings have been transcribed recently and remind me how impressed I was that Grace was able to recite – from memory – the school song she had learned at West Deeping School around 60 years before! This is only the first verse:

There may be many Deepings, but there’s only one for us It isn’t Market Deeping, nor yet Deeping Nicholas It isn’t Deeping James we love, but little Deeping West Of all the Deepings various, the very very best!

So after more than 70 years, the village lost its school. Phyllis Wilson, whose two children went to the school, and has lived in West Deeping since the late 1930s, feels the village has never been the same since, but the memories live on! If you too have memories of West Deeping School, I would love to hear from you. wdheritage@hotmail.co.uk or 01778 344768 Maggie Ashcroft, West Deeping Heritage

We look forward to seeing our customers in store on 12th April