The Snoring VillagesLittle & Great Snoring in Norfolk, England

Places: Schools

 

Little Snoring School

In 1892 it is reported that there is a National School (mixed), built in 1865, for 100 children; average attendance, 65; Arthur Wm. Baldwin, master.

A School Board of seven members was formed 12 Nov. 1895, for the united district of Little Snoring, Kettlestone & Alethorpe, Joseph Bushell, Great Snoring, clerk to the board. The Board School (mixed), was built in 1865, for 100 children; average attendance, 60; Arthur William Baldwin, master. He was listed as Master until the 1930's.

Personal Memories

(1) My name is Ann Jones. I live in the USA I was formerly Ann Groom, my dad Sydney Groom and mother Mildred kept The Snoring Bell Public House. I remember the Whiteheads down the street on the farm, and going to Little Snoring School - my teachers were Donny Garrett, Mrs Catchpole and Mrs Leach.

(2) My own memories of Little Snoring School are these:

The day started with a little assembly in the "hall" which was just a smallish room with a wooden floor - see the photoi to the right. We sang a hymn, reading the words from a roll of hymns hanging on the end wall. In this room also we did "painting" which more often than not served the purpose of the children having to produce posters for the village Whist Drive (also held in the same hall.)

I remember also the half-pint bottles of milk we drank, from a wire basket in that hall. (I hated it because it was lukewarm.)

Other lessons were held in the smaller classroom nextdoor to the "hall", where we sat in rows at wooden desks, with just the blackboard in front of us. Lessons were taken from text books and on rare occasions from a radio broadcast. We were taught to read and write using the old method of saying the alphabet and learning combinations of letters. Writing was done on ruled sheets with (at first) an old-style iron pen-nib dipped in ink (in a pot on the desk).

Teaching was very rudimentary and in particular arithmetic was poorly handled, so much so that my parents demanded I and my brother learn the "times-tables" from the back of our notebooks at home. This I did (and very glad of it I am too) but I'm still left with an inability to do basic mental arithmetic. My parents made sure I got extra tuition at home in reading and English.

Flu Epidemic and other illnesses

I fell behind in lessons too when I had the dreaded flu that went around in the 1950's. This was a major epidemic that killed many. I was very poorly and when I finally returned to school I proudly told the teacher I'd had "INFLUENZA" not "the flu" - she laughed and said "It's the same thing!"

Most of us had measles, mumps and chickenpox (in fact we were encouraged to have them!). The only one I didn't get was German Measles, and suffered it in my 30's, so I'm glad to have had the others in childhood.

Vaccinations were pretty new and (for me at least) a painful experience. We all lined up in the playground to have the nurse inject us one by one; afterwards I felt sick and ran into the lavatories. (Of course lavatories were in a cold outside block, not inside the building.) I'm guessing by the scar on my arm this was against smallpox.

Later we received vaccination against polio which was a blight in those days, and we often saw children with leg braces or heard of people in the "iron lung" machine at hospitals.

The Hut

Other lessons I remember were needlework, in which girls were taught how to tack, hem, french-seam, darn and embroider - all skills that were essential for housekeeping in those days.

That lesson and others took place in the wooden hut in the playground. You can see it in the photo opposite, although it's now been replaced by swanky new brick building.

Outside play consisted of hop-skotch, rounders and skipping-rope with rhymes. We also played "fairy-steps", marbles and circle games like "Farmer's In His Den". One day the headmaster had bought a ball-game a bit like cricket and he tested that out on us, without great success.

Indoors we had "country-dancing" where the little boys cringed because they had to hold hands with girls (yuk yuk).

Suddenly, roller-skates were all the rage, and to my delight I got a pair for Christmas! They were extendable metal bases with leather straps over the feet, with rubber-covered steel wheels. Once I'd got the hang of it, I was away!

Then the back yard of the school playground (see photos) was ideal for roller-skating! We all went down there out of school hours, til we were forbidden. We also used the same area to create "slides" when it was cold and the yard iced over. (I'm sure the "health & safety" brigade of today would be doing their nuts!!)

School Photo