大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Sue Sutton on behalf of Enid Lydiatt, the author and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

It was winter time and I was told to report for duty at St Ewe village school. I didn't realise that I was going to have such an enjoyable and interesting time. The caretaker welcomed me, everything was spotlessly clean. As there was no mains water anywhere a fact I didn't discover until much later. The water came from a huge granite tank in the playground (roughly 10ft high).

The lavatories of course at the end of the yard were unbelievable - the walls and floor were spotless but to my amazement the wooden seats were "U" shaped supported over a coalscuttle with a small handmade footstool in front. At the back of the seat was a wooden box, the size of a small suitcase with a lid on top. This was filled in summer with earth and ashes in the winter. After finishing you gave the box a sharp blow with your elbow and the contents shot down into the coalscuttle.

There were only two telephones in the village. One in the vicarage and the other outside the pub which player an important part in our lives. The landlady sold sweets at the back door to the children on their way to school. She was also canteen supervisor - meals were delivered by taxi. No one at County Hall realised there was no mains water so the kitchen water came from the granite tank.

On Friday afternoons two children were chosen to go down to Polmassick (over a mile) with the school mail. No one thought it odd that two small children should walk alone with official correspondence etc.

St Ewe is a lively very old village, the cross in the square dates back to 900. The village school was founded by the Tremaynes of Heligan - the first school was a cottage at the other end of the village. The headmaster was paid on the attendance averages ie 拢100 per year of which his wife had 拢20 for teaching the infants. The headmaster found that to keep the boys from truancy he held their favourite lesson of drawing etc on Mondays and Fridays their usual truancy days so as to keep up his salary. Of course if the Tremayne's wanted the boys for "beating pheasants" they had to go.

The school moved to the present premises after the Education Act 1873. What a shame many village schools have had to close!!!

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