Index of Subjects and Contributors

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The first Village School and School Master's House - courtesy of Mrs Joyce Bainbridge [via John Abbott]

A school group from the 1890s - courtesy of Mrs. A. Howell

School attendance standards 1904  - courtesy of Mrs. A. Howell

My Country Memories by Margaret Drabble - [supplied by Brian Widdowson]

Early years by Henry Harston - [supplied by Pat Mitchel via Brian Widdowson]

Crowning of the May Queen in the 1930s - courtesy of Betty Wadkin via John Abbott

Maypole dancing in 1934 - courtesy of Mrs. Holmes [via Mrs. Howell]

The Monday Baby Clinic 1948 - courtesy of Hazel Tebb via John Abbott

Long Bennington School staff c. 1951/2 - courtesy of Geoff Lane

Outings from the Primary School in the 1950s - courtesy of Joyce Bainbridge via John Abbott

Miss Bloor's infants class of 1958 - courtesy of Mrs Glynis Hall via John Abbott

The staff and pupils of Long Bennington School - courtesy of Hazel Tebb via John Abbott

Crowning of the May Queen and the Maypole in the early 1960s - courtesy of Mrs. G. Baggeley [via John Abbott]

The following extract from the Long Bennington and Foston Parish Magazine of Sept 1904 gives an interesting insight to standards of education in rural areas at the time. In particular, paragraph 5b explains the circumstance in which children could leave school after 13 and paragraph 5c the conditions for partial release for agricultural work after the age of 11.

"For the information of Parents and Employers of labour we print the most important of the Byelaws of the Education Authority of our district.-

 Licolnshire. -Kesteven - County Council Education Committee Byelaws

2.—The parent of every child of not less than 5, nor more than 14 years of age, shall cause such child to attend school unless there be a reasonable excuse for non-attendance.

Any of the following reasons shall be a reasonable excuse, namely

(a)—That the child is under efficient instruction in some other manner.

(b)—That the child has been prevented from attending School by sickness or any unavoidable cause.

3.—The time during which every child shall attend School shall be the whole time for which the School selected shall he open for the instruction of children of similar age.

4.—Provided always that nothing in these Byelaws—

(a)—Shall prevent the withdrawal of any child from any religious observance or instruction in religious subjects;

(b)—Shall require any child to attend School on any day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which its parent belongs; or

Total Exemption

5.— And provided always that—

(a)—A child between 12 and 14 years of age shall not be required to attend School if such child has received a certificate from one of His Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools that it has reached the 6th Standard prescribed by the Code for the time being.

(b)—A child between 13 and 14 years of age shown to the satisfaction of the Local Authority to be beneficially employed shall not he required to attend School if such child has obtained a certificate that it has made 350 attendances after five years of age in not more than two Schools during each year for five years whether consecutive or not.

PARTIAL EXEMPTION FOR CHILDREN TO BE EMPLYED IN AGRICULTURE.

(c)—The parent of any child, may, at any time after such child is 11 years of age, and has passed the 5th Standard give notice to the Local Authority that such child is to be employed in agriculture.

The minimum age for exemption from school attendance under Byalaw 5 (a) shall be 13 in the case of such child.

Such child while between the ages of 11 and 13 shall attend School 250 times in the year, namely, between the 15th October and the 1st June, or subsequently thereto. Any such child, so soon as it shall have made the number of attendances required for the period above-mentioned, shall whilst employed in agriculture be exempt from farther obligation to attend School until the 15th October next ensuing. A certificate from the Head Teacher of a School that such child had made the attendances required by this Byelaw together with the production of the labour certificate to be obtained from the County Education Authority, shall be sufficient evidence to justify the employment in agriculture of such child.

Every parent who shall not observe, or shall neglect or violate these Byelaws, or any of them, shall, upon conviction, be liable to a penalty not exceeding, with the costs, 20 shillings for each offence.

Note - Employers of labour should demand the production of a Labour Certificate granted by the County Education Authority before taking a child under fourteen years of age into their employment."

The following is an excerpt from  an article entitled “My Country Memories” by Margaret Drabble, which was published in “Country Living" in April 2001 and records childhood recollections of rural life in the middle years of the 20th century

"My family comes from the South Yorkshire coalfields, and I was born in Sheffield, where I spent most of my childhood. The only country place I have known intimately throughout my life is the house of my grandparents, which stands on the main street of Long Bennington, a village on the Nottinghamshire-Lincolnshire border. This house [editor - this was Bryn] was very important to me.

My grandparents bought the Virginia creeper-clad, small  18th century farmhouse in the 1930s as a bed and breakfast business. It was a both a country retreat and a work place. For me and my younger sister Helen it was a place of infinite romance. We used to go there every Easter, to stay with my grandmother, and later with my aunt, who taught in the village school [editor- this was Miss Bloor]. The house smelled of antiquity, of apples and paraffin and old plaster.

There was a large field and orchard at the back where we could run wild, and pick flowers and berries, and catch grasshoppers, and mess around with the embers of old bonfires. There was a pond where I once thought I saw a fish. There was a pump in the yard from which we pumped soft, bland drinking water into white enamel jugs. There were outhouses full of mysterious machinery and nesting birds, and through a thin partition we could see and hear the hot and frightening beasts of the neighboring farm. There was a pig in a hut, which we petted and fed with choice dandelions, and then heartlessly ate as ham and sausages. There was a rickety bungalow where we raced snails. There was a cesspit down the rhubarb path, which we were told never to approach. We slept in a whitewashed loft over the old washhouse, up a wooden stepladder, and went to bed by the light of a little Kelite bedside oil lamp, which we called a “Kelly”. There was no electricity. From bed, we could hear the lorries thundering up and down what is now the Al, a sound which strangely reinforced a sense of profound rural seclusion.

One of my aunt’s friends worked on a local farms, and he would present us with fossilised shells turned up by the plough - "devil's toenails”, he called them. I have some still. Towards the end of his life, Eddie would mourn the drop in price of the British potato, and the changing pattern of village shopping. My aunt, like so many others, took to supplementing the offerings of the village by taking the Safeway’s bus to Grantham once a week. She also began to visit the pub for her lunch. My grandmother, although licensed to sell spirits and tobacco, would never have gone into the pub. It was jugs of ale and sawdust in her day - not scampi and chips.

The following is an excerpt from a biography of Henry Harston who was born February 15th 1871 at Farndon Trentside village near Newark and whose family moved to Long Bennington in 1878. Here he describes his schooling and early experience of working life.

Henry started school at Andrews mixed private school held in a house in what is now A.Winters yard. There was another private school at that time, Wells in the house now used by Drueys. "The time came when I got out of hand at Andrews so started at Church of England School (then called National) where I finished my school career when 10 years old. I commenced work as a ploughboy at Manor Farm (Mr Southerns). Now it was then a farmhouse occupied by the waggoner, the farm being in the hands of the Landlord. I was due at work 6.30. When arriving, as the Waggoner did not require me with him, was told to go and hoe thistles in Large field on Costa Hill opposite what is now Manor Kitchen garden. This day proved to be the longest I remember. I had ate my Lunch & Dinner before the 9.00 bell rang at the school and was ready to go home. This period of time at the Manor Farm was very varied we used to help on each farm as required. All the farms being in the hands of the Landlord under one Bailiff. I worked on Priory farm, The Peacock where the Bailiff (Johnson) lived on, Row Farm and the Fen farm so there was little of the Grote estate that I did not know.

I went to school for the winter months, and don't remember much about it, again,to work for the summer - this time at the Row farm & Peacock. The work at Row farm was in the Large field now the Normanton Camp, the whole scene being changed from Sewstern Lane to Bottesford road with food rounds which were non-existent in the old days. To School again for the winter months to gain 3Rs.

From the time of coming to LB I had been attending the Weslyan Sunday School & Chapel both parents being regular members of this body. My Father was Teacher & Superintendent over a long period seldom missing a service. The family of eight children were expected, and did, attend regularly. The wages being very low at that time the eldest of the family were expected to go and earn their own living as soon as possible after leaving school.

In about 1883, started to work, still as a ploughboy, at Staunton; the farms there being in the Landlords hands. There were a few labourers and myself used to walk and be at Staunton at 6.30. I used to get over most of the lands in Staunton as the work was in the same management for the whole estate. Then followed a year living in as a ploughboy with J. Baggaley of Coster Row. His son Thomas, being Waggoner, he married Mary Burgin of Coster Row. His sister Fanny Ablewhite lives in Church St.