Memories of Hullavington- School
by
Mary Greenman
The site for
the new school was purchased in October, 1960, and by 1967, some of the pupils
had moved in. Mr and Mrs Mattey arrived in the village in 1948, and during Vin's
last year at the village Primary School, he was taught by Mr Mattey. Twenty
years later, by which time two of our children were at the school in the new
"open-plan" system, I remember a conversation I had with Mrs Mattey. She said
"Oh, to get them behind their desks again - sit down! shut up! face the front!
and listen to what I'm saying!!" (Any improvement on that?!) I believe it was
1975 when Mr Mattey retired, after 27 years. (I have just been given the
information that the old village school was first connected to the electricity
service in October, 1948!)
It is quite common now to hear current issues compared with the days of the
'60's and all that is said to have happened then. We were certainly very aware
of it, I used to wonder whatever was happening to music - where is the beauty of
it going? And in the educational field there were great changes.
One noticeable "addition" as far as parents were concerned was the "project”
aspect - photos for this, old books for that, letters/phone calls to
grandparents and a good memory were all essential. One project that kept us
fully occupied in the late 60's, was the building of the M4 through the
Stanton/Castle Combe stretch. Many visits were made along that stretch,
photographing the huge earth -removers, and subsequently watching the work grow
and the changes made; an old well-worn road closed, cottages pulled down that we
moved towards purchasing in 1960.
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