June 2021

12 Buckden Roundabout June 2021 Buckden School Fire My Memories as a teacher: Buckden School Fire, 27 Nov 1978 Carol Swepstone Monday 27th November 1978 started as normal school day. It was a cold frosty morning, so I thought time to wear my new win- ter boots, as I would appreciate them being on playground duty. Over the weekend I had completed costumes for the Christmas school play, which was due to take place the following week and had gathered together props from home which I remember were a whistling kettle, a record of “ The Teddy Bears Picnic “ and a jar of homemade blackberry jam, amongst other things. My class arrived in the classroom, hung their coats etc in the cloakroom and put things into drawers. Then off to the Infant assembly in the open area between the classrooms. There were 6 infant classes, 2 reception classes (one of which was mine), 2 mid- dle infant classes and 2 top classes, in modern day terms Key Stage 1 5 – 7 years old. We were singing “ Little Donkey ” when the Head of Infants who was at the back of the open area, stood and said, “ Follow me ”. It was 9:15am. Class by class we walked out of the school building into School Lane. As we left the building flames were spreading across the new extension to the Infant department during the asphalting process on the roof of the building. The Calor gas container caught fire and the flames spread with great speed into the nearby classrooms. The heat of the flames as we walked out of the building was clearly felt. I thought this is my time, I am not going to get out safely, but we made it just in time as the fire raced through the open plan class- rooms. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind. I encouraged my Reception class, mostly 4 years old, to keep moving quickly along the path. The children were amazing, not panicky I think because everything happened so quickly and safety of everyone was paramount. Outside on the pavement we shivered (coats were still in school), as it was still frosty or maybe it was the shock of our school being on fire and it was still only 9:15 in the morning. Members of the village came and offered support by offering us somewhere to shelter. Two classes went to the Falcon Public House in Mill Road, two classes to The Hoo (across the road from school) and the Re- ception classes (one of which was mine) went to a lady ’ s house in Greenway. I had two Reception classes to look after, as the Head of Infants (the other Reception teacher) had to stay on the school premises. Oh dear! I had approximately 40 reception children to entertain, with no equipment. The children were very anxious as you can imagine, with fire engines sirens going off. So, I started singing Nursery Rhymes, the children joined in, and we sang songs with actions and any request from the children, they all joined in and it was something to pass the time, as we wait- ed for news from school related to the fire. Even- tually parents turned up to collect their children and telephone calls were made until every child had been collected. The children were well behaved, and I was so grateful to the lady offering her home to us. I walked back to school to see what was happening, five fire en- gines were still there and smoke was still coming from the infant building, but the fire was under control. Two hours had passed since the fire began and the smell of the smoke was awful. I went into the school hall, which was in a separate building to the Infant department and the kitchen staff were making drinks for us which was most welcome. Also, they provided us with a lunch of mashed potato, baked beans and fish fingers. Anglia television turned up to record events of the fire for the local news. What was going to hap- pen next – decisions to be made. There were 5 burnt classrooms, as one infant class was in a mobile classroom on the play- ground so was not affect- ed by the fire. Education people came out to assess the situation and make arrangements for rehousing the children and for emergency supplies of school equipment. The infant children were going to be off school for a week while arrangements were made for mobile classrooms to be put on the field. The junior classes could carry on as normal as luckily the 15 feet gap between the infant and juniors building prevented the fire spreading. The Infant staff were asked to go to their respective classrooms after the building was deemed safe by the Firemen and inspect the damage caused by the fire. My class- room and the two next door classrooms were burnt out with just the shell of the outer walls. The other 2 Victorian classrooms were mostly smoke damaged. The fireman located my handbag, boots (I had changed into sandals in the classroom) and coat which were hardly recognisable, my cheque had a plastic cover which all melt- ed together but at least I could take it to the bank to prove what had happened and get a new one. I went home after, a very differ- ent day to what I had expected but thank you God that everyone was safe and only material things got burnt which can be re- placed. The day after the fire, the Infant staff were in school and we spent the time retrieving things from the 2 smoke, fire and water dam- aged classrooms, which was very little and cleaning some things with white spirit. There were few items of furniture which could be renovated for use again. We also had to make a list as to what was missing for insurance purposes, from our classrooms and, also our personal items. The parents did the same as children lost their coats, P.E. bags and personal bags. There was a contingency fund set up in the school by the Education Committee to compen- sate parents for lost items. The village and the PTA were sup- portive with their offers of help, and having fund raising events. Other schools in the area helped by providing donations of mon- ey, books, stationery, and people gave their time to do what they could. Even schools outside the area gave things as they saw a report of the fire on the television. Work started on moving 5 mobile classrooms onto the field. The children were back at school a week after the fire in the new classrooms on the field. I remember laying a carpet in my classroom and getting basics to- gether such as pens, paper and books. That Winter it snowed most days, so walking from the mobile classroom to the main building for the toilets was a marathon event taking all the Recep- tion children at once, after having put on boots and coats. A year later we were back in our newly refurbished classrooms in the Infant building and an open evening took place for everyone to come and visit and see the completed work on the buildings.

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