September 2020

12 Buckden Roundabout September 2020 Buckden school history 150 years of school—Buckden School in the late twentieth century and present day 2020 marks 150 years of school as the Elementary Education Act was passed in 1870. However, Buckden has had an active school since before this Act was passed. In the fifth of a series of articles, we look at Buckden School following the Elementary Education Act through the second half of the twentieth century up to the present day. You can access previous editions of Roundabout via www.buckdenroundabout.info to find out more about the Ele- mentary Education Act and Buckden School. School in the twentieth century In April 1956, Mr Claxton became headmaster and had to close the school on his first day as there was no coke for the heating. At that time, the school had 5 classes aged from 5 – 15 years. There were no plumbed toilets, only Elsan (bucket - based) toi- lets which were emptied twice a week, but occasionally over- flowed into the playground. The school didn ’ t get water - based toilets until 1957. The school had a portable wind - up record player until an elec- tric one was purchased with the proceeds of a jumble sale in 1957. In 1958 swimming lessons began. The children cycled to Offord School, who had allowed use of their pool one morning a week. During the summer of 1964 the school choir performed at the Aldeburgh Music Festival and visited the BBC TV studios to record some of the songs for TV programmes. During this time, changes were taking place. Longsands School opened in St. Neots and some pupils left to go there. In 1960 Buckden School had only 78 pupils. By 1963, however, num- bers has risen to nearly 100 as the village began to expand and plans were made to enlarge Buckden School. In September 1966 the new school buildings were ready for use: a hall, staffroom, headmaster ’ s office and a kitchen to enable school meals to be cooked on the premises. Southoe School had closed by this time and the number of pupils in- creased to 117. By 1969 the school now taught 225 pupils due to further ex- pansion of the village. More land was acquired (the present primary school site), through compulsory purchase, for build- ings and playing fields. Work commenced in 1970 and the school was changed significantly. A few years later, however, the infants ’ section had to be ex- tensively rebuilt. In November 1978 the school suffered a dis- astrous fire which gutted the newly built classrooms and caused a great deal of water and smoke damage to the old buildings. Tribute must be paid to the outstanding way in which the en- tire staff including ancillary staff reacted in such a frightening emergency. Children were evacuated to various places of safe- ty very quickly (those in the Falcon pub seemed to quite enjoy themselves!) and from there to their homes. Parents very kind- ly took in neighbours ’ children whose mothers were working— generally speaking there was no panic. Due to the efforts of everyone concerned, and the many offers of books, furniture and assistance, the school was back in busi- ness within seven days, and by the first anniversary of the fire in 1979 the buildings were fully restored and once more open to the public. The children wrote some excellent accounts of these events which were displayed in Huntingdon Library. We spoke to Buckden resident, Dawn Brocklebank, about her experiences at Buckden School. Dawn attended Buckden School herself in the 1990s and her children currently attend. She told us school has not changed much during this time! A few members of staff have even taught both generations of her family. When Dawn went to school the head teacher was Mr Shevelin and her first teacher was Mrs Klein. Dawn lived in Southoe and travelled to school on the bus each day. Dawn ’ s strongest memories are of starting every day with assemblies and a pray- er, and she enjoyed trips to places like Wye Valley, Mill on The Brue and Scarborough. Dawn mentioned the short - lived outdoor pool, which you had to wear a swimming cap to swim in, and that when the shed on the school field was open the children could help themselves to hockey sticks and hoops to play with. Dawn tells us the school field and the play structures have remained the same between when she went to school and when her children start- ed. Dawn also remembered taking part in sports day each year and (Continued on page 18)