Mayfield School history

[Cols]

Does anyone have any memories of Mayfield School on David Lane, now used as the Environmental Centre. My daughter is doing a project on Victorian buildings and it's hard to find a history of the place. I know it was built in 1876 and stopped being a school in 1944. In late 40's it became a "special school" but there's no record of what this meant. Was it a school for children with learning difficulties or disabled children etc. I know that it's now run by the council for school visits and that the Astronomical Society use it as a base.

 

All info gratefully received.

[clocker]

While I know nothing of Mayfield school , I have done a fair amount of research on Arbourthorne North County Special School (1937 - 1954 ). This school became Norfolk Special School in 1954. Special schools were described as schools for the physically or mentally defective children . If you want to pm me , I will give you an excellent contact for you to do further research .

 

Best ,

 

Roy

[clocker]

I have just re-read my notes . I said that Arbourthorne North County Special School opened in 1937 . It actually was transfered from Highfield Special School in June 1944 . Arbourthorne North County School opened in 1937 .

 

Sorry about that

Roy

[algy]

Hi Cols

There's a book called 'More of the Mayfield Valley' by Muriel Hall that's still in the libraries. There isn't a specific section on the school but it's mentioned a few times. For example, in 1945 the local community formed a group called the Mayfield Valley Community Centre which was based at the school. At its height it had 300 members, and at meetings people were reduced to sitting on the window sills! It ran til 1960.

An old lady's recollections includes a description of the school. It had a grass playground but the only game they played was rounders. There were 2 pumps for water, one by the sink and the other in the yard. The windows were high up and the rooms were badly ventilated. In the Big Room there was a big black stove which smoked more often than not. There was a bell in the tower, and it was rung twice a day, the first to warn it was time for school, and again more quickly for 'hurry up'.

In the infants room , which looked into the playground there was a wide window-type ventilator high up in the wall to the next room, and Miss Osborne the infant teacher told the little ones that Father Christmas came through it, and they believed her!.

The lavatories were earth closets outside and she remembers one little girl getting wedged in, so the teacher pulled her out and put her under the pump!

Once a week a man came and took the whole school for drill.All the children had slates and a slate pencil, and the desks had a slot for the slate to fit in.

The Head was Mr Alfred Holmes At Christmas there was no party but every child got an orange.

Unfortunately she doesn't give any dates. I'll have a look through and see if I can find any more.

Algy

[Cols]

Thanks for the replies.

The project has to be in on Monday so I'll nip down to the Local Studies Library tomorrow. I remember reading the Muriel Hall book a couple of years ago so I'll see if there's any others like it.

[algy]

Good luck in your search, though there's not much to go at. It might be worth having a look at a book called 'A tree in the Valley' if they've got it. It's a family history of some of the people who've lived in the valley. I can't remember whether there's any mention of the school, but it might be wirth a look.

[normanmarina]

Mayfield valley!!!what a wonderful place it is,many many happy memories of playing down there as a boy,once went to a pea and pie supper in the old school must have been organised by the farming community,I got an invite as my mates were Phil from Bolehill farm and Steve from Wyming brook farm(still there)where on earth have all the years gone!!!!!

[Cols]

I went to the Local Studies Library this morning. What a wonderful place, I could have spent hours there. We found some newspaper clippings on micro-fiche, one of them from 1944 about the school closure. The headline was "Bad Boys Close School".

It goes on to say that the school closed because of the terrible behaviour of the boys in the school. Special mention was made of the boys from the Fulwood Cottage Homes, which I believe was an orphange at the top of Blackbrook Road. The librarian also told me that some of the boys at the school were displaced from their families in the war.

Like I say, the library is well worth a visit but looking at your location Roy, I think it's a bit of a trip for you.

 

Cols