On Monday May the Twenty First a service was held in St Andrews Church to commemorate one hundred and fifty years of Owslebury School, a very moving and simple service - a Welcome Read by the present children of the School. To the prayers written and read by them.
When the vicar read the Poem, I remember, I too remember - during a Remembrance service everyone was stood during the two minutes silence the weight on the clock broke loose and came crashing down, that was about Nineteen Forty Three, and when my brother was the organ blower during the long and boring sermon he dropped off to sleep.
The organist rattled the notes for him to start pumping, but he was sleeping peacefully away.
The vicar had to come down from the pulpit and pump the organ himself -"well he only got thirty-seven and halfpence a quarter.
I remember when Nurse Rook came to inspect our hair - we used to call it the nit hunt.
One boy who remains nameless, when it came to his turn put two wood lice in his hair - he was a bit disappointed because she left them there.
Later in the New School as the children served tea and biscuits I compared the New School with Central Heating and inside toilets, to the old school with outside toilets.
Bill Bridle the Blacksmith's job once a week was to empty the buckets.
He smoked Afrikander mixture in his pipe, it had a lovely aromatic smell.
I remember the old coke burning Tortoise stoves, sometimes they were hot and sometimes they were not.
The older boys used to tell the younger ones, that if you put your finger on the Tortoise's tail it would run up the Chimney.
I remember the Infants Classroom with the Harmonium in the corner and Miss Gurman who when no one owned up to doing something naughty, looking over the top of her glasses and saying "thats Mr Nobody again" and the Noahs Ark with the animals inside, and when they were brought out one by one the children calling out their names.
I remember the dirt playground", it was not tarmaced till nineteen thirty four.
The entrance to the boys cloakroom was up an alleyway between the school and the School House, the entrance into the School was halfway along the wall.
There was a tank in the Cloakroom which held about three gallons of water, there was a very chipped white enamaled cup, well it was white once, on a chair for drinking.
The water was also used for washing hands.
There was no soap just a lump of chalk, no towel you dried your hands by rubbing them on your clothes.
The new cloakrooms were built about the same time as the playground was tarmaced.
The juniors classroom had a small open coal fire, there was an iron saucepan they used to boil water in it on the open fire.
The older girls used to make Cocoa, for the children who brought their lunch to school.
It was halfpenny a cup.
The teachers who taught while I was at school in the juniors were Miss Hooper, Miss Smith, Miss Mathews, Miss Rolls and Miss Parnel.
After Mr Peirce left there was a School Mistress a Miss Willowby.
Mr Peirce went to teach at West Wellow and Miss Willowby came to Owslebury.
The school house was refurbished whilst it was unoccupied.
She was here under a year and then Mr Mathewa became the Headmaster.
Since the end of the war fourteen small diary farms have gone out of milk.
When the War started all farm work was done by horses, there was hardly a tractor and when the War finished there was hardly a horse left on the farms.
The cost of shoeing a Draught Horse was eight shillings (forty pence).
Whilst I was enjoying a cup of tea in the school a young boy came and sat down and asked me what life was like when I was at school - well Ben, I hope this will help you understand what it was like.
Once again thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the celebration such a happy event.