The Blitz of London started, leading to a new wave of
evacuees in the autumn of 1940, and necessitating the transfer of
a teacher from Surrey to meet the new demands. But by the end of
the year the local authorities had obviously got fed up with the
disruption: Read more
Several years ago, an annual race was run in Haslingfield – the winner getting The Pledger Cup. Do you know anything about the Cup, its current whereabouts, or indeed the race itself? If so, please email Diana Offord at dianaofford@hotmail.co.uk or write your comment below.
World War II understandably upset routine in Haslingfield School as
much as it did elsewhere. Hitler’s movements in Europe prompted early
action: Read more
The Admissions Registers for the local school give an interesting insight into the changing face of the village between 1873 and 1980. Up until 1916, just 35 families (as indicated by family names) contributed 57.9% of the school’s intake. Each of these families contributed at least 10 pupils to the school between 1873 and 1916. Read more
Honor Ridout lives in Haslingfield and is an expert on the subject of Cambridge and its history. She has recently published a book on the subject of Cambridge and Stourbridge fair. We asked if she would like to put an article on the web site about the book. The book is available in good bookshops and on line. This is what she wrote. Read more
Haslingfield School seems to have accommodated its fair share of evacuees, receiving some 160 in the course of World War II. They seem to have come in three main waves: shortly after the start of the war, when the Luftwaffe were threatening to drop all sorts on London, including poison gas; in 1940-41, when they did start bombing the capital, and in 1944 when the V1 and V2 rockets were launched by a retreating German Army. Read more
Registration at Haslingfield School prior to 1900 seems to have been a somewhat haphazard arrangement. Firstly, the Head was required to record the date of registration. Read more
Haslingfield School has been involved in the training of teacher students since at least 1931, but there was a period after the Second World War when these students came from a teacher training establishment based in Wimpole Hall. Read more
Given the current stress on sporting activity as an antidote to childhood obesity, it’s perhaps surprising that there is hardly any mention of organised games at Haslingfield School before 1920. The Head in 1923, Mr. Herbert Saunders, decided such activities were important, but for moral rather than physical reasons:
“Through games I hope to effect an honourable attitude in & out of class”. Read more
Below is a list of Head Teachers at the local school between 1875 and 1975.The list is interesting in a number of ways:
*There was a woman head for barely five years of the 100 covered;
*There was clearly a difficulty at the end of the First World War in filling the post. Between Messrs. Royston and Laxton there were ten heads.This must have been something to do with the lack of male recruits into the teaching profession during wartime; *Miss Ling, who is the subject of a dramatic reading at the Village society in February 2012, served under fourteen different heads in her school career, which stretched from 1917 to 1963. Read more
John Beresford the village archivist, has been posting highlights from the school diary for a few months now. He has now made a transcript of the entire diary available for download (its about 2MB), this covers what was happening in the school from 1874 through to 1975 and so it of great local interest. We hope you enjoy browsing through it.
Royal occasions are invariably welcomed by schoolchildren, as they often mean time off. Even the sad ones often bring respite from normal lessons. The Haslingfield School Log Book provides plenty of examples of both.
Queen Victoria must have been particularly popular, with her large number of children and her longevity. The 21st of June 1887 was a public holiday, to celebrate her Golden Jubilee, and school finished early on the next day, so that children could attend the village celebration. Her achievement of a Diamond Jubilee ten years later brought three days’ holiday. In between, in July 1893, the future George V’s wedding was celebrated with a “school-treat”. His coronation in June 1911 merited a week’s holiday. Read more
by Alice Showell of Haslingfield
Probably the earliest shop in Haslingfield was the one in Church St. opposite the Church, at the bottom of Chapel Hill. A shop here is shown in the 19th century censuses, owned by the Loveridge family. There was probably also a Post Office in the 19th century, but in Church St. and not at its present site.
Following on from last weekend’s successful History weekend and for those people that missed it, we are now in the process of adding well over a hundred historical photos from the Haslingfield Archive to the website.
The photographs have been provided by the archivist John Beresford and scanned into electronic form by Alan Jenyon. (We do have higher resolution versions of some of the images, but we have tried to make a good compromise between image quality and speed of response in viewing the images).