The Blitz of London started, leading to a new wave of
\nevacuees in the autumn of 1940, and necessitating the transfer of
\na teacher from Surrey to meet the new demands. But by the end of
\nthe year the local authorities had obviously got fed up with the
\ndisruption:<\/p>\n
9th December 1940
\nNew air-raid rules have been issued, by which there is no dispersal
\non warning. Several parents have sent written requests that
\nchildren should be sent home. These will go home.<\/p>\n
By the end of September 1942 there were 45 evacuees in the school, causing overcrowding problems:<\/p>\n
29th December 1942
\nMr. Godfrey, H.M.I. visited; the subject was the sanitary arrangements, which are reported inadequate for the numbers of pupils. In the event of further accommodation being vetoed, owing to war conditions, it was arranged that play-time should be staggered, the younger classes using lavatories before-time.<\/p>\n
Crowded toilets continued to exercise the attention of the authorities during the first half of 1943, but little hope of redress was offered.<\/p>\n
In September 1943 Cambridgeshire took up the option, offered long ago by legislation of 1906, to provide school meals for Haslingfield children. The first few weeks proved to be a bit of a trial:<\/p>\n
October 18th 1943
\nThird week of school dinners begins with 44 diners on roll. We still
\nhowever await a cupboard for storing equipment, and have no
\noutside voluntary help, which makes the dinner hour somewhat
\nstrenuous.<\/p>\n
Meals at this stage were not made on the premises, and this
\nbrought its own problems:<\/p>\n
October 28th 1943
\nThe School dinners\u2019 van broke down, and no dinners arrived, so
\nhad to send diners home. Three children were given snack meals
\nas their homes were locked up.<\/p>\n
Hiccups in the service continued:<\/p>\n
November 2nd 1943
\nDinners arrived today at 1.30 p.m., necessitating late start for
\nafternoon school. Headteacher and Miss Ling dined at 2.30 p.m.,
\nhaving served and washed up. Dinner break 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
As well as catering, the school staff were also responsible for the
\nweighing, measuring and inspection relating to the issue of
\nextra clothing coupons for the very tall, the very heavy and
\nthose with big feet (embarrassing details can be disclosed at the
\nend of this reading for the provision of a small fee).<\/p>\n
Just before D-Day the war came right to the doorstep of the
\nschool:<\/p>\n
22nd March 1944
\nSchool Hall was used, by permission of Governors, for sleeping
\ntwenty soldiers of the R.A.S.C. 71st Highland Division, who were
\nabout on exercise. They caused no inconvenience, and everything
\nwas left as they were before use.<\/p>\n
July 1944 saw a further influx of evacuees escaping from the V1s
\nand V2s landing on London, a growth in numbers that at last
\nbrought an increase in toilet provision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haslingfieldvillage.co.uk\/dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}