Education

The Parish Council was as interested in educational facilities for the village as it was in other matters. They pressed for the School Board in 1898, elected a member to the Board of Managers, and complained occasionally about the school lavatories. They discussed the raising of the school leaving age to fourteen; most of the parishioners who attended the public meeting on this matter objected to the age being raised, but Col. Orlebar, their County Councillor, said that the matter was one for H.M.I. and County Councils were empowered to make their own by-laws governing the school leaving age, and in this matter ‘ Bedfordshire was somewhat in advance of Northants.’ The Council tried hard to get transport for children to Bedford schools, and was eventually successful, but its biggest battle was with the L.E.A. over the siting of a new school.

The Parish Council called a special meeting in the Wesleyan schoolroom on November 18th 1946.

“Present Mr. J.W. Reynolds and a large number of parochial electors…to protest against the proposed development plan of the Beds C.C. in reference to the Educational Act of 1944, in its relation to the parish…..”

A new Primary School to serve both Wymington and Podington was proposed to be built in Podington, and this was strongly objected to by Wymington, which at the time was the larger village and still growing, while Podington was static. Over two thirds of the children would be from Wymington, there would be no school bus and the mile and a half of road was without footpath.

“Wymington as a village has all the necessary health and other services, sewers, drains, gas and electricity, while Podington lacks at present sewers, drains and gas.

The proposal was not implemented, but six years later it was proposed to build a school halfway between the two villages. Both Podington and Wymington objected strenuously to this and it was dropped. The Parish Council was not in favour either of the eventual solution to the educational difficulties in the parish, whereby the old school would be improved and extended. The old antagonism to the control of the school by the church became evident again. The school had become seriously overcrowded by 1964 and on 16th March of that year, a Parish Council meeting was called to discuss the situation. It was estimated that improvements would cost £14,000 and there were many objections to this.

“…..rather than spend such a sum on an antiquated building long since served its purpose, a completely new one was preferred, administered solely by the County council and free from the shackles of the Church of England.”

The Parish Council was not successful in its bid to persuade the County council to build a new school. The old one was renovated and enlarged at a cost far exceeding the £14,000 quoted. The County Council made a grant of 75% towards the cost and the church made a large part of its contribution by providing the land on which the extension was to stand.

The School

When William Forster introduced his Education Act in 1870, there were still over 10,000 parishes in the country without a school. Wymington, more fortunate than these, had a small school, and its mistress was Miss Eliza Spencer. There were about thirty scholars, each paying a fee of one halfpenny a week.

Forster’s Act concerned as it was with primary education, did not attempt to supplant the religious societies whose schools, about 20,000 in number then, supplied the educational needs in many areas.

In 1878 a new ‘National’ church school opened in the village. It was built of the local limestone, slate roofed, but was not specially erected for the purpose. It was adapted from the old Church Farm, most of which was incorporated into the new school. Its east wall is also the retaining wall of the graveyard, which is on a much higher level than the glebe land on which the farm stood. The windows, high above eye level in the classroom, are almost on ground level outside of the graveyard, such is the rapid rise of the ground in church Lane. The church itself is only a few feet away from the school.

The first entry in the log book reads:

“I, Annie Johnson, formerly pupil teacher at St. Edmund’s School, Northampton, began my duties here as Mistress of this school October 21st 1878. There were 41 children entering on Monday morning and 8 more during the week. Mr. Sheffield the school Attendance Officer came during the week to see whether there were any absentees. Arranged the children in classes and found them backward.”

Six children entered the following week, and a further sixteen in November. On November 8th, a fortnight after it opened, the school closed for a week for Wymington Feast.

The Attendance Officer paid his second visit in November and called over the children’s names to see who was absent. There was a good attendance following his visits.

“February 14th 1879 the School Attendance Officer came this week. A very good attendance this week.”

This entry was typical of many. His visits featured regularly in the early log entries. The average of entry was 4½ years, though they did occasionally accept children earlier.

“Feb. 8th 1886. Admitted an infant 3 ears old.”

“Oct 14th 1904 Admitted five infants this week – four three years of age and one four years. 117 now on books.”

It was common then for children to leave school when they reached eleven years of age, or even sooner. Gladstone’s Government had in 1880 made attendance compulsory everywhere up to the age of not above thirteen years, but the leaving age was fixed by individual school boards. Wymington children, like the children in Rushden, were allowed to work as ‘Half-timers’ in the shoe factories after they had obtained their Labour Certificates.

“August 17th 1886. Received from the School Attendance Officer some forms for children who are to be half-timers after the holidays.”

There is no record of the ages of these children, but ten years later, children were able to leave school to work full time at the age of eleven.

“April 2nd 1897. Ernest Pendred, St. 4 and William church St. 6 received their Labour Certificates this week. Amos Barley and Leonard Pratt have gained their certificates too, but they are withheld for 2 and 3 months until they are each eleven years of age.”

There were many absences from school during the early years; sickness, severe weather and harvesting being the main reasons. With few exceptions all the house in the village were within a couple of minutes walk from the school, but snowstorms, flooding on the Rushden Road, thunderstorms or even a rainy day kept the children away.

“June 22nd 1883. Very small attendance on Thursday on account of rain falling heavily.”

“February 17th 1887. Severe snowstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday, consequently many of the younger children absent remainder of the week.”

“March 31st 1916. Many absences owing to floods on Rushden Road.”

The brook still overflows occasionally, but does not cause such inconvenience as it did in 1936.

“January 29th 1936. The brook overflowed and the children from New Wymington got very wet. Shoes, socks and skirts had to be changed and dried, and the smaller children were carried through by Mr. Rogers. (The rector).”

Judging by the amount of absenteeism, there seemed to be a rather casual attitude to education in those days, but many factors would have influenced this. In 1886 the managers decided to increase school fees from 1d a week to 2d for each child, except where four or more children from one family were in regular attendance, when the fourth child was to be free. The week following the increase, many children were sent home from school to fetch the extra money. The increase may have been enough to impel some parents to keep their children away from school at times the lack of protective clothing in winter or wet weather may also have been another factor in absenteeism.

“December 13th 1889. Milton Desborough unable to attend this week not having any shoes to wear.”

This is the only record of the kind and must have been rather exceptional.

A few children had to walk through fields from the isolated farms on the southern boundary of the parish. Several others from the railway cottages built high on the Sharnbrook Summit beyond the tunnel, had to walk along the line to the Wymington signal box, then over a footbridge and across two fields to the village. A walk of nearly two miles to reach school. These boys and girls brought their dinners and ate them in the schoolroom.

Another persistent cause of bad attendance was the fact that many children worked part-time on the farm. They were away from school during hay harvest, when they were employed in teddering the hay. They also went pea picking, but the longest time away from school was for the corn cutting in autumn.

The ‘gang’ system operated in Bedfordshire about a hundred years ago. In 1867 a Royal Commission on the employment of ‘Children, Young Persons and Women in Agriculture’ was appointed. It enquired into the existence of gangs of children from eight to ten years of age employed nine hours a day in the winter and eleven hours daily in summer. At near by Melchbourne, a gang of ten children was employed from March to October in the fields and enquiries about their school attendance obtained only unsatisfactory answers. Finally, legislation led to the discontinuance of the gang system, but it did not prevent children from working long hours at harvest times.

“October 13th 1879. Attendance very bad, late harvest. Only 27 in school.

July 28th 1886 Only 37 in school many children being at work in the fields.

August 16th 1886. Attendance very low indeed, numerous children absent from school owing to their required to assist in the Harvest fields.”

If the school had not closed for the holidays when the farmers were ready to begin harvest, or if it re-opened before the harvest was over, attendance was very poor. As well as the harvesting proper, many children were kept away from school to go gleaning, as many families relied on this to provide the better part of a year’s feed for their hens. There was no fixed summer holiday, it was always referred to as the Harvest Holiday, and it was dictated solely by rural conditions. It could start as late as September 5th and end as late as October 13th, or it could be at least a month earlier than these dates. The holiday did not become fixed until 1895, when it was also restricted to five weeks, not the duration of the harvest. Other holidays were much shorter. Two days off at Easter and Whitsun were usual in the early years. There was a week off for Christmas, beginning Christmas Eve. There were no half-term holidays and Bank Holidays were not always observed though the Bank Holiday Act was passed in 1871.

“August 2nd 1886. Dismissed today a quarter of an hour earlier as it is Bank Holiday.

August 4th 1909. Few children present owing to factories being closed and children having gone out on pleasure with their parents.”

The first week in August was rarely a rural holiday, it lay between hay and grain harvest, but it has always been a traditional one in the boot and shoe industry, and the influence of that trade in Rushden was being felt in the village.

It was the exception rather than the rule for the children to be allowed any mid-morning or afternoon recreation period. Isolated instances are mentioned in the early years.

“May 9th 1865. Allowed the children ten minutes recreation this morning.”

On one occasion the school opened on a Saturday morning owing to the very poor attendance on the previous Monday when the chapel tea was held.

A holiday was always given for Wymington Feast the school closing at least two days, sometimes for longer.

“November 5th and November 12th 1880. Very poor attendance these two weeks owing to Wymington Feast.”

Rushden Feast was also an event for which the school children absented themselves, sometimes for the whole week the fair was in town.

“October 1st 1880. Very poor attendance owing to Feast at Rushden.”

The chapel tea-party did not merit a day’s holiday as the Church tea did, consequently many children took the day off. Another Non-conformist function, the Band of Hope Festival at Bedford, an annual affair, attracted not only chapel families but other children too, as few were left in school on those days.

“July 31st 1880. School had to close. Few children because of Band of Hope Festival….

July 28th 1882. H.M.I. examined scholars. Very poor attendance owing to Band of Hope Festival in Bedford.”

Circuses visited Rushden and Wellingborough about twice yearly, the latter being five miles away, but the village children ‘flocked to Wellingborough to see the circus.’

“November 18th 1898. School closed, only eleven children owing to circus in Rushden.

May 2nd 1899. Barnum was in Wellingborough today, so there the children flocked.”

Another function in Rushden caused poor attendance.

“November 6th 1891. small attendance on Thursday, many of the children having gone to Rushden to see the Guy Fawkes Procession.”

In 1889 it was recorded, the first of many such entries, that a child’s mark had been cancelled for leaving school before 12 o’clock.

“May 2nd 1889. Joseph Rivett had his attendance mark cancelled on Wednesday morning, his mother having taken him from school before 12 o’clock in order to carry dinner to Rushden.”

Nearly two hundred men, boys and girls now worked in the shoe factories, and it was too far for them to walk home for a mid-day meal. Children, pushing their sugar box trucks, had to take the dinners, well wrapped in many cloths a mile and a half down the road to meet the workers. The children stayed down there for their own meal. This was eaten near the gateway to Rushden House, on the Wymington Road, the men balancing the dished and basins on a low stone wall under some trees. They ate first and the children had what was left, then the bottles of cold tea or herb tea were passed round. In winter, or when it rained, everybody huddled under sacking for protection. This practice of taking dinners down only stopped with the advent of a bus service in 1927. Any teacher who, for whatever reason,, kept a child beyond the stroke of twelve, was faced with an irate mother actually fetching her or him from the classroom. The feeding of her working family was of far more importance than a few minutes schooling.

Sickness, mainly cold and sore throats kept many children from school during the winter months, but there were occasionally more serious ailments and the death of a few children is recorded.

“July 24th 1891 Leonard Smith (infant) died of inflammation of the brain.

March 4th 1898. Scarcely more than half the children present in consequence of whooping cough. Grace absent with diphtheria. The rest of the family are therefore excluded from school.

March 25th 1898. George, Horace, Edith and Stephen West absent this week with diphtheria.

April 1st 1898. We regret the death of a scholar viz. George West. He died on Saturday from diphtheria.

May 8th 1899. Charlie Whiteman died of brain fever.

June 17th 1898. Herbert and John Dilley absent with Scarlet Fever.

July 29th 1898. Robinsons have measles.”

The school was closed five times in all because of measles, for periods varying from two to five weeks.

“November 28th 1898. School closed by order of the Sanitary Authority for two weeks. Measles.

May 13th 1904. School closed today owing to an outbreak of measles.

June 17th 1904. School re-opened having been closed one month on account of measles.”

During an outbreak of scarlet fever the school was closed again.

“June 2nd. Re-opened school this morning. During the holiday the school has been disinfected and thoroughly cleaned. Attendance poor, some still have Scarlet Fever.”

It was a much more serious disease then than it is now. Children were absent for up to eight weeks because of it. Although still a notifiable disease, it is usually very mild, and deaths are very rare.

In the autumn of 1918 the virulent type of influenza which was sweeping the world caused the school to close again.

“October 31st 1918. School closed at 12 noon until November 11th by order of the Beds. Education Committee on account of the prevalence of influenza.”

There is no mention in the school log books of T.B. among the children, but it is known that several families suffered from it, several people dying from it.

The year 1908 saw the national introduction of medical examinations in schools. Bedfordshire children must have been some of the first in the country to benefit.

“June 18th 1908. Dr. butcher examined some of the children today.”

Although this was not the first time that a doctor attended the school.

“December 16th 1904. Omitted the drill lesson this week as many children are being vaccinated.”

The children were weighed and measured at school in 1908.

“September 7th 1908. Received the weighing machine and instrument for measuring height for use in school.”

Annual examinations were carried out at the school until 1915 when they were suspended for the duration of the war, although the children were still weighed and measured. In 1920 the first notices were rent out to mothers informing them of the medical inspections.

“March 18th 1920. The children will be weighed and measured today in preparation for the doctor’s visit. Notices sent out for the same.”

In these early days the children were examined in the schoolrooms, but later the Chapel schoolroom was used. Now the Memorial Hall is used as it is the Child Welfare Centre on one afternoon a month. When the school dentist visited, a barn adjoining a house near the school was used as his surgery. His first recorded visit, accompanied by a nurse, took place on June 10th 1921.

The incident of illness fell rapidly after the first world war – diphtheria was not mentioned in the school log books after 1916 although there were several cases in the village between that date and 1925, the last known time. There were no epidemics which closed the school after 1918, although an outbreak of measles in April 1943 resulted in only seven infants being left in the class. There is little serious illness among the children today.

Teachers and Curriculum

There was a sudden increase in the number of scholars in 1897 when the new estate of Little Wymington was completed. There were immediate and severe difficulties in accommodation and discipline. Within a year order seemed to have broken down completely. Then began the procession of teachers and assistants which resulted in fifteen changes of staff by the end of the century, as well as the large number of monitresses who were appointed and who resigned. By June 1899 there were eighty nine pupils in the charge of one teacher. The rector helped with other lessons beside his daily scripture and in the absence of qualified staff, Miss Hill, who lived near the school, helped with the Infants and a Miss Williams who began her duties on January 9th, lasted three months.

March 30th 1899. Miss Williams closed her duties in this school at 10.45am this Thursday morning.

Miss Todd, the headmistress, endured until the summer holidays, and did not return. There were then several temporary heads and assistants in rapid succession. Miss button from September 11th until September 15th. Her assistant Miss Naylor (Art.68) deserted on September 13th.

14th September 1899. Miss Naylor has not returned and no information has been received, Annie Bull, monitress has infants again.

The next headmistress, Miss Thornley, also had trouble with her assistant, Miss Creighton. They both began duties on September 18th.

September 18th 1899. If the duties of the Headmistress are to be defined by the assistant… I fail to see how discipline is to be maintained.

The unhappy atmosphere was very evident during the next three weeks, when it came to a head.

October 6th 1899. The assistant was exceedingly rude to me in the presence of the children, therefore instead of releasing me, the Rector dismissed her, paying her a month’s salary in lieu of notice. The Rev. C. E. Drew has therefore kindly assisted in the mornings, there only being myself and monitress to carry on.

Miss Thorley resigned on October 13th. The rector appeared to have sole charge of appointments and dismissals and payment of salary then. Today, the rector and school managers still interview applicants although they do not have the sole power to appoint teaching staff. The new headmistress, Kathleen Highfield, took charge of the school on October 16th, and had three changes of assistant before the end of the year. She herself resigned the following April because of ill health. She gave some of the first examples of the school curriculum with her lists of “Object Lessons” for the Standards and for Infants’ in the school log book.

Although misbehaviour was not unknown in the school in its early days:

May 6th 1887. The Rector visited the school on Tuesday and expelled John Church for insubordination.

Discipline seemed to have broken down with the newcomers:

October 21st 1898. Herbert Parker sent home and his attendance mark cancelled several times for using bad language and insubordination.

October 28th 1898 Attendance Officer called in Thursday morning and said that Herbert Parker is to be thrashed by some of the managers but not sent home. This being the decision of the Magistrates at the Attendance Committee Meeting.

Most of the new families belonged to chapel rather than church, but a Non-conformist element was becoming evident before they came into the village. In 1893 there is reference for the first time to children being withdrawn from Scripture lessons and Catechism.

March 8th 1893. Mr. A Peet of Wymington visited the school this morning for the purpose of serving on the principle teacher a notice of withdrawal from Religious Instruction, with the following parents names affixed….

Mr. Peet at that time lived at Poplars Farm, and was a chapel minister at nearby Souldrop.

March 10th 1893. Received a note from Mr. John Ward, parent, to the effect that it was quite a misunderstanding that he wished his children withdrawn from R.I. He wished them withdrawn from Catechism only.

The children were employed in learning tables and spelling alternate mornings from 9 – 9.45am during Religious Instruction and Catechism.

The Parish council at their meeting on December 13th 1895 had drawn attention to the inadequate staff and accommodation at the school, and declared themselves in favour of a school board. (Non-conformist influence was evident here again.) The Education Department in Bedford was pressing the managers to provide better accommodation as the existing was inadequate and most insanitary. A special parish meeting was called on January 5th 1899, and a vote taken on the subject of a school board. The Returning Officer declared the result on the spot, forty-seven were in favour of a School Board and twenty against. A Board was elected and a representative appointed from the Parish Council. By now, there were a hundred children on the register. On April 23rd 1900 a new headmistress and two assistants were appointed. Miss Rutter’s first log entry, unlike the verbose comments of some previous mistresses, was typical

April 23rd. Have taken charge of this school today.

Miss Rutter was a rigid disciplinarian, and exerted enormous influence not only in the school, but in the village s a whole. Everyone had great respect for her and she is still remembered as being extremely strict but fair. H.M.I.’s report for the year ending June 30th 1900 stated:

“The school has passed through a very trying experience. Frequent changes of teacher and assistants under Article 68 of the Code must have seriously interrupted the ordinary routine. On the day of inspection, the present Teacher has been in charge about three months and although the standard of attainments is not very high, there is a promising improvement in the elementary subjects which augers well for the future. Good Discipline is maintained and the children are taking a keener interest in their work.”

The grant previously under the Revised Code, paid by the Government to school managers (the payment by results system) meant that the amount depended partly on the number of attendances, but also on the satisfactory performance of the children in examinations conducted by H.M.I. It made for efficiency of sorts and perhaps was responsible for more attention being given to slow and backward pupils, but it also encouraged parrot-like learning, anything so long as the maximum number of pupils reached the required standard on the dreaded day. A deduction in the grants was recorded several times in the yearly reports, though not always for the same reasons.

In the report of 1885:

“My Lords have ordered a deduction of 1/10th to be made from the grant for faults of instruction, (Art 115)” but twelve years later, in a report of 1897:

“The higher grant under Article 101(b) of the Code will be endangered at the next visit unless improvement can be reported in punctuality and personal neatness of the children.”

Although the old payment by results system had come to an end by the time Miss Rutter came to Wymington, punctuality, personal neatness and application to their work were all instilled into the children by her. She was deeply religious and very patriotic, carrying out faithfully the special Empire Day programme drawn up by the Director of Education. The children gathered in the playground to sing patriotic songs and the National Anthem and to salute the flag. Under her, the lessons became much more varied and a wider range of subjects was studied.

When the school first opened, there was little in the way of equipment and the curriculum, as far as can be seen, was restricted and dull. Being a church school much importance was attached to the daily Scripture lesson and to the hymn singing. The Rev. Monk often came alone, or with his family, to hear the children sing. He accompanied them on the harmonium. The school often had visitors apart from the rector. Several members of the Goosey family brought friends and relatives to the school to hear the children perform.

August 5th 1886 Mr. and Mrs. R. Goosey visited in the afternoon and distributed sweetmeats among the scholars after Tables, Singing and Repetition had been repeated.

In 1886 the first reports were sent out.

April 8th. Sent the respective mothers whose children attend this school an account of the mode of their attendance, progress and conduct.

From the beginning the children learned a lot of poetry, and there are several references to them repeating it on winter afternoons when there was insufficient light for ordinary lessons, so the school could have had no artificial light. This was probably the reason for afternoon school starting and finishing half an hour earlier in the winter months.

Needlework was considered a very important subject, both boys and girls did it. The older girls worked at sample strips which were strips of stout cotton cloth on which different types of stitch and seam were practised. H.M.I.’s report of 1884 stated that needlework was unsatisfactory and 1/10th of the grant was deducted. Later knitting was taught.

May 31st 1886. Taught knitting in the infants class for the first time today. Three infants commenced their sample strips of needlework.

In 1887 a set of Royal School Primers and some Blackie’s Comprehensive Readers were obtained. Geography was taught too.

April 2nd 1887. first class worked diligently at the geography of the River Ouse.

The children had some encouragement.

April 1st 1887. The Misses Goosey have kindly offered to give prizes at the end of the school year. Viz. Four for good conduct, 4 for good attendance, 4 for General Proficiency and 4 for Needlework.

In 1888 the children were provided with pens, ink, blotting paper and foolscap especially for the Diocesan Examination. They normally used slates, some of them being still in use until the mid 1920s.

‘Object Lessons’ featured prominently in the log books. A list of about twenty completely unrelated subjects was drawn up and ticked off presumably when dealt with. Object lessons for the Standards during the year 1888/9 contained such subjects as ‘leaves’ ‘needles’ ‘the gum bottle’ ‘a candle’ ‘brushes’. While oddly enough the Infants’ object lessons for the same year appears more advanced. It begins with lines – Perpendicular, Horizontal, Oblique, Parallel, Circles. Then came various colours, “How seeds grow” and “Plants which give sugar”. A list which might have been more suitable for the older children.

When Miss Rutter took over, the school board had just been elected and there was a change in the curriculum. Musical Drill was introduced, performed to Gill’s Musical Drill Book. Miss Rutter ordered the hitherto grass and earth playground to be levelled to facilitate games and drill, though it was still not surfaced and the iron fence dividing it still remained. (One early Inspector had recommended that a gate in the fence be kept permanently locked.) In July 1905 lessons indoors were given instead of drill as it was too hot, 82° in the shade, and the children were tired after walking to Rushden.

A scheme of work was recorded for the first time in June 1905, the lessons showing correlation at last. There were 121 children on the registers then, and when the school re-opened after the Whitsun Holiday on June 19th 1906, they were all present. It was necessary to have two infants’ classes.

The school was then running smoothly, without many of the interruptions of early years. The casual visitors were gradually discouraged, and parents were not allowed into the classrooms without previous appointments. The odd days holidays had disappeared, apart from Mayday. There was a regular complaint about poor attendance every May-day for many years, because the children carried on the age-old custom of Maying. Boys carried round beribboned poles and the girls carried round baskets decorated with May and other spring flowers, containing their dolls. On only one occasion was a holiday officially given for May Day.

May 1st 1887. School closed for children’s custom of carrying May-bushes round the village and making a general holiday of May-day.

Miss Rutter always made a holiday of Mayday. For a week or two before she rehearsed the girls in their May song so that they should sing well when they went their rounds of the village on May morning. All the groups of children who knocked her door and sang received sixpence, but only coppers at most other houses. (The version of the traditional May song that was sung in Wymington differed a little from that known in other North Bedfordshire villages. )

The Wymington May Song.

I’ve been rambling all this night
And the best part of the day
Now I have returned again
I’ve brought you a branch of May.

A branch of May, my dear I say
Before your door I stand.
It’s nothing but a sprout
But it’s well budded out
By the work of our Lord’s hand.

The hedges and the fields are so green,
As green as any leaf.
The Heavenly Father waters them
With His heavenly dew so sweet.

I’ve got a bag on my right arm
Drawn up with a silken string
Nothings does it want but a little silver
To line it well within.

Go down into your cellar and fetch a cup
A cup of your sweet cream, a bowl of your brown beer
And if I live to tarry in the town
I will call on you next year.

Take a Bible in your hand
And read the chapters through
And when the Day of Judgment comes
The Lord will think of you.

When I am dead and in my grave
And covered with colden clay
The nightingale will sit and sing
And pass the time away.

And now my song is almost done
I can no longer stay.
God bless you all
Both great and small
And I wish you a merry, merry, May.

(The above was given to me by Mrs. Vera Bandy and Mrs. Ivy Lewis who were both taught by Miss Rutter.)

Miss Rutter gave much practical instruction during her teaching. She obtained a large doll as a model for needlework and knitting and she instructed the girls in cutting out and sewing garments for themselves They darned and mended clothing brought from home. The two following extracts from reports by H.M.I. are typical.

October 5th 1909. As usual the school is going on thoroughly satisfactorily…All through the school scholars are trained to do much for themselves – under very careful supervision.

November 12th 1912. This school continues to be in its usual satisfactory state…the scholars are trained to do much for themselves receiving from the teachers just the necessary assistance in conquering their difficulties.

There was interest in current affairs, lessons were given on the census of 1911, and an eclipse of the sun was watched through smoked glass in the playground. The older children once measured the playground and made a map of the school.

During the years of the first world war, Miss Rutter directed much of the school activity towards the ‘war effort’. Socks and mufflers were knitted for men serving in the Bedfordshire Regiment, with wool supplied by the Director of Education. The completed articles were sent to him, and he came to the school in April 1919 to thank the children. Flannel shirts were made and despatched for the Army, and clothing was mended for Serbian Refugees.

In the autumn of 1917 the children made a collection of blackberries.

September 25th and 26th. Half holidays given to enable the children to gather blackberries for our sailors and soldiers.

September 27th. The weight of blackberries despatched this morning was 1cwt. 1 qr. 17¾lbs.

Four more half holidays were given, and the total weight of fruit sent off from the school was over 3½cwts. Horsechestnuts were collected after blackberries, but it is not clear what their use was: possibly it was for pig food. The children were paid for their efforts.

November 9th. The blackberry money earned was distributed this afternoon.

Miss Rutter started the Wymington War Savings Association with twelve members in 1916. In May 1966 a certificate was presented to Wymington by the National Savings Movement – it is the only school in Bedfordshire with fifty years continuous membership.

The school was closed on October 31st at 12 noon because of the outbreak of influenza which was sweeping the country in 1918.

November 11th 1918. Re-opened the school this morning. Attendance fair. The children will be allowed to bring table games this afternoon to celebrate the conclusion of the Armistice.

There was no holiday to celebrate the end of the war but the children were given an extra week the next summer. That same year the school was closed for a month owing to the nation-wide coal shortage.

February 13th. No coal – school closed until some obtainable.

March 14th. Re-opened school this morning 13cwt. 2st. coal received.

The coal industry was in a particularly bad way at this time, hours were long, conditions and pay were poor. There was a strike of several months, estimated to have caused the country a loss of over 250 million pounds. It was no coal strike which caused a coal shortage at Wymington in 1886, but the neglect of the managers to provide fuel during a cold spell in April of that year.

After the war, Wymington children were entered for the Free Place Examination for the first time.

June 3rd 1920. Holiday given today to enable the Head Teacher to take three children to the Free Place Examination.

She was unable to take advantage of this owing to lack of transport to Bedford. Four years later the Parish council took this up.

March 31st 1924. A lengthy discussion took place upon the question of the educational facilities in the village and also as to the enjoyment of Scholarships won….It was pointed out to the meeting by Mr. Reynolds that it was almost impossible for any child…..to receive the benefit as they could not get to and from Bedford. It was agreed to write to the County Council with a view to children winning scholarships being allowed to attend a school at Wellingborough or some place other than Bedford.

Nothing came of the proposals and the parents of several children winning Free Places to Bedford schools paid fees for them to attend Wellingborough schools. It was not until 1926 that a Wymington boy who obtained a Free Place to Bedford School was able to travel daily between Bedford and Rushden. Today, about twenty four Wymington children attend Bedford Schools and are able to catch a bus in the village.

The school leaving age had been raised to fourteen in Bedfordshire, and this was the cause of complaint at an Annual Parish Meeting on May 8th 1922. One parishioner complained children could reach the highest standard by the age of twelve and he wanted to know what they were going to do if they were kept at school a further eighteen months before they could leave.

Mr. Lickerish stated his daughter’s teacher had told her she could not teach her any more. The child had to stay at school….and do her history all over again. Several parishioners thought the children should be allowed to leave at 13 as they could then do their parents good by going to work. Mr. Percival stated his opinion was that boys should be kept at school till 14 years old. As a Trades Union Official he found it was the boy labour that kept down the wages of the men.

Today with the school leaving age scheduled to be raised to sixteen, some of the same arguments are put forward.

Miss Rutter retired in 1928, after getting the school into an excellent state. She was succeeded by Mrs. Smith who was responsible for starting a school library, 16/6d was collected to buy books. There was no branch of the County Library in school until 1936. During Mrs. Smith’s headship, Sir Alan Cobham visited the neighbourhood with his Flying Circus, and the seniors were given permission to walk into Irchester to see the Air Display. [at Higham Ferrers]

Mrs. Smith resigned after seven years and was succeeded by Mrs. M. H. Jones, who began her duties on April 1st 1935, retiring on December 21st, 1963. She was with the school for over twenty eight years, as Miss Rutter had been. Both these periods had seen a great world war which had affected the school in very different ways.

During the 1914-18 war, normal lessons seemed to become of less importance than practical work done to aid the war effort. Sewing and knitting seemed to take up a great deal of time and the progress of the war itself was followed closely, the children making scrapbooks and giving news of relatives in the forces.

During the second war lessons carried on as usual with the addition of gas mask and dispersal drill. One great upheaval resulted from the school being shared with evacuees from Walthamstow, thirty two pupils and two teachers. The Wesleyan schoolroom had to be used as a classroom and congestion was made worse by the return of senior pupils from Harrold School in August 1940. There was no longer enough petrol to run the school bus to this new Secondary Modern school where children from surrounding villages were transferred at the age of eleven. It was not until January 1944 that the seniors were able to go back to Harrold. The school suffered some bomb damage when the west end of the school and the school house were damaged by blast during the night of November 29th-30th 1940.

In 1952 the school became ‘Aided’ with the name of Wymington Voluntary Primary, some control passing from the church to the Local Authority.

The school was seriously overcrowded when Mrs. Jones retired in 1963. In 1964 the nine and ten year old children were transferred to Sharnbrook school while in the meantime structural alterations went on. One of the classrooms was converted into an assembly hall and library (extensively stocked) and also used as a dining room. A kitchen block and two new classrooms were built on and on July 11th 1966 the school was re-united when the children returned from Sharnbrook School. The new building was dedicated by the Bishop of Bedford on October 31st 1966.

Mr. Summers left and Mr. Davis, a temporary head, took over until the present headmaster, Mr. D. Knowles, tool up his appointment on April 12th 1967.

The school is now in an excellent state, with much emphasis on purposeful creative activity, and some extremely good work is produced. ‘Doing’ is reinforced by formal teaching with satisfying results. There is a sense of freedom in the school, but within a structure of order and discipline. Just over seventy years ago, one mistress was in charge of nearly ninety pupils, and her only help was a monitress and occasionally, the rector. The number of pupils is now about the same and in addition to the headmaster there are three full time and one part time teacher, a school assistant and another lady who supervises at lunchtime.

Certain analogies may be drawn between conditions under the present headmaster, and those under Miss Rutter, who also did much for the school.

Conclusion

Wymington, lying on the north western edge of the county boundary, remote from and once little bothered by administrative Bedford, has been for the past one hundred years subjected to influence from its rapidly growing neighbour, Rushden. This has proved a mixed blessing in as much as it brought urban amenities, but detracted from the communal life of the village. It was impossible that Wymington should retain its own entity as a self-sufficient unit after Rushden, almost adjoining, became a manufacturing centre developing its urban status.

Wymington has always seemed a little different from its neighbouring Bedfordshire villages. Many of these had a large House or Hall with a squire to control and direct both the social and economic life of his tenants. Wymington was not in this position. The absence of a squire was not of disadvantage to the village. It meant that the Parish Council was not hampered in its efforts to secure amenities which a squire might possibly have neglected or delayed to provide on the grounds of cost. Wymington, by its own efforts, had these amenities. Public services were provided in the village years before some of its Bedfordshire neighbours, but their provision was inextricably linked with Rushden, as shown by the water and sewerage schemes. The supply of gas and electricity and the services of the Fire Brigade were all obtained by co-operation with Rushden. The agricultural depression of the 1870s would have seriously affected a completely rural society, but Wymington men were in the very fortunate position of being so close to Rushden that they could earn their living in the factories.

Yet the actual proximity of Rushden could not have been the only factor in Wymington’s development. Other villages in almost the same position remained static until comparatively recently. Yielden, also on the county border, three miles away, appear to gain little benefit from its nearness to both Rushden and Higham Ferrers; it is still rural and isolated. Podington, only a mile and a half from Wymington was far behind in the provision of public services which Wymington people seemed to take for granted. It was the efforts of the Parish Council, from its formation, up to the mid 1930s which secured the amenities. The later Councils have been concerned with maintaining and improving them.

It was the housing development of 1897, erected primarily for the benefit of Rushden families that caused a noticeable dichotomy in village interests. The influence of the church had begun to wane before the end of the century, but the incursion into the parish of the newcomers meant a stronger Non-conformist influence. The Wesleyan chapel had no resident minister, but was, and is, served by one from the Wellingborough circuit, so inevitably many of its interests are connected with Northamptonshire. The attraction of social functions in Rushden is undeniable, but when it was proposed that Wymington should have a village hall, a large amount of money was raised in a short time to provide one. This certain independence remained.

It was manifested clearly when under the Local Government (Boundary Commission) Act of 1954, the revision of the Bedfordshire-Northamptonshire border came under review in 1949 a great majority of the village residents strongly opposed proposals made by the Northamptonshire County Council that Wymington should be integrated with Rushden. The Parish Council was fully backed in its protest by the Rural Council of Bedfordshire, which in its submission to the Boundary Commission stated.

It is maintained that communally Wymington is separate and distinct from Rushden. It is maintained by the Beds. Rural District Council that Wymington would function as a district Parish even if the Rushden Urban District was non-existent, and that it is in no way an off-shoot of such Urban district, as is proved by the fact that the Parish Church was re-built about the year 1377.

The proposal was dropped for some years, but the question emerged again. In March 1959, it was proposed again that Wymington should join Rushden, and it was resisted again. No benefit would be gained as rates in the village were lower that in Rushden and there might possibly be an alteration in educational facilities. It was possible that the church would not be retained as a separate parish entity, although church members wished to remain in the diocese of St. Albans. A compromise was effected when the Boundary Commission on March 29th 1960 adjusted the boundary so that part of the parish which lay along the Bedford Road was transferred to the Rushden Urban District Council. The residents of this part of the parish were quite satisfied, as apart from administrative purposes, they might just as well have been in Rushden.

The position of Wymington is now less certain. The report of the Royal Commission on Local Government in England (The Maud Report) was discussed at length by the Bedfordshire Rural council at a meeting on May 30th 1970. The following is an extract from one of the minutes.

Your Sub-Committee recommends (d) the adoption of the northern boundary of the county as the northern boundary of the county as Unit 47, with the exception of the parishes of Wymington and Podington.

That small piece of Bedfordshire which intrudes into urban Northamptonshire, may yet be, ironically, discarded by that same council which once fought so hard to prevent its absorption into the sphere of Rushden’s administration. Should the proposals be accepted, Wymington, in spite of past efforts, will become part of unit 46, Northampton and Northants.