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Schooldays in Haslemere

Between the 1940s and 1960s, Haslemere had a variety of different schools. Private schools included St Ives, which at this time was a school ran by the Parents’ National Educational Union and as such emphasised the teaching of nature studies and the arts. The Haslemere School on Chestnut Avenue was opened on 22nd April 1900. It was originally designed for some 220 pupils and built by public subscription. There were also smaller schools such as Hillside School, situated for a time on the Petworth Road and run by the formidable Miss Welland, and Shottermill School in Lion Lane. Woolmer Hill, today the only secondary school in Haslemere, was built in the 1950s to satisfy requirements of 1944 Education Act.

Track 14 School Plays

Credit line: Elizabeth Boniface talks about school concerts at Hillside School.

Transcription:

Interviewee: We had these wonderful concerts every Christmas and as I had long, very fair, curly hair I was always the sort of main. I was Cinderella and Ellie in the Water Babies and anything like that until they got to Babes in the Wood. No it wasn’t Babes in the Wood. It was something that had a fairy and a goblin in it I remember. My friend Pauline, who had straight black hair with a fringe, was the fairy leader and I had all my hair hidden away as a goblin leader because they said no way could they make me a fairy!

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