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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 22 School During War

Credit line: Peter Moorey talks about going to Shottermill School during World War Two.

Transcription:

Interviewer: Can you remember much about Shottermill School?

Interviewee: We used to do gardening and we were taught gardening. We had a small plot each where we grew potatoes and radishes. This was during the War, World War Two, and I can remember having the classes interrupted by the air raids and going into the air raid shelter, so I missed quite a bit of my education. The evacuees came down from London, to escape from the Blitz, and they took over the school in the afternoons when we went to the Methodist Church, near the station, to be taught and we were taught at the proper school in the mornings.

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