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RECOLLECTIONS
LOUISA SMITH
My appointment to Hullbridge School in 1940 was my first as a head teacher. The school building consisted of a large room which could be partitioned into two classrooms by a large sliding screen, with
a further classroom at each end. Cloakrooms containing washbasins were situated at each end of the building by the entrances. Toilets were at the far end of the playground and frequently froze over in
winter. The school was not connected to main drainage but had a cesspool which had to be emptied periodically.
The heating system, fueled by a large coke boiler, was rather inadaquate and there was an open fire in each room. Children from outlying areas brought potatoes which I put in the ashes under the grate.
The potatoes were ready to be eaten by dinner time and formed the children`s midday meal. There were no school meals then.
My previous experience had been as an assistant in urban schools and I was totally unaware of the difficulties encountered by children living in rural areas. Attendance was severely affected by weather
conditions and children living in outlying areas were sometimes unable to attend because of snow or floods making the road impassable.
Infectious illnesses, such as measles, whooping cough and chicken pox frequently led to low attendance. But the biggest cause of disruption in school was the frequency of air raid warnings. The first
shelter was erected in the early days of 1941 but at first had no heating or lighting and no form of seating. Often it was too cold to take the children into the cold and damp shelter which was situated
at the far end of the playground. Hullbridge was within the
10 mile limit from the coast and sometimes planes were overhead before the warning was sounded. It was therefore essential to scan the sky for enemy aircraft before taking the children to the shelter
and when deemed necessary they stayed in school and crouched under the desks.
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