YOUR PROJECTS
Rosemary Collins finds out about a project that’s keeping the legacy of schools in the Upper Dales alive
Celebrating the legacy of schools in the Upper Dales
The village school has been at the heart of life in Yorkshire’s Upper Dales for centuries. But as the community ages, it’s becoming harder to attract and retain young families. The number of pupils at most local primary schools has fallen dramatically in the past generation, and two have closed since 2017.
The Story of Schools project was set up by the Dales Countryside Museum and The NASH (the former National School at Hawes, which is now a community studio space), and focuses on the history of schools in the three northernmost Dales: Wensleydale, Swaledale and Arkengarthdale. The project, funded by grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Sustainable Development Fund, includes interviews with local residents exploring their memories of their school days.
“It’s been a real pleasure to hear these people’s life stories,” says Emily Rowe Rawlence, project lead at The NASH. “It blows my mind what each person is able to remember and able to share. There are people aged 92 who can remember their school days better than I can.”
Many of the interviews have been shared on The NASH’s website at thenashhawes.org/story-of-schools. One interviewee is 88-year-old Bill Martin. Bill and his family were originally from Gateshead, but moved to Arkengarthdale to escape the Blitz during the Second World War.
Reminiscing about his school days, Bill says: “One game was hoops and stick. One or two of the boys had a steel hoop about the size of a car wheel, just thin, but strong enough to hold together… Many of the boys played the mouth organ, but I used to play the knackers. They were like two smooth bones. You held them between your fingers and with a bit of practice you could rattle out some tunes with them.”
The organisers of the project originally planned to hold immersive workshops for local primary schools. Covid-19 prevented many of these from going ahead, but three workshops took place in school playgrounds. The workshops included actor
Mark Cronfield playing John Iveson, headmaster of the National School at Hawes from 1871 to 1876.
“Delving into the history, Iveson was a real disciplinarian and a real character,” Emily reveals. “In many of his log entries he berates his pupilteachers, and despairs over poor attendance. Children would regularly stay off school to help on the farm, but also for a host of other reasons: deep snow, infectious illness, or to attend a fair, a funeral or a wedding.”
Researching the archival records of local schools has given Story of Schools new insights into how education has changed. Emily says, “Education was compulsory 11 years before it was free, and the extra pence would have been a burden to many families. How do you negotiate forcing people to pay for school when they’ve never had to attend before?”
The Story of Schools is accompanied by an exhibition at the museum. As well as featuring the project’s findings, a short film and activity packs, it will unveil a mosaic by digital artist Helen Marshall composed of more than 1,500 pictures submitted by members of the public to create a single image of school life in the Upper Dales, past and present.
‘It’s been a real pleasure to hear people’s life stories’