Yarmouth marsh panorama with Mill and stream on right
We lived in the last house down Station Road just before the station, St Kilda it was called then, Mill Stream Cottage it’s called now. Beautiful views. I used to spend my time off over the marsh there, into the copses, Thorley Copse or Mill Copse. I don’t think you can get into Thorley Copse now, that was the one I particularly liked. We used to go birds nesting and things like that. Not that I should be proud of that now. Colin Smith b1921
From a letter to Yarmouth School
Looking back with pleasure over the years, it seems that school in summer revolved round the time of high tide. Our daily swimming lesson took up the latter part of the morning or afternoon. It was not often that we missed. Occasionally we went to the beach by the Pier, but most often it was down the turning up the High Street. We all undressed on the beach – very stony it was too – and we mastered the art of an exceedingly rapid change. There was a small raft beside a breakwater which good swimmers used.
We were encouraged to learn to swim. Mr Stanway would give 6d to anyone who learnt and to the one who taught the swimmer. Many people went on to do the mile and to learn life saving. For this we went to the harbour and were thrown out of a boat fully dressed.
Excerpt from School Log
We had to undress in the water – get ashore – and also “rescue” a drowning person – swim underwater and dive off the boat without capsizing it.
The highlight of the swimming season was the Cowes Regatta, and a great honour to be picked for the team, for which we received a medal. Also if you were good there was the chance of winning some pocket money at the various regattas.
Barbara Dence b 1920
Barbara Dence’s 1929 swimming certificate
There were sometimes dolphins in the Solent when you were swimming along off Yarmouth.
I do remember one occasion when we had been practising our mile swim, a thin little girl who was a good swimmer set off for the pier before us. As I got near to the pier the current was getting stronger and it was harder work. Florrie Knee called out to me to come and help her. She wasn’t in trouble but the little girl was, under the pier, and Florrie was trying to help her. Although she was a good swimmer, the tide was pulling her and she was tired. Florrie and I managed to help her ashore, and she ran home. Nobody ever knew what had happened, or what nearly happened.
Gerry Sheldon nee Haward b1924
I loved our visits to Love Shore once or twice a week.
I cant imagine how from a safety point of view that could happen today.
I learned to swim quite quickly (no armbands etc) and ended up with a silver medal in 1934 for swimming a mile, from Eastmore, Bouldnor, to the Pier at Yarmouth accompanied by a rowing boat.
Florrie Sloper nee Knee b 1922
When we was kids, we used to go out up the railway line picking blackberries. We used to wait for the train to go, then nip along the line. You couldn’t get off the track very well, it was a bit more wired up to what it is now. You used to have to make a good bit of a dash for it from Barnsfield Creek up to where the next lot of trees were – we used to call it Furze Break because it was all brambles on the right hand side. We used to pick loads of blackberries up there. I’ve even known my mother walk up there and pick them with us. Phil Kelsey b 1920
My father was employed as a gardener and worked in several different places. He worked for The Pier Hotel (now the George Hotel), in the garden opposite the school. In Ommanney Road, there was a garden owned by the Bugle where he also worked. That was next to a vegetable garden for The Towers. He grew the vegetables for his own family in an allotment at the top of Victoria Road.
The bridge was a toll bridge and regular users got a weekly ticket. Dad worked for the Tophams over in Norton as a gardener, and so had a weekly ticket. We children used to sneak behind a charabanc to get over the bridge without paying.
I can remember getting winkles from Pier Shore and the Common up to Bouldnor as far as Stone Pier, and prawning off the Common – I remember seeing seahorses there.
Joan Cokes nee Cooper b1918
We always knew when the school dentist had arrived – you saw his head bobbing up and down at the windows as he walked along, because he had a wooden leg.
You had a yellow form to take home. It cost 6d for treatment, no matter what you had done. I’ll never forget Mr Cartwright pumping away on his treadle, working the drill.
Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921
I loved school; I was so happy there. The teachers were very strict but I think it was better then.
Mr. Stanway used to shove you in the back. I liked Miss Chambers ‘though.
We went on a trip to London, when I was in the senior standard, to visit museums and so on. Oh it did make our feet ache! Miss White, our teacher was with us. I remember she massaged our feet at the end of the day, she was so kind.
Yarmouth School trip of 1933 with Miss White
School trip 1933 Effie middle row left, Eileen, back row left,
Phil Kelsey front row second left, Miss White centre left with Head teacher Mr. Stanway
When I left, they gave me a special award, for 7 and a half years continuous attendance, I hadn’t had a single day off in that time. Imagine!
I remember one day Miss Chambers had to go home. She wasn’t well – a dog had bitten her leg. They left me in charge of the little ones, 12 of them. We had the rocking horse, and I looked after them. That was the best day for me. I always wanted to work with children.
Effie Pitman b 1921
Yarmouth School trip on the ferry photo contributed by Di Broomfield
I went to Yarmouth School (as did my father, my son and daughter, and my two grandchildren). I remember having to wear a Panama hat on school outings; we bought them from a shop in the High Street. One trip was to Windsor.
Joan Cokes nee Cooper b 1918
I am now 82 and did all my schooling at Yarmouth from the years 1927-1936 and I feel I received a first class education all those years ago.
In 1927 I started in the infants (at 5 years) and my teacher was Miss Ella Chambers (always felt a bit special as my birthday was the same day as hers).
We were really drilled in phonic sound and I always delighted in getting my spelling right. English was always my stronger point, but I have never forgotten my times tables and have found them a godsend right up to the present day.
I then went up to Standards 1 and 2, my teacher was Miss Ireland. (I never knew her first name). She was one of the “old school” but we really forged ahead with reading etc. I used to love Friday afternoon 3.30pm when she always read to us and particularly remember “A Basket of Flowers”, very sad. Florrie Sloper nee Knee b 1922
Basket of Flowers book cover ; class reading mentioned by Florrie Sloper nee KneeThe Basket of Flowers: A Tale for the Young by Christoph von Schmid
James, the king’s gardener, teaches his 15-year-old daughter Mary all the principles of godliness through his flowers. She is falsely accused of stealing, and the penalty is death. Mary remembers her father had taught her: that it is better to die for the truth than to live for a lie.