mag 1210.pdf - Holybourne

I Remember...
In the late 1940s / early 1950s Holybourne Church of
England School (Andrews’ Endowed) was like any other
village school with the children performing the Nativity
Play, the carol singing for the parents and over 60s, the
Church Service and the school Christmas Party put on
by the head teacher, Mrs Smith. (the “big uns’” teacher),
Mrs Squibb, (the “littluns” teacher). and the cooks, Miss
Piggott, who lived in Howards Lane and Mrs Christy,
who lived in the dip.
There was usually fancy dress after the tea in the evening
when the parents arrived. There was no electricity in the
school or indoor toilets. The only water tap was in the
kitchen fed from a roof tank filled by a pump situated in the
school house Kitchen. The water came from an outside
well. It had what we called a “mouse” on the outside wall
to indicate how much water was in the storage tank. This
was a piece of wood on one end of a piece of string
hanging on an outside wall with various marks indicating
the level of water in the tank. The other end of the string
had a float floating on top of the water in the tank which
went up or down according to the water level. The “mouse”
was good to throw small stones or conkers at!
Christmas at Holybourne School was a lot different from
other schools because we all had a new pair of shoes from
the Trustees. At the end of November we all took home a
piece of paper for our mums that we had copied off the
blackboard in our best handwriting, instructing them to
take us to the Miss Chapman’s shoe shop at the bottom of
Crown Hill in Alton. Mum would take my sister and me to
Alton to have a fitting and choose a pair of shoes. She
would meet us from school and we would catch the bus to
Alton from outside Mr. Campbell’s (now Gaskell Close).
It would cost Mum about 6d (old money) for the three of us.
After the fitting the shoes were put back in the boxes with
the name of the recipient marked on the top. It was a treat
to then go and see Father Christmas either in Currys shop,
now a baker / cake shop or Simmons Store where the A1
Insurance Company building now stands. Dad would come
and meet us and we would walk home in the dark to
Holybourne - only the odd gas lamp then.
About a week later the shoes would be delivered to the
school, usually by Ray Reed’s taxi. Ray lived in 22 Howards
Lane from where he ran his taxi business. The boxes would
be given out for everyone to check they had the shoes they
had chosen at the shop. After school we would take them
home. I remember once some of the boys had boots not
shoes and Mrs. Squibb held one up and asked if anyone
knew what the tags were on the top and back of the boots.
No one knew. One boy called David Holloway put his hand
up and said “Is it to hang them up to dry?” We all had a good
laugh after Mrs Squibb told us it was to pull them on with!
In my Father’s and Uncle’s time at the school the boys were
given a suit of clothes to their parents’ choice of fabric. . I
understand the girls had a dress. I saw an old archive
record book a few years ago with my Uncle’s and others’
names in and the fabric my Gran had chosen Sadly over
time this is another local tradition that has died away
through lack of funds The present Trustees are still an
active force behind the scenes and have recently assisted
with some of the finance towards the newly complete
classrooms.
David Andrews
Auld Lang Syne
“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.”
Every New Year we sing Auld Lang Syne, but what are
we singing about?
The Anglicized version of ‘auld lang syne’, which means
old long-since or old long-ago, is probably best
translated as ‘old times past’. So, we are reminiscing
about days gone by and remembering old friends and
acquaintances.
But what about the second verse which reads:
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
(And there is a hand my trusty friend)
And gies a hand o’ thine!
(And give me a hand of yours)
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
(And we will take of a good drink/toast)
For auld lang sine.
(For old long ago)
So, I am assuming that you will be taking a right gudewillie-waught
over Christmas and the New Year.
The Holybourne Village Magazine - Winter Issue 2010
Page 9