Children at Orton CofE School celebrated the 1950s with past pupils from that era at a special celebration in school.
Headteacher, Mrs Emma Pomfret said: “Last Autumn, we discovered an archive recording of Orton School from 1953 when the BBC visited the school for Children’s Hour. We guessed that some of the children featured on the records were still local residents but now in their 70s and 80s. Helped by Orton resident, Marian Robinson and looking through the old registers, we did a bit of detective work. Then we approached as many people who we thought attended Orton School of that generation as we could and invited them to put us in touch with other past pupils.”
Orton School invitation
With over 30 people identified both locally and much further afield, Orton School invited them all to a special morning in school with tours guided by today’s Class 4 pupils, an exhibition of past photographs, registers, documents and other memorabilia and a buffet lunch (supplied by Westmorland Family at Tebay).
“We very much wanted to bring these two generations together to share their experiences of school,” said Hannah Lamb, the Class 4 teacher. “To coincide with HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, our history learning this term has been all about the 1950s. We’d been talking about some of the things the children wanted to know about being at school when HM The Queen came to the throne and, in preparation for our visitors, we’d learnt a bit about how to interview people and explore their history. Once the visitors and the children got to know each other, there was no stopping some of them with lots of conversation and plenty of laughter too.”
Fondest memories of 1950s
“It was incredible to see all the guests and hear them share their fondest memories from their time at Orton school in the 1950s,” recounted Lilly-Grace.
“I loved meeting older versions of us. I especially loved hearing Kitty’s troublesome tales. I think she was quite mischievous!” laughed Ella.
All in all, it was a wonderful morning with old friends getting together, sharing memories and making new connections across the generations.
Changes over past 70 years
“The school, the curriculum and a lot of other things may have changed in 70 years,” said Mrs Pomfret, “but our visitors still shared a lot in common with today’s Orton School pupils and it was wonderful to see how much everyone enjoyed it. Thank you to Westmorland for providing lunch, to Debra, Megan, Lottie and Liz who provided refreshments on arrival and to everyone who contributed documents and photographs to the exhibition.”
Orton School will be participating in the Jubilant 50s Scarecrow Exhibition around Orton in the week from 28 May to 5 June and there will also be an exhibition and a Scarecrow Street Party in All Saints Church Orton.
