STOURTON and GASPER HISTORY

Stourton School 1894

Stourton National School 1908

Stourton School, Empire Day, May 1912

School children having tea at Stourhead, date unknown

‘It was Mrs. Burford was Head Teacher (at Stourton School) and Mrs. Pearce was the Infants Teacher – there were only two classes. Mrs. Pearce was the Policeman’s wife and Mrs. Burford lived on the High Street. She was quite strict and I can’t say as I liked her very much but Mrs. Pearce was lovely…’ Caroline Parsons

‘The little room (at Stourton School) ranged from 5 years to 7 years and then you went into the big room and stayed there until you were 11. It was just one big room and I always remember it being ever so high and there was a great big clock on the wall and also a great big – I think it was a turtle shell, a big one. I often wonder where that’s to now. We sat at a chair and a desk and we used to have pens that you dipped in the inkwell, you know, and pencils and things like that. All we had was a stove, a pot-bellied stove in the School Room – there was no other heating…’ Caroline Parsons

Stourton School 1956

Mrs Culling (Teacher)
Back row: Michael Viner, ?, Shirley Viner, Christopher Hurst, ?, Brian Davis, Sandra Gray, Gail Norris, David Maidment
Middle Row: ? Plumley, Susan Gray, ?, Katherine Nurse, Barry Viner, Graham Smart, Alan Maidment, Jackie Hagger, Roger Chapple, Silvia Hurst, Anbela Hurst, Malvin Gray, Edward Davis
Front Row: Nicholas Nurse, ?, Shirley Smart, John Smart, Gerald Ledbury, ?, Brian Chapple, James Chapple, John Jenkins, Roger Hurst

Gillingham School Uniform

There was the eleven-plus examination that they could take and if they passed they could go to Gillingham School, otherwise they could come to Stourton School …’ Valerie Evill

‘They used to bring school dinners from the School Kitchens in Mere, down where the roman Catholic Church is. And they used to bring them up in, I think it was Gatehouse’s Taxis – bring them up all around the Schools in Kilmington and Stourton. It was very nice…’ Caroline Parsons

Donald Newbury by his 1950's Bedford Coach