To begin our story exchange in Praze, children from Crowan school decided they would like to know more about peoples school days. The children thought very carefully about what questions they could ask (they are now seasoned story-explorers so asking good questions has become a skill!) and created prompt cards that we could use with our lovely group of adults that afternoon.
We were pleased to welcome back people from the last session, as well as gain some new members. It’s amazing how much material is surfacing, with photographs or many elements of village life, press clippings through the ages, and so many wonderful stories.
Using the prompts written by the children, the group reminisced about their school days and we recorded the session so that we could feed back the stories to the children (well most of them- there are a few we wont be sharing with the children!!). There were some brilliant memories, and it’s incredible to think how much life has changed over the past few decades.
One of the participants is the lovely John Harris who is pictured here in his smartest school outfit, complete with hobnail boots and always in short trousers. John remembered how he would walk 2 cows to school with him everyday to graze in a nearby field before collecting them on his way home. On occasions he was lucky enough to get a lift in the side cart of this motorbike!
Many people remembered their time in the i-spy club, and there were plenty of memories of the time when Crowan School burnt down.
The ‘Linking Lifetimes’ project is kindly funded by the Big Lottery Fund.