Muston School in 1940

Remembered by Gerald Coy

By Iain Coy

Muston School in 1940.

Left to right, back row: Melvin Bradbury, Peter Calcraft, Gerald Coy, Mary Calcraft, Ann Calcraft, Roger (evacuee) and Peter Robinson.

Front row, left to right: Elizabeth Topps, Muriel Hodgkinson, Jolly Weatherall, Jill Carrington, Christine (unknown surname) and the teacher’s dog.

This page was added on 08/09/2013.

Comments about this page

  • Thanks to Melvin Bradbury, who was also able to tell us the names of his classmates and add that the teacher’s name was Mrs Brown. Christine, front row right, was the teacher’s cousin. Peter Calcraft lived in Sedgebrook.

    By Editor (11/11/2013)
  • What a lovely photograph! I believe that Jill Carrington is my cousin and we both shared the same grand-mother, Florence Maud Carrington (1882-1973). I also believe that Jill married a Sydney Flick, so if anyone knows whether Jill or any of her family members are still in the Bottesford area I would love to hear from them, as I live close by in Nottingham.

    By Jacqui Freeborough (nee Beresford) (21/01/2014)
  • Katy and I and family are thrilled to hear about your publication in Natural Bridge! Congratulations Dave. Very well done. There will be many new subscriptions to Natural Bridge in the coming days. Lots of love, Dan, Katy, Molly, and Charlie. PS we are Skyping right now as we write it on the website, so it is really from all of us.

    By Tilly (02/05/2016)
  • I was friends with Ann Calcraft and my mum was a good friend of Ann’s mum! Ann’s father was a postman and died of TB. Mrs Calcraft sat with me during my mother’s very painful birth of my sister, Gill, at the old cottage at The Nook. That baby, incidentally, was over 11 lbs and was born without any kind of painkillers for my Mom. There were only dim oil lamps for the doctor to see by. He was a locum who was filling in for Dr Rankin, who had a broken arm. At one time my grandfather had to make a decision on who he had to save, as Gill’s shoulders were firmly stuck in the birth canal!!! My grandfather opted for my mother, and after a long period, this magnificent doctor returned wringing wet with perspiration and said they had both made it!!! That doctor was brilliant, but also an alcoholic and we heard, several months later, that he had died in a car crash, bless him!

    By Ann Lucas née Hersey (10/07/2015)
  • The teacher was my grandfather’s sister, Caroline (Carrie) Brown nee Miller (born 1891 in Bottesford). My mother told me that she always had the dog with her and it sat under the desk during lessons. Caroline Brown’s daughter, Beryl, was born in about 1923 and is still alive and living in Cromer.

    By Anne Irons (10/11/2015)
  • Ann Calcraft (presumably of Syke Lane farm) was cousin to my father. My father was born at the farm, but his father died young so the family had to move out and let his brother Albert take over the farm. Therefore I believed Ann’s father, Albert, to be a farmer and I didn’t know he died of TB. I was born in 1960 and can remember him sitting in his chair in the farmhouse kitchen.

    By Ellen Macdonald (11/01/2016)
  • I believe that must be my aunt Mary the tallest in the picture. She would have been 12 at the time

    By Anita Calcraft (29/07/2018)
  • My Father is Peter Robinson and I have an original copy of this. He passed 2017. He liked this photograph and would recall his friends and school days. He also never looked any different than in the photograph.

    By Wendi Robinson (11/05/2019)
  • Hi Wendi, thanks for this comment and the one on the Herbert Turner page. With regard to the school picture on this page, it is always a pleasure to see the children looking so happy (except for Jolly Weatherall, who doesn’t look jolly at all). Pictures taken earlier in the century always seem to look more solemn, or even a bit anxious, but here they seem to be at ease with life. Not least your dad, whose smile beams out at us over the years. Best wishes, Neil.

    By Neil Fortey (11/05/2019)
  • Muriel Hodgkinson is my cousin and is still living in Corby. I also attended this school in 1944 as my grandfather and grandmother lived at Hospital farm and worked the land and I lived with them during the war . The family name was Shipman . I remember Jolly Weatherall . Milk was delivered to him by us via pony and trap ! My name is Ian Croskell and I have lived in Ontario Canada for 50 years .

    By Ian croskell (19/01/2020)
  • Hi Ian, Many thanks for your interest and your reminiscences of life in Muston. Kind regards, David

    By David Middleton (19/01/2020)
  • Does anybody remember the twin girls who lived at no 1 Hunmanby Street l was a pen friend to them after we played rounders ,l lived at whitby then the year was about early fifties,it would be so interesting to see them as l live in Hunmanby now

    By Sylvia taylor (25/05/2023)
  • Hi Sylvia

    There is no Humnanby Street in Muston.

    Muston is near Bottesford in Leicestershire not Bottesford in north Lincolnshire.

    Many thanks for your interest in the website.

    By David Middleton (26/05/2023)

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