Abandoned

When I was on the way back from my Dad's a couple of weeks ago, I stopped to take pictures of my Primary school in the next village. It has been empty for some years now, and I don't know what will happen to it in the future. The main buildings are lovely. Made from Kentish ragstone, they are very solid, and would make a great conversion project for someone with lots of cash-and who doesn't mind living on a main road.

I can remember a lot of things about this place-unusually for me as I have a terrible memory. This area is the site of the swimming pool which must have been demolished at some point. It was a pool which came up to the chest or neck of a small child and waist of a bigger one. I once feel I nearly drowned in it-I slipped and was under the water for what seemed like ages trying to get my footing. When I did and came up nobody had noticed!

It is also the site of some metal bars, which I managed to fall off of, and get a massive lump on my head-big enough to be sent home. There were also metal gates here-I hurt myself on those too-catching my finger between them and the frame. I still have a strangely shaped right forefinger because of this! It seems I was a little accident prone,
Over by those wooden railings was where the milk was left in crates. Lovely in the winter, revolting in the summer. It is also the entrance to some classrooms which back onto the railway. My friends and I were convinced there were railway worker's ghosts haunting this part of the school. (As well as the usual ones in the toilets!)This door has a little cloakroom behind it, and leads onto the hall. I remember assemblies in there, sitting on the parquet floor listening to Mr Chaston. There was a lovely cloth picture of the village which I used to spend a lot of time staring at. All the little houses were a different seventies type fabric-really beautiful! I also remember a play that we watched in there, where old fashioned leather suitcases flew across the space above our heads. To this day it feels like real magic, and at the time it certainly was.

Behind there, in the left hand side of the picture is the entrance to more classrooms and to the dinner hall and kitchen. I remember one maths lesson where we were taken into the kitchen and shown the giant red recipe book. The lesson was to convert one of the recipes which fed many, into one that would feed a few. Maths was not my strong point so although the visit to the kitchen was interesting, the conversion exercise was not!

The school office and the Head's office were in here. The murals are after my time.

Part of the playground where games of 'chain he', marbles, horses, and chase were played. 'Chain he' was terrifying-ending with a long line of children linked by their arms, bombing around the playground after those not in the chain. I think you had to grab onto the end to be safe-and to make the chain longer and harder to avoid.

This last view looks across to the garden of the house next door to the school-I think the vicarage-but may be wrong. We were allowed to play in this garden in the summer. The best thing about it was the enclosed space made at the end by trees-yew I think they may have been as they were very dark. Thrilling to hide in anyway!