Category: General

Most residents of the village will be familiar with the Old School that sits on the High Street in the village. This was the village school up until the 1960’s and many of the current residents spent some of their school days at the old school. It may look quiet now, but it once it was at the heart of the community in the same way as St Helens’ school is today.

Recently some records were unearthed which inspired two contributors to the Heritage project to carry out further research in to the old day school.

Elaine Gebbie has written a fabulous article based on the Attendance Registers of the School dating back to 1899. A great read for all you current, past and future teachers out there. It takes a look at the contents of the registers and allows us to understand how there were as many rules for the staff as there were for the pupils. Entitled THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE ABSOLUTELY ABYSMAL, it’s really worth a read, interesting and amusing in equal measure.

David Gedye, has written a really interesting article on the history of education in Bluntisham entitled Revolution or Evolution – The arrival of Universal Education in Bluntisham-cum-Earith. It’s a detailed account of how education in the village developed, the stories behind the village charities and the people involved in bringing education to the village. Starting in the 1700’s all the way through to when St Helen’s school opened. A real history of education in the village and the physical building, including thought provoking details on the benefits of running water – you’ll need to read it to find out what I mean.

Both can be found by following the link at the top of the page. I hope that you enjoy reading them both as much as I did, thank you Elaine and David for your hard work.

Philippa 30.01.2022

The village sign was designed and built by Harry lee, and this photo shows its unveiling on 23rd September 1984, almost exactly 37 years ago. The sign still sits on the same spot and was renovated a couple of years ago, but this is the original unveiling. Its even before the Willow trees were planted, its that long ago.

Its a great share and we would like to thank Sylvia Smith for sharing it with us. All we need now is a list of all the people in the photo. We have some names, but a re keen to fill in the gaps. So far we have, from the left – Sylvia Smith, Majorie Ward, Geoff Mitchell, Chris Morris, xx, David Searle, Jill Nixon ( Miss Hunts Post), Veronica Waldock, Jackie Daniels, Jill Gorski, ,John Mehew, Margaret Lumb, David Godfrey, front row – Denise Daniels, Nicki Wade, Rebecca Waldock, Joanne Sugden

So just one more name needed ….

Thank you to everyone who helped with the names, here is a list of those village sleuths … Amanda Large, Dave Glover, Brian Richardson, Joanne Cleaver, Gordon McMillan, Debbie Jones, Beverley Barlow, Sarah Hartley, Sharon Read, Sophie Day, Jamie Smith, Julian Hunter, Rachel Wade and Harry Potter – thank you.

It’s a beautiful sunshine filled September day today. Some of us may be thinking of having a BBQ and popping down to the butchers for some suitable BBQ fare. The photo in this post is of a bill from H.Purchas, the old village butcher in 1923 for meat supplied to the Tebbutt family. It was probably their bill for Christmas but in today’s money this was roughly £105

So if you are having a BBQ today, see what the price is for a pound and a half of sausages, in today’s money this is about £4 and roughly half of the cost of sausages today, depending on how fancy your sausages are!

We are in the process of adding lots more details to the site, so more updates to follow in the near future. In the meantime if you have discovered anything that you would be happy to share with us please get in touch.

This photo was provided by Frances Tebbutt.

We have now produced a newsletter which is a short summary of some of the excellent new editions on the website. Some good news stories and tributes to some well known and well loved members of the community.

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As we are all more than aware, the second lockdown of 2020 means that we are unable to mark remembrance day as we would do in normal times. However, with huge thanks to Marian Land we are able to share with you the opportunity to access her research in to the former residents of Bluntisham who served in World War One. Marian has written an introduction to her work, provided an example of research folder and a list of all the people for whom she has created a file. We hope that this will allow us all to recognise Remembrance Weekend during this lockdown . Thank you Marian for all your hard work and for allowing us to share this on the Heritage Project. Please click this link to access the research https://www.bhp-pc.org.uk/bluntisham-cum-earith-war-memorial/

Check out new photos provided by Helen Starling showing some old images of the playground. For those who don’t remember where the playground used to be it was located where the outdoor gym is now. The football pitch was on the cricket pitch, they shared facilities from the early 1970’s. See the photo provided by John Wadsworth of the football team who were the first to play in the new location (previously football was played on a pitch in Wood End)

Bluntisham also had its own tennis courts, these were also located in Mill Lane and were on the right hand side, houses now replace the old courts. Helen has also provided some pictures of Presses Close.

So what are you waiting for…..get searching.

Welcome to Autumn. If you are looking to find something interesting to do on this very wet Sunday afternoon, can I suggest that you have a look around the Heritage website. In particular have a read of the new article on the Barograph. All residents of Bluntisham, both past and present will be familiar with the Barograph that stands at the top of the High Street. I am not sure how many will know who, why or when it was erected and who looks after it now. Hopefully this article will give you a taste of its history and inspire you to have a look at the readings next time you are passing.

Click here

With thanks to Nora Crick, we have added some new photos today. This one is of the St Helen’s Dinner Ladies, back in the 70s. On the back row are Mary White, Nora Crick, Marilyn Clements. On the front row are Anne Ward, Joy James and Joyce Dighton. Nora also shared with us a great photo of a snowy back garden in Presses Close, with nothing but orchards backing on to the garden where today you would find The Poplars. To see more please look in the following galleries – Presses Close, the Baptist Chapel, Parish Church, Short Lane and Colne Road. Thank you again Nora for sharing more photos with the Heritage Project.

Welcome to the July 2020 Newsletter and hopefully as you read this more restrictions on daily life have been lifted. The three month lockdown has been a unique moment in the history of the village and one that we have tried to record in the Covid section of the website. Thank you to everyone who sent in their photos to be included on the page.

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