'As our school, 'North End Church School', was small it had one large room and one small, plus one lavatory each side of the back of the school. One for boys and on our side we had the Cloakroom, with pegs for our coats and hats and a wash room with a sink with cold water always smelling of cold water and Primrose soap, a pure soap that came in bars and we cut it into blocks. Outside these little rooms was a small patch of grass and a large oak tree.'

That's how it was for Olive Hewitt (later Sharman) in her early schooldays which started before World War I.

'On fine days we often spent some time doing lessons or listening to 'Governess', as we called Miss Card. Mrs. Warner was the infant teacher and the smaller schoolroom was for the younger children.

When I first went there I was just three and a half years old. We made lovely squeaks as we drew pictures on the slates. We never used paper to write on until we went into the big room which had wooden partitions to divide the classes.

Our desks had ink wells and we had to be careful with our pens because of blots and still used slates for some things. I always enjoyed school, especially after I got into the Big Room as we called it, but I did not like sewing. We (the girls) had to learn to mend, darn, patch, etc. while the boys did simple woodwork but I did make a rug for a friend of Miss Card's.

We often had a well behaved black dog in school. He belonged to the landlady where Miss Card lived. The three children came to our school but they never spoke or petted the dog during classes and he sat by the fireplace until dinner time, when he had a run and something to eat.

On Empire Day, we sang songs and played games in the playground and then had the afternoon free. On King Charles Birthday, we played Pinch-Punch if children had not brought an Oak leaf to school and on May Day we used to tie May blossoms and Hawthorn flowers onto wooden hoops and play dancing games. The boys hated this, they had iron hoops, so did I. I helped the old blacksmith at Felbridge and he made me one. On May Day afternoon, the younger ones went home.'