My old school is closing

My alma mater, -  Onibury C of E Junior School - (now known as Onny Primary School) is falling victim to the cuts.

Shropshire Council has announced today that the end is nigh.  It can no longer be afforded.

According to its web site the school was established in the 16th century and the present building dates from 1836. So despite 175 years (or over 400 years if you take the earlier start date) of nearly continuous economic growth this basic village facility can no longer be afforded.

I was there from 1953 to 1959. My four brothers and two sisters followed and I think, by and large, we all enjoyed it. In 1953 there were more than 100 pupils, the school catered for children until they were old enough to join the world of work and the numbers were also swelled by the post-war baby boomers plus some refugees left over from WW11. Declining rural numbers were partly made up for by amalgamating with Bromfield School in 1983.

A village school is of course a matter of choice and priorities. It is much more efficient to teach children in larger institutions - and as most people now live in towns - village schools have moved way down the priority list of our governing classes. The accountant says - close the school, flog the building, bus the kids to town. He doesn't say that the children may be traumatised by the big school environment or that the village will lose one of its main pillars which binds its society together.

The school in Stoke Bliss was closed before we moved here in 1985 so I know what a village without a school feels like