An interesting and fascinating talk about the heritage on our doorstep on Friday 20th September at Ebberston Village Hall. Everyone welcome.
A disappointing turn out of spectators for the duck derby this year but thanks to some solid effort by Jan Abery and Glenys Rowe who sold lots of ducks in advance, we still raised over £100, which will no doubt be put to use in the planned refurbishment of the village hall kitchen!
The lovely pictures are courtesy of talented villager Richard Olivier.
The kitchen in Ebberston village hall was installed following the conversion of the former village school over 30 years ago. As many will know, it is now rapidly approaching the end of its useful life. So we are very pleased to have been awarded funds from the National Lottery Community Fund which will help to remodel the kitchen with new cupboards, work surface, sinks and new flooring.
The Village Hall, and by extension the kitchen, is at the centre of much community life in Ebberston. As well as children’s parties and funeral teas, the hall provides a meeting place for many village organisations (Parish Council, Women’s Institute, Sportsfield Association) and is used for many activities such as the Yoga, Table Tennis, Flower Arranging and Craft Groups, as well as chapel and church for lunches and other events. Almost all use the kitchen, so the update and revamp is essential to the continued vibrancy of the Village Hall and all its user groups.
We are really grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund (and everyone who buys a lottery ticket!) for the funding. We anticipate work to begin later in the year and we hope that disruption to hall users will be kept to a minimum.
What a brilliant day. The first (and maybe not the last) Made In Ebberston was a great success, and who knew there was such talent and creativity in such a small space? Well, to be honest, we did..but now you know too!
Stalls were spread across the village hall and the chapel, with 30 sellers and exhibitors. Well done to the organising team, especially Sarah and Lynne. From apple juice, to painting and photography, to model yacht-making, to jams and marmalades, to jewellery and needlecraft, to quilts, to massage, to honey, to ceramics…
Photos courtesy of Carol Olivier.
As one of the key focal points in Ebberston, the Village Hall hosts weekly events such as table tennis and yoga. But before it became the Village Hall in 1975, the older residents of Ebberston will remember it simply as the Village School. Erected in 1874 AD, the school started out with pupils occupying two classrooms. The smaller classroom (now the kitchen) had children ranging from 5 to 11, which in the 1950s, was taught by Miss Heuby. The main classroom (now the main hall) had the rest of the children, taught by the Headmaster Mr Winspear from the age of 11 to when they left at 14.
Due to the small size of the building there was no room for a canteen, so the school rented the Chapel House now the privately owned Wesley House as the school dinner hall. Doreen Ruth Vasey who went to Ebberston school between 1950 and 1958 fondly remembers the school dinner being the best part of the day. ” I remember walking down the street in pairs to the Chapel Schoolroom, and I always looked forward to it as the dinners where always very nice”.
Like many schools in the 1900s, Ebberston was provided with little glass bottles with milk in for every student in the school every day which the school then warmed up for drinking. Mary Langdale a resident of Ebberston told me how they kept the milk warm, “They would give us 1\3 of a pint of milk which would have been warmed by the open fire at the south end of the main classroom. The milk would be lined up on a stone in front of the fire”.
As I was doing my research for this blog I discovered that villager John Wood had inherited an old cupboard that was actually used in the school. The cupboard had two marks on the side both to hang two canes. John kindly allowed me to take a photo of it. Apparently, one cane was used for the knuckles while the other was used for bottoms!
Got some duplicates in your own collection? Fancy a swap? Bring them along on the night – you might even be able to make up your set!
