3. The Stony Stratford Schools Song Words by Paul Clark and Music by Neil Mercer
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Stony resident Tom Worker was born in the last year of the Boer Wars, in 1902. He lived and worked locally throughout eight decades of the 20th century. Based on his interviews with Living Archive in 1975, his life was dramatised in the 1992 community musical documentary, Worker By Name. Paul Clark’s song1 describes the town’s three schools in Tom’s time which mirrored the class distinctions of the era: Fegan’s School, York House School, and St Mary’s and St Giles School.
Fegan’s School ran from 1900 to 1961 and was located from 1875 in what was originally St Paul’s College. When this closed in 1895 after the death of its founder, the Reverend WY Sankey, it was known by the name of its new owner and founder, Mr JWC Fegan - ‘- a London businessman who was perturbed by the number of homeless on the streets of London. He housed them in various warehouses but sought a country home for them where they could be brought up in the fresh air and instructed in the Christian faith.’ NS This orphanage in the town became renowned, caring for some 4,000 boys in its 60 years. One resident recalled seeing them when out for a Sunday afternoon walk from Stony to Cosgrove: ‘We’d see the Fegan boys out across the field, all smart in their serge suits and red caps with a black rim, about 100 of them in a long crocodile… [Several Fegan’s boys went on to illustrious careers. One, for example, was Tom McLean, the first man ever to row around the world!’ Arthur Cowley 2.5 Fegan’s boys on a trip from the Stony Stratford orphanage. (LA-XSS/P085) Audrey Lambert (née Waine) was five when she started at York House, a private school, in 1933: ‘Greek Dancing was an extra… we took part in leotards around the fishpond which had a lawn area with trees in the centre of a circular driveway. In the winter, we had those long navy knickers (ETBs – elastic top and bottoms) with a pocket for a hankie on the front of one leg. The Head kept hers inside her knicker leg… always pulling up her skirts searching for it!.. ‘Winters were very cold – snow would stand in the streets some 3ft high at the side of our road. The school had only one ‘house’ fire in the corner of each room and teacher usually stood with her back to it! I had such bad chilblains – all my fingers covered in bandages… ‘Stationery, text books etc were all extras and from the age of 12 or so I was in charge of issuing these out - which were recorded to be put on the bills issued to parents each term. (At one time, it cost my father £9 a term for me in fees)… ‘Our desks were the 1920s brand – ironwork base, wooden desktop which lifted in which to keep books, ink-well on right hand corner and a wooden seat which lifted up when one had to stand at one’s desk. They were designed for two girls to sit together at each desk… ‘The school had a large barn for break-time if wet. We played with wooden hoops (my mother’s was an iron one), also skipping and hopscotch.’ Audrey Lambert[2] The Fegans building became a restaurant off the High Street; York House is now a community venue for the arts; and St Mary’s and St Giles School, described in the song as ‘for the common man’, is the only school of the three still operating, having opened with some of its current buildings in 1900: ‘Our school was started in 1611 when Michael Hipwell - owner and landlord of the Rose and Crown in Stony Stratford - left instructions in his will for the creation of a school for the children of the town. That charity continues to this day.’[3] [1] Downloads of the song’s two parts are supplied on this webpage from the LA Band 2015: (a) ‘Three schools’ in choir form; (b) ‘Schooldays’ in folk form [2] All these extracts are from LAMK’s archive of interviews with local people: see www.livingarchive.org.uk [3] From the St Mary’s and St Giles school’s earlier website: https://www.smsg.uk.com/st-mary-st-giles-charity |
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