Meetings are open to all. There is always a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. For information, you can ring Audrey Pyle on (0191) 413 2023, or David Hesketh on (0191) 413 4738. Subscription: £3 per year. Join at any meeting

Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month, September to June, in the Supper Room of the Community Centre, at 7.30 p.m. Refreshments at all meetings.

Between April and July we also have trips to places of historic interest, leaving the Community Centre at 10 a.m. Shared car transport.

January 8. History at Work. Special guest: Ronald Ramshaw who was a miner at Greenside Pit till it closed in 1966

February 5. Ryton War Memorials Project. Malcolm Anderson and Ian Mutch give an update on the project with illustrations and lots of new information.

March 4. The Miners' Banners of County Durham by Derrick Scott. Now that Greenside has its new banner, it will be interesting to hear something about other banners of the Durham coalfield. Illustrated.

April 1. Quiz Evening.

April 8. History trip

May 6. Stargate by John Boothroyd of Gateshead Central Library. John lives in Emmaville and has a wide knowledge of the local area.

May 13. History trip.

Saturday May 17, 9.30 - 12.30. Local History Fair at Gateshead Central Library. We are hoping to have a table, if we can get transport for our display.

June 3. The Hadrian's Wall Path by Tom Feeley. Tom is our own expert on the Romans, and those who heard his last talk and came on the tour round Corbridge Roman Fort will not want to miss this. Film followed by question and answer session.

June 10. History trip.

July 8. Annual minibus excursion. It has been suggested we visit Escomb Saxon Church, and maybe visit Bishop Auckland to finish. Other suggestions welcome.

Starting in September, 2008, all the classes in Greenside School will be looking into the history of the school and of Greenside.

The Local History Group will be helping with this project, and are looking for:

- Information of any kind about the school, going back to 1813, when the original school started on a site in front of the present Social Club;

- Information about education locally from 1813 - 1870;

- Information about education provided by County Durham in mining communities from 1870 to 1974 particularly in regard to policy determined by social conditions and health;

- Reminiscences and stories about Greenside School, including stories from parents and grandparents;

- Pictures;

- Any other material which might be useful to the project.

Contact: Greenside Local History Group at the Community Centre, Greenside, NE40 4AA; or the School; or by phone - 0191 413 4738 or 0191 413 2023. We can make arrangements to tape-record your reminiscences if you don't want to write.

To set you thinking, the following article was written by Audrey Pyle on the old school in "Memories of Greenside" by Greenside Local History Class (2002):

GREENSIDE SCHOOL 1813 - 1909

In the 18th century and the early 19th century the English Government was not interested in educating the masses, and as children of a very young age were required to work to supplement the family's income, very few children received any education at all. It was left to the Churches and the well-t-do in society to provide some sort of education. Probably the first children to learn to read in Greenside did so at Sunday School learning to read the Bible.

At the beginning of the 19th century there were several private schools in the area such as Craiggy's in Crawcrook, another that one of my relatives attended at Summerhill, and several other small establishments. But the cost of these was beyond the means of the ordinary working people of Greenside. The census of 1851 revealed that only about two-thirds of children entered a school at all in England and the life of soome children from the laboouring classes was reckoned in months, not years.

The first Greenside school was erected in 1813 to accommodate 80 children of both sexes. It was a Church of England School under the jurisdiction of the Rector of Ryton. It was known as Greenside National School and occupied the site on the south side of the Landsale Bank in front of where Greenside Club is now. It was built by public subscription, supported by an annual £5 grant from the trustees of Lord Crewe's Charity and other voluntary gifts, and by the pupils' weekly pennies. The building cost £68.11.8p - less than the price of a teacher's desk these days!

Later the Government gave an annual grant to the school, but this depended on the good progress of the pupils and their attendance. One of the first headmasters was a Mr Johnstone. He would often have worrying times over attendance, especially in bad weather, or when the children had to stay at home to help out or go to work in the fields. Frequent illnesses and the lack of the weekly penny were also problems.

Several classes were taught in one large room, which was heated by a stove, and so discipline had to be strict because of the overcrowding. The three Rs - reading, writing, and arithmetic - were the main lessons, and a great deal was learnt "parrot fashion" until the pupils were word- perfect. Science was taught by"object lessons" - snails, models, flowers, ears of corn were put on the desks and the children had to observe them and talk about them. Dictation was another important lesson. The teacher read out a passage of prose or a poem, which the pupils had to write down and spell correctly. P.E., or drill as it was called, was restricted to to the performing of strict arm and body movements as directed by the teacher. In a logbook, the head states: "60 pairs of wooden dumbbells are provided for drill". Pupils would probably welcome drill, as it would get them out of crowded classrooms. The Head often gave talks to the children on a variety of subjects. I wonder how "Reasons for England's Greatness" and "The effects of alcohol on the body" would go down today?

Because the school was a Church school, the Rector used to visit it regularly and present prizes to those who had never been absent and check the registers. There was an Annual Diocesan Inspection when every class was tested on "The Old and New Testaments, Explanations of the Catechism, the Prayer Book, and Repetition of the Scriptures". Parish teas were held in the school and the children went to Church on Holy Days. The Church appointed teachers and laid down the main part of the curriculum. The Schoolmaster had to be an Anglican approved by the Bishop.

There is very little recorded about the first years of this first Greenside School, but the Head would most likely use "monitors" - 9 and 10-year-olds who looked after large numbers of the youngest children - and Pupil Teachers. In 1846 the Government introduced the Pupil Teacher scheme to improve the quality of teachers. Suitable boys and girls aged about 13 or 14 were chosen to serve 5-year apprenticeship in teaching. They were paid £10 a year, had to pass annual exams, and at the end of the five years were taken on as uncertificated teachers, or, if they were good enough, gained a place at a Teachers' Training College. They themselves had to be taught by the master for at least 90 minutes each day. Pupil Teachers did not have an easy time. One was sent home by the Head "for speaking rudely to me", another was reprimanded for " erasures in register", and another - believe it or not - for "ringing the bell one minute late". Well into the 20th century pupil teachers were still employed in the school.

Attendance was erratic for a lot of Greenside children - boys went to work, and as families increased in size, girls were needed at home. But in 1870 education was made compulsory and the "School Board Man" was appointed to chase up errant pupils. In the 1881 Census for Greenside a 12-year old boy Named Charles Wheatley was described as "a coalminer and a scholar" and Matilda Johnson was "a hawker" along with her mother and father. Thomas Ward, aged 13, was "a navvy".

Diseases such as measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria and whooping cough were prevalent. I have an exercise- book belonging to Mary Pyle who was a pupil at Greenside. The book is dated January 1880 and I know thaat she died at the early age of 11 of "malignant scarlet fever". The book contains spelling, dictation, arithmetic, grammar and handwriting.

In 1879 Mr R. Hall succeeded Mr Johnstone. By 1884 there was accommodation for 240 in both the mixed and infants' departments but the average attendance was 162. In 1885, at a cost of £540, another large room was added to the building and the schoolmaster's house was used as an infants' school. But with the growth of the mining industry, more families moved into Greenside, and eventually the accommodation became quite inadequate with children crowded together, making teaching - and learning - very difficult. At one point there were 183 pupils in space provided for 139, and the Head often had to take four classes together because of the shortage of teachers. Older girls had to be sent into the infants' room to help out. Miss Barbara Stobart was the infants' teacher. She later became the Headmistress of the new Infants' School and remained there until 1928. Mr Alfred J. Ternent followed Mr Hall in 1888 and when he retired in 1896, Mr Richard Clark was appointed. Mr Clark and Miss Stobart were the only certificated teachers at that time. They were assisted by five Pupil Teachers.

The Head reported that 42 children had joined the "National Guild of Courtesy". Unfortunately, that must have been disbanded!

The school wass probably the centre of village life. In January 1889 Greenside Cricket Club held its first annual ball in the schoolroom, the dancing being led off by Mr Ternent, the Headmaster, and Miss Hetherington. In March that year, a well-attended dramatic entertainment was given in the school, with parts being taken by teachers and cricketers. The proceeds of the annual concerts were used to take children on trips to the coast. The excited children, watched by their parents, scrambled onto carts lent by local men such as Messrs Hart, Greener, Pyle, and Ramshaw. They were taken down to Blaydon to board the steamer for Tynemouth. After an exciting and instructive trip down the River Tyne, and fun and games on the sands, everyone was rounded up for the return journey to Greenside. There was also an annual summer treat to Kyo.

For the coronation of King Edward VII in June 1902, Mr J.B. Simpson entertained the children and teachers in Bradley Park. Prizes weere given for sports and games, and "after singing three national songs and the National Anthem, the pupils gave three cheers ofr the donor who seemed to be touched".

In 1903 the Education Authority informed the school managers that the accommodation was quite inadequate, but an appeal for funds to provide extra money was not responded to by the parishioners. By 1904 the state of the buildings added to the Head's problems. The yards were in a very bad condition, the stoves often didn't work, and one day "part of the ceiling in the main room fell during the dinner hour". One of H.M. Inspectors reported: "The cloakroom is use in common by boys, girls, and infants - 421 children - and is in a filthy condition." When the weather was fine, teaching a class of 60 outside alleviated the overcrowding. Someone told me that a girl, a twelve-year- old, was burnt to death in the school.

It was decided to build a new school on a site on Rockwood Hill, and the whole village was delighted when the Rev. A.B. Tebb of Winlaton, Chairman of Blaydon Education Sub-Committee, opened it on June 1st, 1909. The children started in the new school the next day. Mr William Dewhurst, who had been Head of the old school since 1902, became head of the Mixed department, and Miss Stobart took over as head of the Infants.

Accommodation was for 410 pupils in the Mixed department, and 200 in the Infants - and we think that over 30 in a class today is overcrowding!