Continuity in a Changing World
Five generations of Jo's family has been to the same village school. Even though some things have changed, there are still some things that stay the same.
"If that old bell could, I'm sure it would ring out many tales. What fun we had. There were concerts, Eisteddfods with those treasured little bags, sports with sweets as prizes. The break time bell. Mr Hill the headmaster, Mrs Williams who had the patience of everyone rolled into one, accompanied by, oh I can smell it now, the most wonderful perfume. And Miss Cooper, my teacher in Class 2, my favourite class room complete with a shop in the corner. Those coat pegs, they were no ordinary coat pegs, we used to think they looked like microphones and often sang into them. When we were naughty, or had said something we shouldn't have, off to the toilets to rinse our mouths out with that red soap and water - yuk! The smell was enough.
My son James is in Class 3 and my daughter, Charlotte who has just had her first day of school in Class 1, will also experience the sports with the sweets, the same break time bell, the treasured Eisteddfod bags and yes, those coat pegs too. All part of life at Newbridge-on-Wye Church in Wales School.
Within the echo of that old bell, my children, my brother and I, my father, his father and his father's father, five generations educated in this village school. Some things change but luckily for me they have stayed the same. Only that old bell will tell if my children's children and their children's children will have the same fond memories as I did and my family before me."
Joanne Nixon