THE CAVENDISH ROAD SCHOOL VISIT Two classes of pupils from Year 2 at Cavendish Road School also paid us a visit recently, on Thursday morning, 20th Nov. They came to see our Hull-Sutton-Hornsea Railway Exhibition, on display to commemorate the closing of the branch to Hornsea, and thus Sutton station, just 50 years ago last month. The pupils, who were very enthusiastic, formed into smaller study groups with their helpers to study the changes in local transport over the decades. They also took the perfect opportunity to look at the rest of our museum, including the WW1 Commemoration Exhibition, and the folk history museum with our multitude of exhibits donated to us over the years. This photo set attempts to tell the story of their visit, and convey their excitement, further expressed when they all promised a return visit to us and dra.. bring along their grandparents. Both of them, all four of them, even! Even. Subsequent to their visit, the school very kindly sent us a cheque donation for the museum amounting to £56. All the staff and volunteers here at the Museum wish all the staff and pupils at Cavendish Rd a very Happy Christmas and the very best in the New Year. Many thanks indeed for all their kind thoughts and support. The pupils, teachers and helpers arrived and filled our old school room with laughter. The pupils got down to work straightaway. A study group here in full steam and ready for learning about our lost railway, about station masters with big pocket watches on long chains and peaked caps, and coaches full of children going to the seaside. In our tearoom it was not tea, nor biscuits, that absorbed another study group and their attention, but our WW1 display of Sutton during that war, and how life was in the village before that tragedy started. Two study groups here. After a lot of study and notetaking, a lot of very interesting questions . . . . . . even about the fashions and apparel of the times . . . photo: Alison Whitfield They were fascinated by the penny-farthing bicycle seen in the background here by the cupboard. No brakes! How did it stop, then? They were all very good and hung on every word ... and then . . . photo: Alison Whitfield . . . the pupils gathered together to be informed that they would now go down Church St to visit the railway bridge and site of the old station. Their excitement was, er, very noticeable, and you could see that they just couldn't wait . . . . . . . to rush to the door. It was like 'Hometime' in the old days! They swept past me like an express train, so quick I couldn't get the camera onto them fast enough, and I feared I was about to be trampled in a veritable stampede of steaming yeartwos .. ouch! ... I say, that was me' foot! Out they came, two by two, off to see if they can catch a train. I couldn't keep up with them, me, too slow to catch a cold, never mind a train. First, it was down to the old railway bridge, past the old station house where the station master lived . . . . . . to look over the bridge parapet like so many generations of Sutton children before them, to see if their train was coming, or perhaps already awaiting in the station . . . . . . and if you were lucky, to get the undoubted benefits of a lovely great cloud of smelly steam and sooty smoke as a train passes right under the bridge. And perhaps also to get a right old telling off from your mum if you were a girl for getting mucky smoke smuts on your dress. Steam and smoke was okay for boys, they were always mucky. It wasn't fair! Sooty smoke smuts didn't show on boys' jackets and trousers, only on their rosy cheeks. Then, it was down the ramp to the site of the old station, to learn about where the platforms used to be, and how the trains went under the bridge back to Hull, or way out past today's playround, seen in the background, to Hornsea and the seaside. So then it was time to walk back to school . . . . . . . . . "What! D'yer mean we've got to go all the way down there . . under that dark bridge?" photo: Alison Whitfield Before you knew it, this memorable visit was over, and the children and teachers and all their helpers formed up into pairs and made a train of their own and steamed off down 'the track' heading for Tweendykes crossing . . . . . . . passing right under the old but newly restored and painted railway bridge . . . . . . and a very pleasant walk along the old trackbed, between autumnal trees and shrubs, to make their way back to school. Ah, it must have been very pleasant to have gone to a school right beside a railway. The whole school again rang with the voices of happy children. There is definitely something about this place, something that promotes happiness. I think it is in the very walls, for the countless photo records we have of the school in years past, the testament of former pupils and residents, all tell us that Sutton was a good place to live, a wholesome place to live, a good place to bring up kids, to live and enjoy a real neighbourliness few places enjoy today. Former teachers and headteachers now long gone would be proud if they could see the place today, and feel the happiness that a visit here brings to all ages. We really enjoyed their visit, and hope they all did too. Of course, we do hope to see them all again, bringing along their grandparents, who we're sure will feel so much better for seeing all the nostalgia and reminders of their own childhood.

THE ST JAMES' SCHOOL VISIT A few pupils from St James' paid us a visit on Friday morning, 7th Nov. They brought with them gifts of two lovely planters of paper poppies to display within our WW1 exhibition as their Act of Remembrance, and a Book of Commemoration compiled by the pupils themselves. The poppies can be seen on display on the left of our Memorial Wall in the tearoom The Remembrance Planters and Book of Commemoration We enjoyed having them here, making our Old School alive, and hope they will revisit and bring their families with them in the holidays or on Heritage Weekends in the summer.

WAWNE PRIMARY SCHOOL VISIT YEAR 6 12 July 2016 An excellent visit by a very enthusiastic group of pupils. This was the very first visit by Wawne School to our museum, and we think they were impressed. They came armed with project sheets and knew exactly the items they were looking for. Two young ladies even found records in our old registers of their relatives, one a grandfather, and another a great aunt. See more below.
	1. On arrival, all the pupils and two teachers line up for a photo shoot in front of the costume and dolls displays.
	2. The pupils quickly spread out to search for their project subjects. Each had to find five items they had already researched on the internet. Head teacher, Philip Sainter is seen here chatting to Simon Davies, our resident Hull WW2 air defences expert.
	3. Some pupils were very interested in the costume displays.
	4. Our new mobile racks make it as easy to browse through the many costumes and artefacts as it would be in the lady's fashion department of a department store.
	5. When one pupil asked if she could have a closer look at our piano, it was realised that she was already something of a pianist, and very quickly tickled the ivories and gave a quick rendition of a popular theme tune had all ears tuned in.
	6. Four pupils quickly found our 'Reading Corner' where all our re-arranged reference books and materials have been labelled by our volunteers, Liz, June, Anne and Maureen, for much easier searching. The two chairs are right by our warming radiator for a quiet, comfortable read on cold winter days.
	7. One young lady was one of two that actually found ancestors in our old School Registers. This pupil found her grandfather's record from when he was a young pupil at the school just before WW2.
	8. The teachers found our photo displays just as fascinating as their pupils. It was so good to be asked so many questions from these young ladies and gents who realise that most of their family's own heritage is tied up in the history of both villages.
	9. A little time was set out for a rest from searches, and a welcome glass of juice and a biscuit in our tearoom amidst our WW1 commemorative displays.
	10. Work is work. Busy-ness in evidence here, as these young ladies gathered their research material for their project.
	11. Here is the second young lady to find relatives who were former pupils at our school. In this case, a grandmother and sister, her great aunt.
	12. There was great interest and fascinating when head teacher explained the workings of our primitive clothes washing system, the dolly tubs and mangles that our grandmothers would have used. Now they know why, when we get our fingers caught in something, we say they are 'mangled', and the point about the danger of fingers trapped in rollers or the gear mechanism was very well made.
	13. Whilst most of the party were visiting the St James' graveyard, these two young ladies took time out to have a few moments peace and quiet of their own and found a quiet corner on our railway seat in the unexpected sunshine. Well, it is July, an English summer they tell me!
	14. A final photo-call at the railway seat before they left, all 14 pupils agreed they had had a good and interesting visit. It was a pleasure for us to host them, and we look forward to seeing them again, perhaps with their families on summer holiday Fridays.
As more schools visit us, we hope this page will get longer and longer and longer ... .... Well, it would have done had not Covid got in the way! GO TO NAVIGATION BUTTONS ABOVE email the museum directly for Family History enquiries

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