| Description | Ring folder containing items selected for an exhibition on school history, together with the printed captions and other materials that formed part of the display.
Printed and handwritten recollections gathered from former pupils, including name and years of attendance ranging from the 1930s to the 1960s. Examples:
"Even from the age of five my brother and I caught the bus into the village and walked up to school by ourselves. If we were late our mum would drive us in"
"What did you go on to do after finishing secondary school? I trained at Totley-Thornbridge College of Education to be a primary school teacher"
"We did gardening in an allotment behind North Street where we use to wear black clogs"
“We all learnt to swim the breast stroke lying across chairs in the playground"
"During the war there were a lot of evacuees in the area and Cromford School was overflowing. Two classes were set up in the Wesleyan Chapel on Water Lane".
Longer typed and handwritten recollections from former pupils: Alan Bunting, Tony Gregory, Brian Webster.
Copy photographs, including:
19th century group photograph
Pupils attending Matlock Bath Music Festival in 1948
Boys’ cricket and football teams in 1935/6
Other shots of sports teams and groups of pupils
Photograph published in a c1990s Matlock Mercury article, "Cromford's class of 1926", captioned with the names of the pupils in the accompanying photograph, drawn from the memory of a retired teacher.
Original photographs including:
Pupils performing gymnastic feats including formation of a human pyramid, c1930s
Female pupils, 1938
Boys' cricket and football teams 1938, football team only 1947/8
School plays dating from the mid-twentieth century, including some dated December 1954 on the reverse (copyright J R Fox, Matlock Green)
A group of boys in scout uniform standing on the back of a truck, c1950s
Pupils relaxing on a school trip to the Lake District, c1950s
Photographic portrait of Mr John Routledge, headmaster from 1927 to 1967, with photocopy of a Matlock Mercury article about his retirement.
Informal shots of pupils and teachers in fancy dress, e.g. in Victorian-era clothing, 1980s-1990s. Also includes a mid-twentieth century photograph of pupils assembled on a school stage in various costumes, centred on one boy dressed as Father Christmas. The other costumes include pirates, teddy bears, soldiers and sailors. Five of the pupils appear to be "blacked up" in representation of Black people.
Exhibition materials relating to the Swift family, including:
List of family members who attended the school from 1851 to 1944
Copy Labour Certificate issued by Derbyshire Education Committee in 1914, exempting a thirteen year old George Harry Swift from school attendance
Copy photograph of the Swift family, mid-twentieth century
Terminal school report on the eight-year old John Swift, for the summer term of 1939
Copy of a 2017 letter addressed to Mr Archie Swift from the French ambassador to London, thanking him for his role in the liberation of France during the Second World War and informing him that he has been appointed Chevalier in the Legion d'Honneur. |