11th April 1955
Norfolk pupils spend a week in Guernsey
In the fifties and sixties, when leisure travel was primarily domestic, heading overseas was still a novelty. Yet, some mainland schools organised trips to the Channel Islands for their pupils. When they did, it often got into the papers.
The Diss Express reported one such visit early in April 1955. A party of school children headed to Guernsey for Easter. Mr Pascoe, the headmaster, with Miss Jolly and Mr Golledge, all of Bressingham School, led the 26 students, on an adventure that also required a stop over in London.
St Paul’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament were both on the itinerary, along with a boat trip to Sark.
Unlucky break
Unfortunately, it didn’t go entirely according to plan. Mr Golledge fell over on the second day of the trip and broke his arm.
Aunt Jane’s Postbag, a column in the Diss Express, received postcards from three of the pupils who went on the trip. None of them were reproduced in the paper, but they were described briefly, and the notes on the back were quoted. They didn’t make any reference to Mr Gollidge’s accident (or perhaps they did and it was edited out for the sake of his dignity), but they did reveal that as well as Sark the party visited Herm and Lehon, which is perhaps a mis-spelling of Lihou.
The weather was apparently good but, in the words of Margaret Pascoe, “We did not have a very good crossing”.
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Other events that occured in April
Guernsey’s new population law comes into force
- The new laws changed peoples' rights to live in local and open market houses.
- Read more…
Guernsey’s oldest resident dies, aged 110
- Margaret Anne Neve was born in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and widowed for 54 years.
- Read more…
An occupation-era minefield is discovered at L’Ancresse
- The mines had lay undisturbed for 13 years since the end of the occupation.
- Read more…
Murder suspects steal visitor’s boat from St Peter Port
- The brothers who took the boat were later convicted of armed robbery and shooting a water engineer in the head.
- Read more…