Waving goodbye to the Larkabout
On a warm, sunny afternoon before the end of term, visitors to Amble First School, Edwin Street, were entertained by pupils from each year group in front of the mobile classrooms, which will have disappeared before next term.
The “temporary” classrooms were installed in the playground in 1966 and were remembered by many ex-pupils, who had been invited to write their memories down. These were then posted on the walls of the classrooms.
Each year group performed, with song, poetry, music or dance and the headteacher, Joyce Jenkins gave a farewell speech to the temporary classroom known affectionately as the Larkabout: “We are here to celebrate this marvellous building”, she said. “But it has to go – because when you jump up and down in it, it wobbles”.
It probably is time for it to go.
After the entertainment, pupils returned to the more permanent classrooms to avoid the heat of the afternoon, while visitors were enjoying cake and tea in the sunshine, or looking at old log books and registers to find their own name, or even that of their parents.
Extra room is still needed and two new mobile classrooms will soon be appearing in the playground.
Norma Hinson
