Tony's mum...school memories

My mother was Peggy Semmens and these are some of her memories of her schooldays:

“At the age of five I started school at Lescudjack. I remember the tiny desks and chairs in the classrooms but little else – except the headmistress – Miss Birch. She always took us for painting on Friday afternoons and I was always the one allowed to give out the paints etc. and to stay behind after school to help with the clearing up. I recall Miss Birch asking me if I would like to be a painter – perhaps that is why I still find it interesting now. Later on I moved to the bigger part of the school where the headmistress was Miss Ellis. I think every girl in the school lived in fear of her”.

In 1934 my mother spent a few months at Heamoor before moving to West Cornwall College in Chapel Street, Penzance. This establishment had first been opened around 184 by the Cornwall Methodist Girls’ School Association. She remembers that the entrance was through an oval door half way down Abbey Slip on the right hand side and this led into a long, cold passageway and on to the classrooms. On the floor above this were boarders’ dormitories and the teachers’ rooms while there was a laboratory and music room on the same floor as the classrooms. 

The headmistress was Miss Killip in the 1930s, the music teacher was Miss Furnival and the science teacher was Miss Usher. My mother remembers that the children used to make items such as sweets at home to bring to school in order to raise money for the school. They used to go to York Houser for tennis but were not allowed to talk to anyone or eat anything on the way. 

However, some of them used to stop at Harry Merryfield’s shop and buy ice cream in shell-shaped wafers which could be hidden in the hedge around the tennis courts and eaten while they were not playing. My mother chose to take art instead of French and won two certificates from the Royal Society of Art. Eventually the school moved to brand new buildings across the road from St Clare cricket field where they had a gymnasium, tennis courts, a large dining room and bigger laboratories.