Jamestown Primary celebrates 145 years

Nov 28 2008 by Lorraine Waddell, Lennox Herald (main ed)

JAMESTOWN Primary will celebrate its 145th anniversary with a special open evening and wants to get the whole community involved.

An open invite is extended to everyone who wants to come and see the school now and share memories from its past.

Members of staff have been telling the Lennox Herald how the school has changed and have been sharing some of their fondest memories.

Head teacher Allyson Tucker is also keen to find out about any former pupils who are now in the public eye.

Allyson said: “One of the things that we would like to do for our forthcoming open evening is know about famous ex-pupils or well-known ex-pupils.

“One of our ex-pupils, Kelly-Ann Bishop, is seen regularly on television and she’s a newsreader for STV. We would be pleased to be able to say more about well-known ex-pupils.”

The special celebratory open evening will be held on Tuesday, December 16 between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

The headmistress continued: “The open evening was suggested by our parent council as a way of celebrating the 145th anniversary of the school.

“Quite a few people have been surprised that we haven’t waited for the 150th anniversary and the reason is that there’s quite a lot of change planned in the future of schools in the local area. It was thought that perhaps the school might not be here in another five years and the opportunity to celebrate the history of the school would have passed.”

Not only will visitors be able to see how the school looks now but they will be able to have a look through history with old pictures and artefacts.

Allyson said: “We’re pulling together a display of old photographs and memorabilia, but we would also like anyone who has pictures dating from the 1960s and 1970s to please hand them into the school.

“A leaving certificate from 1908 has been handed in. We also have logbooks dating back to the opening and enrolment registers.

“We’re offering, for anyone who comes along and leaves their details, to find them in the enrolment register and get a copy for them.”

Depute head, Mary Marra has been at the school for 21 years and has some very interesting memories of her first day.

She said: “When I started in August 1987, and arrived at the school, there were camera crews from the BBC in the playground but it wasn’t for me.

“We had triplets starting school that day.”

Principal teacher Rita Murray is heavily involved in information and communication technology in the school and she has seen many changes since she started 18 years ago.

She said: “When I first started, we had a very old BBC computer and I remember I had to dismantle it every night and bring it over to the strong room and the next morning the janitor would bring it back and I would re-assemble it.

“Things have moved on to the stage now that we have got laptops for when the children come for ICT. We’ve got desktop computers, a mixture of Apple and PCs. As well as the blackboard, we’ve got what’s called an interactive whiteboard in every classroom.

“The nature of them is that the children access them on a daily basis, so it’s quite a change. I think it’s benefited the children.”

To watch video interviews with teachers and pupils from the school, log onto www.lennoxherald.co.uk from Friday.