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Daily Sketch 29/3/1940
Village Fights For Woman, Who Made It Happy
‘DAILY SKETCH’ REPORTER
The 700 inhabitants of Ash, near Gravesend, once
known as "Kent’s forgotten." Village are in revolt
against the dismissal of 61-year-old school teacher Alice
Wright, who has made them one of the happiest communities in the
country.
A Parish Meeting yesterday decided to resist Kent
Education Committee’s decision to end Miss Wright’s service
because of a dispute with two evacuated London school teachers.
Twenty-seven years ago, when Miss Wright went to
Ash, there were a few scattered houses, no gas, no electric
light, and no transport to the outside world.
Coloured Their Lives
"She took her job beyond the school," I was
told yesterday. "She not only taught our children, but she
put warmth and colour into the lives of the parents. She drew us
all together into a happy community.
"She arranged social affairs. She built, at
her own expense, a £200 village hall. She organised amateur
theatricals. She taught folk dancing. She gave swimming lessons
to the children and arranged displays so that we could see how
well they were doing."
Miss Wright said: "I think some complaint was
made to the schools’ inspector about the way I had arranged
the classes to include 27 evacuated children. When I was asked
to retire, no reason was given, so I refused. If the evacuated
teachers made a complaint, it is the first made against me in
all the 27 years I have been at Ash." |
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Kent Messenger 29/3/1940
ASH (WROTHAM)
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING ----- A crowded meeting
on Thursday last week discussed the coming retirement of Miss
Wright the schoolmistress. The debate opened when Mr. Lungberg
asked, "Will the Chairman tell us the reason why the Ash
schoolmistress, Miss Wright, has been dismissed after 27
years’ hard work in the school?" Mr. Storer, the
Chairman, referred the question to Mr. Fred Goodwin, the School
Manager, appointed by the Parish Council. Mr. Goodwin replied
that the Kent Education Committee instructed them to dismiss
her. They couldn’t refuse. (Cries of "Oh!"). Mr.
Goodwin replied that Miss Wright had reached the age when she
could retire, and there were a lot of young teachers out of
work. Miss Wright, he added, would have her pension. The Clerk
explained that the Kent Education Committee could dismiss a
teacher without giving any reason whatever. This reply drew the
remark "But this is England Not Germany." Mr. Collis,
a Parish Councillor, said he protested against the undignified
way in which Miss Wright had been dismissed. She had served the
School long and faithfully and he moved that the "meeting
express deep appreciation and gratitude to Miss Wright for the
long and strenuous service to the children, and request that her
services should be retained as Head Mistress, and that a copy of
the resolution be forwarded to the School Managers and the Kent
Education Committee." Mr. Ridgway asked: "will you
embody the fact that we want Miss Wright to stay ‘til she as
65?" The Clerk "The Resolution embodies that
sixty-three voted for the resolution and four against. A similar
Resolution was carried at a second meeting which followed and at
which the School Managers were not present.
[EDITORS COMMENT – Miss Wright, who is over sixty
years old, receives on her retirement the maximum pension. The
Kent Education Committee is grateful to her for the enthusiastic
and able work she has done in the Village of Ash and surrounding
district.] |