Hepple School Northumberland

A Memory of Hepple.

As a child my family lived on a farm about two miles from Hepple village. Like my 2 older brothers I attended the primary school at nearby Hepple. I started my school life there in August 1961 and remember being upset when my mother had to leave me behind, but my 2 older siblings were there to comfort me. Being a village school there was only one class of mixed ages from 5 to 9 yrs, at the age of nine pupils would transfer to the secondary shool at Rothbury. Anyway, I remember the school teacher was called Miss Cummings who lived in the school house immediately next to the school building. Warm summer afternoons Miss Cummings would take us on nature walks, usually as far as a road bridge which crosses the river Coquet, just west of the village. Also playing rounders (known as baseball in the USA), on the school yard as a PE lesson. The school cook was called Mrs Foggon, who lived in the village. Unfortunately, due to lack of numbers attending the school the decision to close it down came in October 1965. The end of an era for the community and a part of local nostalgia gone forever.

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