Bream School pupils in the playground c. 1945.

1
Beryl Lansdown, 2 Gwenda Vaughan , 3 Nancy Johns , 4 Doreen James, 5 Freddie Johns 6 Jonathon Kear ? 7 David Kear, 8 Peter Watkins , 9 Sam Wildin , 10, 11 , 12 Joyce Morse, 13
Beryl Smith ,14 ,15 , 16, 17, 18, 19 , 20, 21 ,22, 23
Miss
Burnham.
Peter
Richards wrote (Nov 2006): "Patricia Dwight (nee
McKinnell) from California was an evacuee from Essex during the war.
She stayed in Bream
with Peter
Richards
and
his
parents
Wilfred and Hilda Richards at their house on Mill Hill.
The date of the school photo was in 1945, just after the end of the war.
The Bream girls school had invited the boys for a tea party. The boys
were from the boys school across the road. The teacher's name is
Miss
Burnham.
Miss Burnham was a teacher who had come from Rochford with
the
evacuees"
.
Yvonne Hill recalled (Nov 2006): "the teacher who came from Rochdale with the evacuees was named Miss Burningham, I am sure. I remember her telling the class I was in to think of `burning some ham` when pronouncing her name, as many of the girls - and parents - referred to her as Miss Birmingham".
Patricia confirmed the teacher's correct name: "The correct name is Miss Burnham, No 23. I Patricia (Nee Mckinnell) Dwight knew Miss Burnham in Rochford before I was evacuated with other children to Bream. Miss Burnham accompanied me and other children to Bream".
Far left in the background is the "Hard-Up Tree". By 1948, the Hard-Up Tree had been cut down. James's grocery shop is partly hidden by the Red and White bus. The road sign has yet to have it's direction arms replaced, but the school railings have survived the war. The railings were replaced in 2006. Bunting is flying over the High Street.
Forest of Dean Spitfire - Lapel Badge - Courtesy of Brain Moore
This lapel badge commemorates the efforts made by the people of the Forest of Dean to buy a Spitfire for the R.A.F.in 1940-1941. A concert in the Bream Girls School in January 1941, involving both evacuees and local kids, raised funds for the Spitfire. (source: Retrieving Wenty's Sturty Bird, - Ian Hendy, Black Dwarf, 2001)
Thanks also to Brian James.
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