Old school Community Exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery July - Nov 2005

	Brighton Museum & Art Gallery flyer for the Old School exhibition, 2005

The exhibition which took place within the Community History cabinet in the Museum's Local History Gallery was curated by the pupils, parents and teachers of today's Middle Street School.

The exhibition included old school certificates, reports, letters, prizes, photographs, trophies, and models that the current pupils made for the exhibition based on famous school stories. Some of the photographs used in the exhibition that belong to Middle Street School are deposited at
ESRO (East Sussex Records Office) click here for more information.

The display of artefacts and information to do with the school's history was opened by Mrs Hutchins on July 12th and remained on view through to November 2005. The display included a 'listening-post' where visitors could listen to recordings of old pupils talking about school life in days gone by. Many children and parents helped to create the display by researching documents, interviewing ex-pupils and making models.

Memories of Middle Street School ex-Pupils

Advertisements for old school pupils were placed on the Middle Street School website, among other methods. As a result four people were found:

* Sheila Dyer, who attended in 1944-1950.

* Patricia Sprinthall, who attended in 1932.

* Peter Guy, who attended in 1942.

* Joyce Hill, who attended in 1940-1942.

These recordings were conducted by pupils of Middle Street School for part of the Old School exhibition. Extracts from these interviews are featured within this site and are also accessible from the Brighton History Centre, as they are now part of the Museum's Oral History Collection.

The audio clips are for listening purposes only and are the copyright of the Royal Pavilion, Libraries and Museums (Brighton & Hove). Reproduction requests to be forwarded to the Brighton History Centre, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.

Ex Middle Street School pupil Peter Guy talks about school dinners

	Ex pupil Peter Guy, 2005

" School dinners were interesting. They were cooked somewhere up in, north of the town, Loder Road or something, and a van use to come round and all the meals, it was all in whacking great, big containers ... and then my mum and another lady use to dish it all out. We use to sit in the hall to have our school dinners and there was no choice, no choice of what you had. Whatever the dinner was, that was it. You either had it or you didn't. "

Play audio

Ex Middle Street School pupil Joyce Hill talks about Nitty Nora!

	Ex pupil Joyce Hill, 2005

Current Middle Street School Pupils interviewing: " Did you have a school nurse? "

Joyce Hill: " Oh, we had Nitty Nora! Oh yeh, we had her. Yeh, used to go through your hair, used to look at your hands, to see if you've got scabies or whatever it was. I mean it was a deep shame, when I was young. Oh yeh, anyone who had nits was given a card, and they'd do anything so the other kids didn't know. That was deep shame. "

Current Middle Street School Pupils interviewing: " What was on the card? "

Joyce Hill: " Well it showed you'd had them. So if you'd got the card, Nitty Nora came around, you've got the card. That was a deep shame. "

Play audio