Memories of St Mary's School in Weymouth

The bulldozers moved in to bring down the School Street building in 1988. The school was operational between 1813 and 1982.

The school had a long association with St Mary's Church, also in Weymouth town centre.

Weymouth Library was built on the site, replacing the Central Library in Westham Road.

The school being demolished in 1988

So many of our readers have memories of attending the school and here are just a few of them.

Shirley Dunne was full of praise for St Mary's. "It was a wonderful school," she said. "Old fashioned at the time but we received such a good education there."

Ex-pupil Carol Credington remembers the outside toilets on the other side of the playground.

Recalling her wartime experience at the school, Janet Wildman said: "I went there in the early 40s during the war (girls school then) playground was all air raid shelters, we used to have the alley to play in. Miss Bell was headmistress (l went to Weymouth Grammar School from there in 1945)."

Becky Boyce remembers attending the Sunday School there.

Kristine Roberts had a very brief taster of the school. She writes: "I can remember being there for the day when Cromwell Road school was being used as a polling station for the General Election. I have to say I preferred St Mary's but wasn't allowed to change schools."

And it would appear as though health and safety may not have been the number one priority at the school. Allaina Kempson has a tale from when her mum attended St Mary's. She writes: "My mum went there in the 30s/40s. She told me stories about it. The most memorable one was that a teacher asked her to open a window and to do that you had to stand on 'the copper' - a pot of hot water I believe. She fell in, the teacher pulled her out and wrapped her legs in cotton wool!!"

Richard Wills got in touch as his mother Ida Wills taught at the school from June 1942 to 1974, by which time she had become the deputy headteacher.

He writes: "She loved the children she taught and gave up enormous amounts of her own time to prepare material for them to use in class.

"I would love to see photos of the school (inside and out) before its demolition. Even better would be any school photos that might have her in them."

Former pupil Jill Nash remembers Ida Wills' mother coming into the classroom on Friday afternoons with sweets. She also remembers: "Mrs Wills made us put our head in our hands and rest it on the desk for a short rest after lunch!" And Mandy Stubbs recalls Mrs Wills as 'a lovely gentle lady with sensible lace up shoes'.

Staff at the school dating back to the 1950s

Patsy Morgan remembers: "Mrs Wills must have taught me to read and write, we don’t think about it much, but it’s a very big thing isn’t it, I’m still a big reader and was a librarian until I retired, I remember Mrs Wills as very gentle which is what you want as a shy five year old!"

Playing jacks in the playground is a fond memory of Patsy's during her time at the school. She added: "I also remember Miss English, she had a reward book of hair slides distributed if you were good. I’m sure I remember getting a black bead necklace, also Mrs Read (Reid?) who lived near us on Lanehouse Rocks Road, I was the only one of my family who went there, my brother and sister went to Westhaven. "I was very sorry it was demolished, I was there from 1958 to 64, my maiden name was Coxon."

Plaque commemorating St Mary's

Apparently the very generous Miss English, Max Morris recalls, would make a paper cone on your birthday and fill it with sweets while everyone sang Happy Birthday. "She was a star," he writes.

We echo Richard Wills' sentiments and would love to see old photos of St Mary's School, inside and outside and of its pupils and staff.

Share them with us by using the contact details below and we'll publish them in a future edition of Looking Back.