Caehopkin School 6
A school garden
Early difficulties
At the height of the Great War, in April 1917, the
school attempted to alleviate food shortages by planting a vegetable
plot. The master and boys worked together in the lunch and break
times to provide vegetables to supplement the local diet. The
master complained of the serious difficulties which he had to
contend with "owing to the clayey substratum and the
elevation of the ground".
Setbacks
A year later in 1918 the efforts
of the gardeners were to meet two severe setbacks. First in May
that year came an event recorded in the extract below.
Caehopkin School
Log Books
Powys
County Archives
B/E/PS/11/L/1
"The playground gate was left open on Friday afternoon some time, with the result that the cows came in and overran a part of the school garden, greatly disfiguring some of the beds and the potato plot".
Just a few weeks later the garden received another blow, as recorded here.
"A lot of the School Garden produce, chiefly onions and Lettuce and Leeks were stolen last night some time. The matter was reported this morning to Sergeant Edwards."
Many local families experienced real hardship at the best of times, but in this time of wartime shortages, a well-stocked vegetable garden was obviously just too much of a temptation.
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