Llanfair Caereinion
Victorian school days
  No black ink - it's frozen !  
 

The entry shown here is from the Log Book or diary of Manafon School, and it was written in December 1899.
It gives a good idea of the tough conditions which many school children and teachers had to cope with in the Victorian years. The teacher had to write in the diary in red ink because the usual black ink in the schoolroom was frozen in the inkwells !

  
11th December
1899
School diary entry Old thermometer
  This entry from the Log Book reads -
"Monday Dec.11th - This morning is bitterly cold, the thermometer in school registering only 34 degrees F [2 degrees C !]. Very little work can be done. I was unable to close the registers with black ink, as it was all frozen".
"Friday Dec.15th - The cold was very severe this morning, the thermometer in school registered 7 degrees of frost at nine o'clock. Consequently only 63 children attended school".
 

Today's children sitting in centrally-heated classrooms don't realise how lucky they are, because it has occasionally been known to get a bit chilly in Wales !

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