Welshpool and district
Victorian school days
  Gone to see the fair, the hunt, the cavalry...  
 

More examples of 'away days' from local schools are shown below. The first is from the Log Book of Buttington School in 1879..

 
7th April
1879
School diary entry "An extremely poor attendance today, there being a large fair held at Welshpool".
  The next is from Gungrog Road School in 1880... Cavalry in Newtown
1st October
1880
School diary entry
The photograph
opposite shows part
a cavalry regiment
riding through
Newtown.
"Holiday given on Wednesday for the review of Cavalry. Average [attendance] for the week 64.1"
The local children would have been keen to watch large numbers of soldiers on horseback taking part in a big parade. If the school hadn't given a holiday most of them would probably have gone to see them anyway !
This is from the diary of the same school in 1889...
5th November
1889
School diary entry "Half holiday given on account of the Stag Hunt, only very few children were in attendance this morning".
  And another fair visit from Vaynor School in 1890...
18th April
1890
School diary entry "A holiday was given this afternoon, as most of the children had gone to Berriew Fair".
 

The School Inspector's official report on Vaynor School in March 1898 said "When, as is the case in this little school, nearly two thirds of the children on the examination schedule have made less than 50 per cent of the possible number of attendances during the year, really good results become almost impossible".
As you can see from the diaries of many other schools shown on our website, they all had much the the same problem !

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