1917 April

W A Gale 11th December 1915
Assistant Teacher Ashwell Merchant Taylors School
Ashwell Merchant Taylors School c 1914
Mr Chote, headmaster, right. Mr Gale, assistant, left.

During April 1917 there was very little reported about Ashwell in the Royston Crow. Perhaps because on Monday 2nd April there was a fierce blizzard followed by an unusually cold week for the time of year which must have almost closed the village down.

It was a relief that there was no news from the Front. The only news of the war was a visit by W. A. Gale, the old school assistant, to talk to the boys of the Merchant Taylors School. He was invalided home after the battle of Thiepval in October 1916.

The Soldiers Hospital, in the Bury, reopened after spring cleaning and extending the hot water supplies which meant it was now possible to increase the number of beds from 18 to 24.

Preparations for the opening of the new burial ground at Baldwins Corner were progressing well. At a Parish Meeting to adopt the Burials Act 1852-1906 at cost of £78 which would be met from the rates. Furthermore, at a special Ashwell Rural District Council meeting this plan was adopted and a scale of charges would be printed and made available to the public.

The Easter Church services were very modest this year but Mr Chote, the long serving head of the Merchant Taylors School, played organ voluntaries on his 42nd Easter Sunday in Ashwell.

Our picture this month shows the Boys of the Merchant Taylors School in about 1914 with Mr Chote on the right and Mr Gale on the left.

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