{"id":1117,"date":"2016-07-14T16:59:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T16:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/289dev.itjustdone.co.uk\/?p=1117"},"modified":"2016-07-14T17:07:09","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T17:07:09","slug":"150th-celebrations-fit-for-a-duke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/?p=1117","title":{"rendered":"150th celebrations fit for a Duke"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duke of Devonshire was the guest of honour at our special event to\u00a0celebrate our school’s 150th<\/sup> anniversary.<\/h2>\n

\"Hartington<\/a>The gloomy weather did not dampen people’s spirits as around 200 visitors enjoyed the commemorative party on Saturday 9th<\/sup> July.<\/p>\n

The school was officially opened on the 10th<\/sup> July 1866 by T Osborne Bateman\u00a0Esq, of\u00a0Litchurch\u00a0Villa near\u00a0Derby, after being commissioned to be built by William Cavendish, the 7th<\/sup> Duke of Devonshire.<\/p>\n

Guests enjoyed exhibitions in the school hall including 150 memories, photographs and memorabilia collated from former staff and pupils across the country (including one from a gentleman now residing in British Columbia, Canada); as well as a timeline of historic events throughout the school’s 150 years that the children researched and put together.<\/p>\n

\"Hartington<\/a>The Duke was invited to unveil two very special art projects that pupils have worked on, alongside members of the local community. A limestone sculpture depicting a young child and the 7th<\/sup>Duke now sits outside\u00a0the\u00a0Lych\u00a0Gates\u00a0of\u00a0St Giles Church. The monument, designed and crafted by David\u00a0Annat\u00a0from the village’s Sculpture Club,\u00a0commemorates\u00a0the story of how the school came to\u00a0be in its current location on The Dale.<\/p>\n

An extract found by the village’s History Group\u00a0explains how\u00a0this\u00a0child’s memory of the\u00a07th<\/sup>\u00a0Duke’s visit to Hartington, dated 31st<\/sup> of March 1865,\u00a0was the inspiration for the concept of the sculpture: “There were three tall gentlemen talking to my father and mother in the garden at Harbour Head, and I heard one of them say ‘No, don’t disturb them<\/em>.’ It was the then Duke of Devonshire who said that. They were wanting us to leave\u00a0our old home\u00a0which had been in our family for generations. It was their intention to build the new school on the site\u00a0of our home. The Duke evidently saw that it grieved my parents to think of leaving the old place and in less than two years after that the school was built in The Dale.”\"Hartington<\/a><\/p>\n

The 12th<\/sup> Duke, with assistance from Year 6 pupils, George Wigham and Maddie Wager, also unveiled a mural at the school. It depicts the surnames of all the families who have attended the school throughout the decades in the form of a tree. This was revealed a family history tree art piece, designed and created by pupils, community groups and local artist, Lucy Annat. The work contains the surnames of every family who has attended the school throughout its 150 years. Around the border, are pictures showcasing the village’s volunteer groups<\/p>\n

It was standing room only in the Village Hall, as guests \"Hartington<\/a>packed in and were treated to a very special musical concert by pupils including a favourite Swahili tune which translates to ‘Let’s celebrate.’<\/p>\n

There was a beautiful array of homemade cakes, donated by\u00a0parents and\u00a0local residents to celebrate the special anniversary. The school’s PTFA\u00a0sold commemorative jute\u00a0shopping\u00a0bags and coasters,\u00a0kindly donated by\u00a0Kate and Rob\u00a0Tenty\u00a0from Matilda\u2019s Bay. Guests also enjoyed music\u00a0played by\u00a0Warslow\u00a0Silver Band.<\/p>\n

Another special connection to the school’s\u00a0distinguished\u00a0heritage,\u00a0was\u00a0a steam powered ploughing machine, aptly named\u00a0\u2018The Chief\u2019,\u00a0which\u00a0was on display outside\u00a0and currently owned by the\u00a0Debes\u00a0family.\u00a0The engine was originally bought by \"Hartington<\/a>the Derbyshire Steam Cultivations Company, and in 1880, the 7th<\/sup> Duke of Devonshire invested \u00a31000 in the firm.<\/p>\n

\"Hartington<\/a>David Chapman,\u00a0Derbyshire\u00a0Dales\u00a0District\u00a0Councillor for Hartington and\u00a0Taddington; Patrick\u00a0McLoughlin, MP for Derbyshire Dales and\u00a0Councillor Lesley Roberts, Chair of the Peak District National Park Authority, also enjoyed the day’s proceedings.<\/p>\n

The 12th <\/sup>Duke of Devonshire<\/strong> said: “The children have been amazing, along with their wonderful\u00a0Head Teacher\u00a0and other teachers, they gave us a lovely concert. Their contribution has been outstanding. It is fascinating to look back over these many years and to admire the extraordinary achievements of this wonderful school. Even more encouraging is to know that this generation of young people are being given the best possible opportunities to study, to learn new skills and to develop to their full potential, and when they leave to go to the next steps in their education, they can do so with pride and confidence in what they have \"Hartington<\/a>achieved.”<\/p>\n

Eva\u00a0Mannion<\/strong>, 90,\u00a0who was also a part of the celebratory event, said: “I came here 85 years ago and around 70 children from across the area including the local farms came to school here too. Children in those days would walk to and from school, often for miles, and during the winter I remember friends arriving with frost on their lips and in their hair. I lived in\u00a0New Zealand\u00a0for 50 years but moved back to Hartington when my husband died. I now live in the cottage where I was born. This event is a fantastic way to mark such a special occasion.”<\/p>\n

\"Hartington<\/a>Jean Stone<\/strong>, 83, submitted a memory for the exhibition on the day. She said she couldn’t wait to hear the school bell ringing, and did the honours on the day (right).<\/p>\n

Another former pupil, Fred Birch,<\/strong> was 9 years old when the school commemorated its 100th<\/sup> anniversary. He commented: “I still remember celebrating the occasion. We were all given a Churchill Crown piece as a token to mark the special event.”<\/p>\n

Head Teacher, Tracy Blackwell<\/strong> added: “I can’t put into words how proud I am to work at this school, at the heart of such a wonderful community. I feel so passionate about the children here. It has been such a pleasure to see our past, our present and our future come together to mark this special occasion and celebrate such a wonderful anniversary. I would like to thank everyone who has supported the school in any capacity and I hope that we continue to grow and nurture our children of the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Duke of Devonshire was the guest of honour at our special event to\u00a0celebrate our school’s 150th anniversary. The gloomy weather did not dampen people’s spirits as around 200 visitors enjoyed the commemorative party on Saturday 9th July. The school was officially opened on the 10th July 1866 by T Osborne Bateman\u00a0Esq, of\u00a0Litchurch\u00a0Villa near\u00a0Derby, after … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions\/1133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hartington.derbyshire.sch.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}