Here you can read items about Moulsecoomb Primary School which have been published in magazines, newspapers and on the internet.

You are here: News Items 2010 onwards.

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We'll meet again

"ALL RIGHT, you 'orrible little lot, let's be 'aving you!" I shouted at the group of some 30 or so nine-year- olds, standing in a straggling semi- circle, clutching little suitcases and home-made gas masks, and wearing labels with their names on around their necks. They stared at me in silent wonder.

"My name's Mr Jones," I barked. "I want no back-chat and no messin' around:' I glared at them over my horn-rimmed spectacles.”And don't forget, it's 1942, and there's a war on."

It was all part of a Second World War school exercise dreamed up by Daniel Reeves, at one time a member of the cast of Les Miserables, but now a resourceful young teacher at Moulsecoomb Primary School, where I am a governor. The children had dressed up in 1940s-style school dress, had made their own gas masks, filled their cases with some
clothes and a packed lunch, and were then seen off with much hanky- waving by their parents and carers from Moulsecoomb Station.

They went one stop along the track, and were met by me, a nasty billeting officer, dressed in '40s-style jacket and waistcoat, and hair slicked back with wet-look gel in place of Brylcreem.

The tie had caused me problems, partly because I could find only one (last used in a performance of Crown Matrimonial when I was a curate, some 20 years ago), and then I could hardly remember how to tie it. I wear a clerical collar for formal occasions, and, if informal, then open-neck or T-shirt. I looked in the mirror before I left, seeing myself some 20 years older, scarily like Captain Mainwaring from Dad's Army. I did consider a marker-pen moustache, but decided that the danger of its remaining indelible for Sunday morning had better be avoided.

We marched them for ten minutes over to Falmer, an idyllic English country village, with pond, church, and village hall, on the edge of Brighton although, technically, still affiliated to Lewes.

The Priest-in-Charge of Falmer, Canon Andrew Robinson, met us, and, after a quick gas-mask practice ("Gas! Gas! Gas! Masks on!"), they filed into the church, where they sat, waiting to be picked by "locals" who would tell them where they would be billeted, and what their lives would be like as evacuee children for the next few years.

Achingly, some three or four children were left to sit in the pews, unchosen and unwanted. I had managed to get a real evacuee, Ray Blackwood, later a formidable Mayor of Brighton, to talk to them about what it was like to be uprooted from home and in a strange place.

Then, the most moving piece of all. Kath, a member of one of our parish congregations and herself an evacuee, had written an account of her experience of being evacuated to a big house in Yorkshire, where she was so unhappy that she ran away and hid on the Yorkshire moors.

She tried to find kindness in a church, but after being told - twice - that she was in someone else's seat, she lost her courage, left, and did not go back. She later tried the
local chapel, and was met with warmth and acceptance, and eventually was re-billeted with the minister and his wife.

This heartfelt account, typed on an old typewriter and held together with a safety pin, and never heard before, anchored the exercise and gave it depth and reality. The
children sat silent and absorbed.

The next day, they were still excited, and I was greeted in assembly with a chorus of "Good morning, Mr Jones," They had written postcards home with an account of their lives to be, and a picture of the church drawn on the front, before lunch and train home.

All in all, it was an example of Moulsecoomb Primary School at its best.

“We’ll meet again” The Church Times. Friday, 16th March 2012

"The university's Development and Alumni Office was seeking someone to work with it on a project aimed at encouraging more children from deprived backgrounds to go into higher education. Chris, who has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize seven times for his children's books, seemed the perfect person for the job.

"Chris Riddell said: "Working on 'Professor C Gull's Guide To In consultation with university colleagues he devised the character of Professor C Gull to represent the university's five coastal campuses across Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. Professor C Gull will be used in a number of ways, for example as a character in a booklet, across the local region to raise awareness about higher education and its benefits.University' was a real pleasure. I hope the characters in the booklet make the concept of university accessible to primary school children, and get them thinking about further education as a real possibility. It would be great if Professor C Gull inspired kids to spread their wings!"

"Director of Development and Alumni Sam Davies, said: "Looking at the bigger picture, you cannot put a price on the value of Chris's generosity through his time and skills in creating Professor C Gull. Aside from the excellent expert illustration that we did not have the budget to commission, the character signifies a legacy in alumni philanthropy. We (the University of Brighton) are exceptionally lucky in having a wide network of talented alumni who, like Chris, give back in so many ways to the institution that helped set them on their career paths."

"Widening Participation Coordinator, Michelle Tarling, said: "It is fantastic that Chris Riddell has agreed to be involved in the creation of Professor C Gull and the development of a new comic for our primary school project. The comic is an important feature in the materials we provide. It is easily accessible for the children and thoroughly engages them. Professor C Gull will also be a striking and recognisable mascot and we are sure, will be a great hit with all the children.""

"Designs on widening participation" 27 January 2012 University of Brighton
http://www.brighton.ac.uk/news/
2012/120127chris_riddell.php?PageId=810
(accessed 31 January 2012)

"It's good to talk" 'Children First' Autumn 2011
(PDF 116 KB)

"Older than Stonehenge" 'The Argus' 1 July 2011

The article is mainly about Neolithic settlements in Whitehawk, but has a photograph of our Heritage and Environmental Festival.
Click on the image for a larger version: opens up as a PDF (406 KB).

"The next stage in dance festival" 'The Argus' March, 2010

"Egypt in Brighton & Hove" 'International Update'
Spring 2010

"Children's Parade" 'The Argus' 2 May 2010

"Churchill Fellowship" http://withersprimary.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-05-20T06%3A34%3A00%2B08%3A00&max-results=7 (accessed 19th May 2010)