Cambridgeshire's Village Colleges- Celebrating Pioneers of Lifelong Learning

at the Heart of Rural Communities

Oral History Interview Transcription

Interview with Peter Swannell by Frank Crosby

This is Frank Crosby interviewing on 16th March; Mr Swannell. Could you tell me what is your full name?

Peter Swannell

And when were you born?

3rd May 1942

Where were you born?

Linton Village College in the Warden’s house.

Where did you go to Primary School?

Linton Primary School

And so could you tell us what your connection is to the Village College scheme?

Well my father was one of the early Wardens. Linton Village College was built in 1937, shortly after Bottisham Village College. It had the same architect. My father was not the first Warden because the first Warden was there, only for a year, then my father took over as Warden. Originally he went in as Music Master. And he was involved with the Village College from the time the footings were dug. I don’t know how he got together with Henry Morris but he was one of Henry Morris’s ‘boys’ , one of his originals. Carried on as Music Master for that first year, then when Hutchinson I think his name was, the first Warden left after the first year, my father became the Warden. He was Warden until 1964. He was born in 1904. 1964 he retired. At the age of 60.

What was his full name and where was he born?

Edwin Swannell, he was born in Hitchin and he taught at the Pixwell school in Letchworth as his first teaching job. He used to roar over there on a sunbeam shaft drive motorbike.

Do you know how he was recruited to Linton?

No I don’t know. I presume he must have seen some advertising about the fact that Village Colleges were being built and there was a vacancy at Linton Village College coming up. In face he and Charles Brereton at Bottisham were two of the longest serving Wardens. They both had similar dealings with Henry Morris- he had a habit of turning up unannounced, breathing his vision at his chosen Wardens. (laughs) I think my father and Charles Brereton had similar problems and dealt with them in a similar way. Went their own way but kept Henry Morris on the straight and narrow as well!

Is there anything else you could tell us about the relationship with Henry Morris and what kind of person he was?

The Village College project was his baby. He was absolutely dedicated to it. And that sometimes meant problems; one particular instance he went round the recovery yards and came up with a whole load of stoneware- at Bottisham there are a couple of urns, about three feet high stone urns. At Linton there’s a planter, it’s about four feet long and two feet wide, stands on legs about four feet high, but he bought all these reclamation yards and went round the Village Colleges inviting the Wardens to choose from what he’d got to beautify their Colleges. Dad chose this planter thing and Charles Brereton chose a couple of urns, then a month later a bill had arrived. (laughs) But he was like that; he’d do something and the bill would arrive later!

We’ve seen the note at the archives at Linton that says, someone has written on the back of a picture, “The invoice arrived shortly after” !

Ah yes that’s right yes. That’s actually a photograph of his outside the old front door of the College, the original College in 1964 just before he retired. He treated the job as a 24 hour job. He was always available. He had a Headteacher for the day school and an Adult Tutor for the evening classes and he was in overall charge. He would be working on timetables, for example, right into the night and he played the piano- he could play any instrument in the orchestra. He had a dance band at one time, a string quartet, a band. This was when he was at Letchworth. And he was very much involved with Miss Lawrence at The Cloisters in Letchworth. Which I think was known as The Settlement which was an Arts and Crafts centre. So he’d come back to the house from the College and you’d hear the piano going at 1 o’clock in the morning just to relax after he’d been working. I’m afraid it shortened his life. He was so involved in it that he had a series of ulcers and a number of operations on ulcers. His stomach looked like the union Jack with all the operation scars. But the last one he had there were problems with it which flared up every so often. We’d go away with the caravan every summer holiday for a couple of weeks away and it would flare up the first day of the holiday. The wound would open up and he’d have to paint himself with aluminium paint to protect the surrounding skin. He retired early at 60 he died at 67. But he had a good life he enjoyed what he was doing. He never considered it as a 9-5 job at all. I’m very, very proud of him.

So your family lived in the Warden’s house?

Yes, which was on site. It was a four bedroomed house, it was just behind the College. That was the Warden’s house and when he left the Warden who took over from him didn’t want to live on the site, they bought a house in the village which became the Warden’s house and they converted the old Warden’s house into two flats, upstairs, downstairs, two flats- which is how it is now.

So how much, as a child, how much were you aware about the routines and workings of the Village College?

I didn’t have a great deal to do with it as I went to the Primary School in Linton and then at eight I went into Cambridge to King’s College Choir School, as a day boy not as a chorister. I took my eleven plus from there and went to the County High School. My sister, who was 5 years younger than me, she went to the Village College, had her education there. I didn’t see a great deal of the day to day life of the College as I say I was in Cambridge from the age of 8. The children arrived after I’d gone off to Cambridge and disappeared before I got back. But it was a very enjoyable period of my life, I had the run of the place! As a youngster I had the run of the whole site. I upset the head gardener quite a bit by taking the bike round the gardens at the back of the College, running over the corners and got chastised for it.

The Village Colleges often hosted visits from educators from all over the world really. Were you aware of any, did your father talk about any of those visits, people coming?

No I don’t remember anything particularly, we were aware of when we was very busy. He ran a choir in the evening classes. I was in that as a bass after my voice broke. A baritone. But that was my principal involvement I didn’t get involved at all in the day school. The last few years we were at the Village College I drove the Land Rover, long wheel based Land Rover that they used for cutting the grass around the site and as a bus for evening classes where there were only a few people. Drove out to the villages and brought people in for evening classes and took them back afterwards. And Mondays took a bunch of kids to Saffron Walden for swimming. They had swimming as a class, as an evening class and I got involved to that extent but not any closer than that.

How important do you think the Village College program was and is?

I think it was extremely important, it gave the children life skills, appropriate to the age. The boys, for a rural setting they grew vegetables, learnt woodwork and sports, the basics of English and maths, history and so on. It has evolved from there and I think has kept up with the changing circumstances of life, I gather from seeing the film that ITV produced and the interviews they had with the children.

[10 minutes]

It appears that the pride of the school carried on and they still are equipping them for life.

Your cinefilm showed the girls having a very different experience to the boys and there was a clip of a baby being washed and the older girls looking on. Were you aware of the flat in the College?

Yes, yes. Two basic rooms on the end of the assembly hall which were basically a day room and a bedroom. They worked in there learning skills. A big domestic science room where they learned to cook and to iron, washing up and so on. The iron was a marvellous affair, stood about 5 feet tall I suppose. It was cast iron and had ledges round it , flat irons that stood all round its cast iron body. I suppose it was coke fired. I don’t remember how it was fired but they learned to iron with a basic flat iron.

How would you sum up your father’s role in the Village College program?

Well, he was an advocate for the Henry Morris principle. His upbringing I suppose was arts and crafts and it was, of course, the time of the arts and crafts movement. Had he not gone to Linton it’s very likely he would have actually ended up at the Cloisters in Letchworth with Miss Lawrence doing arts, drama and particularly music- he came to Linton and brought his music with him and took on the challenge of running the Village College and it was very much ‘his ship’. He would get a bit irritated by the financial side of things, not having full control of his finances. He got away with a few redirections of funds (laughs)

Is there anything specific about the relationship with Henry Morris that you can recall he told you about?

He supported Henry Morris but he was always aware that Henry Morris could go off into dreamland rather. And he had to hold him back a bit. He could be a bit enthusiastic, a bit over enthusiastic sometimes and had to be held back.

And is there anything else about your father’s time at the Village College that you think the Historians of the future should hear about?

He retired when he did because it happened that the Village College was being expanded. The first expansion when they were aiming to double the pupil population. And he felt at the time that his health wasn’t particularly good. He felt that it was prudent to take retirement when he did rather than go after the school had just been enlarged. They built a whole new Science wing, that was where it started. There was a change in the rural nature of the place. It became less rural, more science based. And the new wings, there was a new gymnasium and the science block, two floors- big science block- which pretty well doubled the size of the building. It took over what had been the gardens where the kids had grown vegetables which were cooked in the kitchens and served up to them as school dinners. So there was a big change coming and he thought it was right to go, let the new man come in to re-launch it in its new format.

Okay, that’s great.