School Cottage

" After many week-end walks over boggy, wind-and-rain-swept moors, through dripping woods and fields marked with lumps of limestone, to view deserted houses, Pickering End House was discovered: it was the thirteenth building that we had closely surveyed and considered suitable for our use.

Next came the alternating flow of correspondence with the solicitors, which from past experience we almost expected to come to a fruitless end. It was with great pleasure that, following a meeting with the Charity Trust, who own the house, we were informed of their willingness to rent it to us. That was July 23rd. 1966.

Since that date much work has been done, both inside and outside, by staff and boys. Rooms have been decorated, walls built and heavy furnishings carried up the hill - the ground being too wet for a vehicle to get more than a few yards up the field. By far the greatest project so far started is that of fully wiring the cottage: following an intensive effort over the Easter holidays great strides have been made, the interior wiring being almost completed. We hope it will not be long before the switching-on takes place.

Our next major task will be to improve the water supply, which we hope to do by laying a new pipe line.

Already we have recorded over one hundred and fifty bed-nights and we hope that many more boys will come to enjoy the working, walking and social recreation for which our cottage is such an ideal base.

May we take this opportunity of thanking, and expressing our appreciation to, all the parents and boys who have helped in such a magnificent way to make this venture a success."

From The Firparnian magazine: June 1967