Ushaw Moor Memories

I am generally aware of how the mining community as a whole fared after the miners’ defeat in 1984/85, by virtue of a report published by Sheffield Hallam University. That report concluded that in certain areas there has been a welcome recorded recovery. However in the North East of England and South Wales such recovery has been more sporadic and would need much more time to bring the number of jobs created up to the number of jobs lost in closure programmes.

Often there are positives, as well as negatives, when social and economic dislocations occur. For example many of the women of Yorkshire, who contributed most significantly to the strike effort in the 1980s, began to realise that the old ways were not the best ways as far as they were concerned. Some of them became confident and one of them even addressed the House of Commons! For women the cycle of leaving school and finding a job early, followed by marriage and children, would no longer do. Some of them were empowered and took on managerial roles. Many took the news and books more seriously and began to form their own opinions, rather than, perhaps, just express other peoples.

Having referred to empowerment I naturally turn to the subject of formal education because, of course, to some extent they are linked. There were no surprises for me when I read the main findings of the 2004 Inspector’s report for Deerness Valley Comprehensive. From my listening and reading I have no concerns about the quality of the teaching and the admirable dedication of the teachers at that school. They will be using all the accelerated learning techniques and motivational skills that they think are appropriate! It may be that educational attainment has significantly improved since that report and if so that is all to the good. However the familiar problems of poverty and low expectations are hinted at. I have to say that the expectations of parents are just as vital as that of pupils. Back in 1960 the educational scenery and provision was like being on Mars compared to the present day, in terms of resources. Despite that, Ushaw Moor Secondary School had, by about 1965, GCE results averaging 4.6 passes for, I think, twenty two pupils. At that time such a performance was good by any comparisons and put them in the top 15% or so of the whole national school system. It reflected the motivation of the pupils and the dedication of the teachers [Mr Barlow etc]. The problem was that many of the rest attained only the CSE and/or the Northern Counties School Certificate. Without the GCE and being in a mining village four miles from Durham City, you were left with few options. I hasten to add that some young people built fine careers without the GCE and others attained that qualification and much more after leaving school. It is also worth adding that happiness is important and even with so called social status and prosperity you can still be miserable! I wish the school well and I also wish the best for all the inhabitants of the two villages.

I cannot help but wonder what reaction this article will get or whether there will be any reaction at all.

Best regards, Wilf Bell.