Granny's Tales and Treasures
Prizes
Over the years several family members have been awarded prizes at either school or Sunday School. Here is a little about those that have survived deaths, world wars and many house moves.
The earliest is a Sunday School prize awarded to great grandmother, Clara Dawson, at Christmas 1870. The Bible, with wafer thin pages and a metal clasp, is inscribed,
“Clara Dawson 1st Prize Mrs Whiting’s Miss Spurgeon’s class
Broomfield Church Sunday School Christmas 1870
J B Whiting Vicar H H Bull Superintendent”
Clara's Bible
John Bradford Whiting and his wife, Charlotte are living in Broomfield Vicarage, with their young family in 1871.[1] Although there are Spurgeon families in the area, there are none in Broomfield itself in 1871, so Miss Spurgeon cannot be identified.​​​
Clara Dawson c. 1878
In 1906, my grandmother, Ivy Gertrude Woolgar, received a medal from London County Council for ‘punctual attendance’ during the year 1905-6.​​​
Ivy's Medals
Ivy Gertrude Woolgar c. 1904
Coming forward in time, there are four postcards that my father, Cyril Albany Braund, was given by St. Mark’s School in Battersea for good conduct. The earliest is dated October 1920, when he was five. There are others dated Christmas 1920 and 1922 and one is undated. Two depict trains and the others scenes that I suppose were thought to be appealing to a young boy.
St. Mark’s School c. 1923, Cyril middle row, third from left
Cyril's Postcards
I also have three Sunday School prizes awarded to Cyril Braund, in 1924. The first, unsurprisingly, is a Bible, which he was give in January 1924, perhaps to mark his nineth birthday, which was the following week. It is inscribed,
“To Cyril, with love and good wishes,
from Sunday School Teacher (R Shergold)
God is my refuge and strength a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 45 verse 1”
​
Interestingly, Reginald Shergold, who was responsible for the class was only a ten years older than Cyril; he lived locally and worked in an engineer’s office.
The other two prizes, which were awarded later the same year, appear to me ‘improving’ stores for boys. The book he was given in August was for “Collecting and Keeping the texts given Sunday by Sunday for six months Jan-June 1924.”
The final prize was for good conduct and attendance in 1924. There are no further prizes. Perhaps Cyril’s attendance at Sunday School was short-lived, maybe he won no more prizes, or perhaps they didn’t remain within the family. There is no indication of which Sunday School this was; perhaps the one attached to St. Mark’s church.
​
Cyril's Prizes
My mother, Gwendoline Catherine Smith, was given three prizes whilst she was at Stebbinga House School. The earliest was a prize for scripture, which she won in 1931, when she was six. The Christmas she was eight, Gwen won two prizes, one for reading and one for good conduct.​​
Gwen's Prizes
Gwen in School Uniform, with her mother, Ivy c. 1938
Finally, there are my own two prizes. The first, The Swallows and Selina, was from my infant’s school, Tenterden. I loved this story and read it numerous times. The second I won in my last year at primary school. I had chosen not to go on the camp for those who were about to leave. Those who remained behind were given various ‘fun’ activities, one of which was to collect wildflowers. In the days when it was acceptable to pick wildflowers, I won the prize for the best collection. We could choose which observer book we wanted and I chose horses.
Janet's Prizes
Janet in School Uniform 1961
Of course there have also been other prizes, long since forgotten or discarded. There have been monetary awards, or book tokens, that have been spent and leave no trace,
​[1] 1871 census for Broomfield, Essex RG10 1663 folio 117.