National Camps Corporation (NCC) The origins of the School

National Camps Corporation (NCC) - The Origin of the School

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
The National Archives at Kew houses collections dating 1939-1962 which relate to the National Camps Corporation. The National Archives' database is searchable online.

(Site and post Last Updated October 2021)

Usually, in order to go to a Public (boarding) school like Eton, you need a millionaire father and from day one they train you to run the ship of state! David Cameron and Nick Clegg went there! Our fathers, though, were working class or middle class entrepreneurs or were in the armed forces and the school provided a stable education or they were in the care of the local authority. So what happened? How come we didn't have to be rich?

Most of us have a notion that the school began as an evacuation camp during World War 2 and continued into peace time eventually (in 1957) becoming part of Coventry Education Authority as a secondary modern boarding school. This article explores the background to the establishment of Wyre Farm and other camp schools in the UK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Camps_Corporation

Mr Clifford Morris FRPS, (This link may not work now) explains

" The National Camps Corporation was formed in the late 1930s, with assistance from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), and was given 1.2 million pounds; half grant, half loan; by the government to build fifty camps in remote areas initially to enable children from towns and cities to be able to experience something the countryside and animal life."

Clearly we weren't alone then! Some of these camps are now on the internet -


This video has to be watched on YouTube - its called
"Camp Schools 1950 " worth watching "This video made by the Government after the war, introduces the term Camp Schools and includes scenes from a number schools including Sheephatch School Tilford Surrey. As they were all built exactly the same, so it is difficult to tell."

Bewerley Park Camp School 
at Pateley Bridge - https://www.outdoored.co.uk/about/history/

Bewerley Park Camp School 

" I went on a residential holiday with Rawmarsh Haugh Road Secondary Modern School to Bewerley Park Camp School at Pateley Bridge when I was 12 in 1952. The picture on the right is a copy of the post card showing the Camp School. The Centre is quite close to where the Robert Braithwaite was born. The School is still an active Outdoor Centre, 

HRH the Duke of Edinburgh visits Bewerley Park in 1967

Bewerley Park has a long history. It was first built as a Camp School as a result of the

Camps Act of 1939 and was finished in March 1940.  The 18 acres of land required for Bewerley Park was purchased in Jun 1939 from the Agricultural Society for £1,900.  Before the Camp School could be used as originally intended the 2nd World War broke out and about 200 evacuees, from Leeds, stayed at Bewerley Park between August 1940 and June 1945. https://biblio.co.uk/book/bewerley-park-camp-school-outdoor-centre/d/534837180

The first camp to be used as an evacuation camp was -

Kennylands Camp School, 
near Reading.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2009/09/08/evac_feature.shtml

Kennylands - King and Queen visit. Pathe News

Evacuees at Kennylands Camp School, near Sonning

The Entrance to Kennylands

"Kennylands was the first camp to be finished and occupied. There were five dormitories, each 90 feet long by about 15 feet wide with a large covered veranda at the far end. Inside there was a small partitioned room at each corner. Two of these were occupied by masters"

Read more about this camp here on this PDF https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/B19317-MERL-LR-03-Evacuee-1-Terry-5.pdf

Then there was -

Colomendy 

North Wales

"Colomendy was built in 1939 by the National Camps Corporation as a wartime refuge for Liverpool schoolchildren. The first children arrived in April 1940 from Dingle."

Colomendy

Colomendy Dorms

View of Colomendy from the air.

According to the BBC Liverpool site "Since 1939 generations of Liverpool schoolkids have stayed at Colomendy, Liverpool City Council's outdoor pursuit camp in North Wales. Originally developed as a safe haven in North Wales for Scouse wartime evacuees, Colomendy at Loggerheads has become woven into the legend of Liverpool schools, since it's inception over 350,000 children have visited the camp. Now 65 years old the original camp structure is to be replaced and refurbished as part of a £20 million 
redevelopment scheme." Colomendy Loggerheads, Denbighshire 


And there are more!

Brownrigg Camp School, 
Bellingham, Northumberland, 
Information and many more photos on their site here 
http://brownriggschool.co.uk/aboutus.html

"Brown Rigg School was constructed in 1938, one of a series of identical settlements built by the National camps Corporation, with the object of bringing children out of the polluted urban areas for a couple of weeks fresh air in the country. Unfortunately, Hitlers European Tour meant this never happened and the schools first function was to house evacuees from Newcastle, all girls , who were fleeing the bombing taking place in the city."

Available via ebay if you Google the title - £4.99

Sheephatch Camp School, 
Tilford, Surrey, Stokenchurch Camp School, Horsleys Green, Buckinghamshire. More details here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Camps_Corporation


 

Sheephatch Camp School at Tilford was built in 1939. In 1946 Surrey County Council leased the camp from The National Camps Corporation and maintained it as a co-educational boarding school until its closure in 1977. In 1984 the school was sold to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK.

Have a look at this building in this Camp school video - It could well be the dining room at Wyrefarm Camp School!

Sheephatch Camp School - from the video

Linton Residential Camp School 
- Yorkshire Dales (serving evacuees from Bradford)
http://www.lintoncampschool.uk/

Linton is now a derelict site but here are some websites with more information -
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=6895  

Shows the site as it is now and the derelict buildings give a view on the construction of the buildings.
A Girl's War - 

A CHILDHOOD LOST IN BRITAIN'S WWII EVACUATION
http://agirlswar.com/ Linton housed Girls and boys.
http://www.hartingdon.com/index.php? how it looked in the time.

Linton Residential Camp school now

Merchant's Hill Camp Hindhead Surrey
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205201169 
- More photos here.

Merchant's Hill Camp Hindhead, Surrey 1944

Wrens Warren Camp School
in Coleman's Hatch, East Sussex

More on the school here -

https://wyrefarmed.blogspot.com/2013/08/wrens-warren-camp-school-national-camps.html

During the Wyre Farm Camp school (City of Coventry Boarding school) reunion 2013, we looked through some of the archive photos of the Pioneer Centre (as the Wyre Farm Camp school is now called).

Among the archives we found this research into the National Camps Corporation supplied to David Mack by John Bell - who wrote a book about Wrens Warren Camp School in Coleman's Hatch, East Sussex. Unlike Wyre Farm camp School, Wren's Warren fell by the wayside and never became a secondary boarding school or anything related. It fell into dereliction and then a chicken farm and in 2001 made was for 7 luxurious houses according to John Bell.

The following is a letter with some research as sent by John Bell to David Mack in 2003 with some interesting information about the financing of the camp schools. Click on the images to enlarge the view.

STOP PRESS: A couple more camp schools have been pointed out in the comments - 

St. Margarets Farm Camp School, Nr Hemel Hempstead. 1939 - 1984

From this site http://www.hemelatwar.org/imagedbresultsfull8502.html?productID=145

"Geoff Leggett, an evacuee who spent some time in the "camp" wrote " During the war a huge mass of wooden huts was built in a field adjacent to the local village of St Margaret's which was situated up on the hill above Great Gaddesden. It was known locally as The Evacuee Camp. This was constructed to house a huge number of evacuees from London and other cities out in the country and away from the threat of German bombs being dropped during the war. It was also a London County Council school. There were an enormous number of children in the camp who were regularly marched around the area in large groups. As far as he was concerned, the primary attraction of the camp was its internal cinema which was available, free of charge, to local citizens. Geoff made good use of this attraction and saw many popular and good quality films over a period of several years whilst it continued. 

Another memory of St Margarets Evacuee Camp - LCC School -
"My third evacuation was to be my last - I was sent to the Nettleden LCC School, St Margaret's Camp, Great Gaddesden (near Hemel Hempstead), Hertfordshire. This to me was the beginning of my becoming a man before my time. The school was strictly regimented. We lived in dormitories named Shaftesbury, Lister, Wren, Gordon and Shelley. There were two women called 'Sisters' (like Matrons), who inspected our beds for tidiness and cleanliness. We were given points, which were added to the points gained for our classroom behaviour, and a pendant was given to the dormitory that had the most points - all the dormitories competed against each other.
The school and classrooms were in the compound at the camp. We were allowed to see a film on a Saturday evening at the camp, and we had our own kitchen there. During the summer we had school in the morning and evening, and the afternoons were for sport and recreation - like looking for golf balls that one schoolmaster, Mr Wade, had knocked all over the grounds! We also worked on the local farms during the school holidays.
Each night we had to have vitamin tablets, given to us when we had gone to bed. In the dormitories we had double bunks. To give some idea of the type of school, which was full of evacuees - we had 30 (average) in the classrooms. The last term at school I came 27th out of 30 for arithmetic, but overall I came third in the class, and despite all the trauma that we went through, we all went on to earn a living in one way or another. While we were there we had to join the Boys Brigade or Scouts. I joined the Scouts, and played the fife (or tried to) in the band." In 1939, the site was purchased from a private seller by the National Camp Schools Corporation and it became known as ‘St.Margaret's Camp School’. After the war, apparently, children could still be sent by their parents to St. Margaret's for a month, to enjoy the country and outdoor life, as well as receiving formal education. In 1957 the site became a residential school for E.S.N. children, under the auspices of the Bedfordshire County Council Education Department. The school was very basic. Four long dormitories raised from the ground by concrete pillars, wooden steps up to each dormitory and a passageway at the end of each dormitory giving access to teachers’ quarters at the end of the building. There was also a wooden building housing a big hall, a workshop for the boys to practice woodwork etc., a kitchen, dining room and a staff room – all buildings raised up from the ground on pillars. Most of the staff – teaching and domestic – lived in separate premises on the campus."

Sussex (West) Itchingfield: Coopers Farm Camp 1939-1945

"One such camp in Itchingfield was called Cooper’s Camp – named after the farmland on which it stood. It was built by James Longley & Co, from Crawley, under contract to the National Camps Corporation. The camp was occupied by 200 boys from Tom Hood Central School, Leytonstone – and they brought all the school’s equipment with them. The lads were looked after by headmaster Mr AE Hunt and the other teachers." https://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/home-home-world-war-two-evacuees-1218530

Coopers Farm Camp

Clifford Morris

continues " It appears that the money ran out after thirty one had been built. The House of Commons passed ‘The Camps Act’ which was given the Royal Assent in May 1939."

The cessation of the construction of new camps was mainly due to the increased costs as a result of war, and the realisation that such camps were not a completely adequate solution to the problem of evacuation. Each camp was designed to accommodate approximately 350 children. The average cost of each camp was £25,000.

So what was the purpose of these camps?
Clifford Morris tells us " One of the jobs of the Corporation was to make people ‘camp minded’.". No doubt, with the first world war still being recent and the situation building towards World War 2, this was clearly on their mind! Clifford continues-

" The government appointed chairman was Lord Wyndham Portal of Laverstoke who had risen to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel during the First World War and was awarded the Distinguish Service Order (DSO) and was a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO). After the first war he was a Director of the Great Western Railway before entering politics. After the Second World War he was to become Chairman of the GWR up until nationalization. Lord Portal and members of his board visited 155 possible sites for camps which were to be built as residential schools, each for around 400 children."

The camps would have other uses too - Holiday camps for school children. - Evacuation camps for the children: a function for which they ultimately, and very importantly, served. One report suggests an early use of  the Wyre Farm site was for itinerant agricultural workers.

Some of the sites however got snatched up by the Air Force authorities who often managed to get in first, forcing the Corporation to have to search again!

"Although originally designed as camps for schools or for holidaymakers, their role was dramatically redefined with the onset of war in 1939 when they were used as evacuation centres for some of the thousands of children who were moved out of urban areas. In the post-war era the camps became sites for an education experiment in living and learning." http://sasesearch.brighton.ac.uk/view/context.php?film=1645&from=search&fromid=

The use of the schools as evacuation camps had the obvious consequence of reducing the number of evacuees who could be housed at such camps to under 9000 nationally. Nevertheless, in November 1940 the Minister of Health Malcolm MacDonald described the camps as "one of the most significant pieces of work that Parliament has lent its hand to in recent times".

The camps also offered children from poorer, urban backgrounds a unique living experience in rural environments. Consequently, the health benefits of these environments were strongly promoted.

Sayers Croft in Surrey

The huts at the camps were all very similar and were designed for the purpose by Thomas Smith Tait, 
(1882 – 1954). Tait was an architect with the company Burnet, Tait and Lorne and there is a Blue Plaque commemorating his work on his former home at Gates House, Wyldes Close, London, NW11. The huts were constructed of Canadian Cedar wood and those that have survived have done so extremely well over the last eighty years. One of the last camps to be built in 1939 at Sayers Croft in Surrey cost £25,968 to construct on fifteen acres of land.

Interestingly, for us, Tait was involved with Basil Spence (who designed the new Cathedral in Coventry) -

Colomendy

" Tait is remembered for his contributions to the design and master planning for the Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938, held in Bellahouston Park. Tait was appointed as head of a team of nine architects, which included Basil Spence and Jack Coia. Tait's vision was of a modernist, Utopian future, and the Empire Exhibition was the largest collection of modern architecture built in United Kingdom in the first half of the 20th century. Dominating the whole exhibition was "The Tower of Empire", designed by Tait himself. The 300-feet-high tower was erected on the summit of the hill in the centre of the park and had three observation balconies, each capable of carrying 200 people."

However Tait's distinguished career seemed to come to an end with the outbreak of the 2nd World War " The outbreak of the Second World War cut Tait’s career prematurely short.  St Andrew's House, Edinburgh, (built for the former Scottish Office and from 1999 the headquarters of the Scottish Government) was completed shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, leaving much of the proposed interior decoration incomplete. From 1940 to 1942 he worked as Director of Standardisation at the Ministry of Works. He retired from the partnership in 1952, and the practice was taken on by his eldest son, Gordon. Thomas Tait "

Why Canadian Cedarwood?
From this site - 
http://www.lumberoutwest.com/uncategorized/654/properties-and-uses-of-cedar/
"Cedar’s unique properties and characteristics have been recognized and appreciated throughout history. The Western Red Cedar has great cultural, economic, and spiritual significance to the Native American peoples of the Pacific Northwest. They used every part of the tree in every aspect of their life.The continuing popularity of cedar is due to its striking natural beauty, durability in an exterior environment and its extremely low maintenance, and affordable price.

Where does it grow?

Western Red Cedar is found in coastal forests along the upper Pacific coast of North America, from southern Alaska to northern California. The principal supplying region is the coastal forest area of British Columbia (where the Western Red Cedar is the official tree). Cedar naturally grows in mixed softwood forests intermingled with other species such as Douglas Fir, Pacific Coast Hemlock, and Sitka Spruce. Western Red Cedar forests are largely managed forests. In a managed forest environment, natural regeneration, controlled harvests, and a planned reforestation program try to ensure a perpetual harvest with good forest conservancy practices.

Western Red Cedar grows in low to mid elevations, along the coast and in a wet belt of the interior. It prefers cool, moist locations, and a slightly acidic soil. A mature tree can attain a height of 180 feet with a trunk diameter of 8 feet. The Western Red Cedar is slow-growing and long-lived. A specimen can live upwards of 1000 years, and has one of the longest lifespans of any North American softwood. Cedar has a low density of 22 lbs. per cubic foot, with a low specific gravity of 0.33. This makes it one of the lightest softwoods available, but also soft, and prone to indentation. The low density also gives cedar it’s excellent thermal insulation properties.

Sick bay at Colomendy - N. Wales

The heartwood of Western Red Cedar contains extractives that are toxic to the decay-causing fungi. Two principle agents responsible for this decay resistance are Thujaplicans (taken from the scientific name for Western Red Cedar) and water soluble phenolics. The tree’s ability to produce these agents increases with age, making the outer layers of the heartwood the most resistant. (In general, sapwood, in all species, has a low resistance to decay) These naturally occurring substances repel moths, insects, termites, carpenter ants and bees, and ambrosia beetles — the bugs just don’t like cedar and prefer to eat elsewhere."

No doubt this is why the old school buildings have outlasted the later 60's buildings and why the style has been adapted for the Pioneer Centre.

In the decades following the war, most of these camps were sold to county councils and education authorities for use as schools. At Wyrefarm, it was Headmaster RT Morris whose drive led to Wyrefarm Camp School being bought by Coventry LEA as a Secondary Modern Boarding School and establishing a GCE system. The school became known as The City of Coventry Boarding School in 1957.

We can now see that this shared history of Wyre Farm Camp School forms part of a much wider social history.

ADDED MATERIAL
http://freespace.virgin.net/george.timms/camps.htm 
House of Commons transcripts from the History of Elmbridge School.

This is Elmbridge School

In the article there is more information on some of the locations of other Camp schools for anyone researching it. These include
" The construction of four camps has been started, one in Hampshire, one in Buckinghamshire, and two in Oxfordshire. It is hoped that seven more will be begun in the course of the next fortnight. The contacts for the other camps will be let as the plans for the layout of the camps are approved.

Berks: Cockpole Green, Hurley. Bucks: Horseleys Green, Stokenchurch, Moor End. Cheshire: Marton (Newchurch), Somerford. Denbigh: Colomendy Hall (two sites). Derby: Woolley Bridge. Hants: Overton. Herts: Nettleden. Lancs: Whalley. Northumberland: Bellingham, Hexham. Oxford: Henley, Kennylands, Peppard. Staffs: Blithbury, Rugeley. Surrey: Cranleigh, Ewhurst, Merstham, Tilford. Sussex: Hartfield, Itchingfield. Worcs: Bewdley. York (East Riding); Etton . York (West. Riding. ); Grassington, Linton, Pateley Bridge."

From this site https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1939-07-06a.1484.7

"The National Camps Corporation, Limited, which has been recognised as the operative company for England and Wales under the Camps Act, 1939, has considered 155 sites for camps, all of which have been personally inspected by either the 'chairman or the managing director, and the majority also by departmental officers. Between 30 and 40 camps are likely to be constructed in England and Wales. They are to be used as school camps in peace time and as evacuation camps in time of war The Camps Corporation are required, by the terms of their agreement, so far as possible to give preference in letting the camps to education authorities desiring to use them as school camps. Thirty sites have so far been found suitable. Two have been given to the corporation, and the others have either been purchased, or are the subject of negotiations for purchase. The camps are being built of standardised units which have been designed by Mr. Tait, of Messrs. Sir John Burnet Tait and Lone, consulting architects to the corporation. All the buildings are of Canadian cedar with cedar shingle roofs. Each camp will be laid out on the site by an architect chosen from a panel drawn up in conjunction with the Royal Institute of British Architects. The contracts for making the woodwork for 30 camps were let on 22nd May to four different firms. The delivery of these units has already begun, and, proceeding at the rate of two or three a week, will be spread over some four months. The construction of four camps has been started, one in Hampshire, one in Buckinghamshire, and two in Oxfordshire. It is hoped that seven more will be begun in the course of the next fortnight. The contracts for the other camps will be let as the plans for the layout of the camps are approved. In all cases the local authorities are being consulted, in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the Camps Act. It is anticipated that the first camp will be completed by the end of August, and I am satisfied that all possible expedition is being used."

And from this page https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1944-07-20/debates/a9b328c3-efc7-4cc6-9ab2-087417e41a8e/NationalCampsCorporation

Debated on Parliament on Thursday 20 July 1944
"Under the Articles of Association the National Camps Corporation, which was set up under the Camps Act, 1939, is managed by a Council, the membership of which is subject to my approval. The present members are:
Lord Portal, D.S.O., M.V.O. (Chairman).
Patrick Abercrombie, Esq., F.R.I.B. A.
Sir Samuel Gurney-Dixon, J.P.
George Hicks, Esq., M.P.
Sir Edward Howarth, K.B.E., C.B.
Dame Florence Simpson, D.B.E.
Percy Thomas, Esq., O.B.E., P.P.R.I.B.A.The members are unpaid apart from Sir Edward Howarth, who receives a salary of £2,200 per annum as managing director. The cost of the central organisation of the Corporation was approximately £7,700 for the year ended 31st March, 1943, which represents just over 3½d. in the £ on the total sum dealt with in the period. Thirty-one camps have been erected; one of these is occupied by an evacuated orphanage, the others, with one exception, are occupied by local education authorities of vulnerable areas for occupation by school children, together with the necessary teachers and staff; under the Act the Corporation is a company not trading for profit. The Act requires that an annual report of the Corporation shall be submitted to me and that copies of the report shall be laid before Parliament. The last report (for the year ended 31st March, 1943) was presented to this House on 10th November, 1943."