A recitation lesson on the green

After the children's April 1st demonstration, only six children continued their education at the Council School, and sixty six began to take lessons on the village green. The school on the green was fully eqipped, and strict timetabling and registration were maintained.

This challenge was not overlooked by the authorities. Eighteen parents were shortly summonsed and later fined for failing to send their children to school. Collections to pay the fines were organised outside the court. Since the parents were sending the children to their school of choice, the authorities actions soon proved counter-productive.

The school on the green quickly became an icon for trade-unionists and education reformers who all visited and spoke in support of the Strike.

As the winter approached, premises were found for the school in a redundant carpenter's shop at the side of the green; the first Strike School building. The establishment attempted to cow the children's families by sacking and evicting the farm labourers, but the shortage of labour (a result of the recruitment needs to fight the First World War) made this a false economy.

Striking families who leased land from the rector for keeping a pig or growing vegetables for food were evicted and the crops and property destroyed.

Methodist lay preacher John Sutton, who conducted services on the Green each Sunday for the families of Strike School children, was censured by his church. Most of his regular chapel worshippers walked out, and Burston Chapel was virtually closed.

Children at the first strike school building, the carpenter's shop