Kirkbymoorside History Group appeals for memories of Welburn Hall School

Members of Kirkbymoorside History Group are looking into the background of the school as part of their next project and are hoping to hear from anyone who attended or worked at the school.

Welburn Hall was a converted Jacobean hall, built in about the 1600s and was opened as a school on January 26, 1951, by North Riding County Council.

Welburn Hall

A separate classroom block was later adapted from the existing stables and garages to provide seven classrooms. The North Riding council built a school hall in 1970 and a craft/technology room was added by North Yorkshire County Council in 1976.

Welburn Hall now caters for children and young people aged eight to 19 who have a range of special educational needs.

Louise Mudd, from the history group, said: “Dr Crockatt, who was synonymous with the Adela Shaw Hospital in Kirkbymoorside, played a key role in instigating the school’s beginnings and many children went from the hospital to the school.

“During the Second World War it housed children who were evacuated from the hospital and in the First World War it was a convalescent hospital for injured soldiers.”

Welburn Hall as a hospital in the First World War

Louise said the group would be holding a special event at the Moorside Room, in Kirkbymoorside, on Wednesday, April 1, from 9.30am to 5pm. “There will be displays of photos and images from the school and members of Kirkbymoorside History Group on hand,” she said.

“We are working with Welburn Hall to access their archives, but it is the stories of those who went to the school we are trying to find – its importance to the community remains to this day.”

For more information, go to kmshistory.btck.co.uk