Memories of a previous pandemic

Such was the number of pupils and staff stricken with Asian Flu – which during the course of 1957 and 1958 claimed the lives of up two million people worldwide – Headmaster Joe Lancaster was left with no option but to shut the school in the first weeks of the 1957 Autumn term.

The disruption was relatively short lived and pupils returned to Ashville a few weeks later to resume their studies.

While the current crop of pupils are benefiting from the advancement in technology, allowing them to attend lessons virtually during the current lockdown, this wasn’t the case in the late 1950s.

The first case of Asian Flu - considered to have been the least severe of the three influenza pandemics of the 20th Century – emerged in the Guizhou Province of southwestern China in February 1957, before spreading worldwide and reaching the UK in the May of that year.

Tony Williams, who was 16 at the time, said that all boarders at the independent school showing symptoms were immediately quarantined in one boarding house within the main building.

Mr Williams, whose home was in the Lancashire village of Silverdale near the then Westmorland border, said: “As the pandemic took hold, it was decided that all of those with symptoms should be moved into Briggs House, located in the main school building. The dormitories had rows of beds, not unlike those in a Crimean hospital ward.

“I suffered from asthma at the time, and in addition to wheezing I also began coughing and sneezing. This led to me being sent to join the other patients in quarantine.

“Unlike now, where the majority of pupils are ‘day pupils’ and the boarders come from all over the world, there very few day pupils at Ashville in those days. And most of the boarders predominantly lived in Yorkshire and the North West.

“I remember it well. However, unlike coronavirus I don’t think there was any fear. After all, we were just young lads. There was laughter and jokes and we used to listen to Radio Luxembourg. Guy Mitchell was very big at the time.

“I also vividly recall hearing a BBC broadcast from Little Rock, Arkansas, which was engulfed in race riots due to segregation.”

Mr Williams, who, on leaving Ashville followed in his father’s footsteps and spent more than 60 years in the banking industry, added: “After a few days the numbers afflicted with the flu overwhelmed the school and our parents were asked to come and collect us and take us home.

“As well as pupils the teachers were coming down with it too.

“Normally, I would travel home by train via Leeds and Carnforth, but on this occasion my father, who worked in the bank in Arnside, had to get a day off at very short notice to collect me.

“Our vintage 1930s Austin Heavy 12/4 was not used to long or difficult journeys. It certainly could not tackle Blubberhouses Moor, so we went via Ilkley and Otley. In those days there was no Settle by-pass and we had to get up speed to have a good run at Bucker Brow.

“We stopped at the top to replenish the steaming radiator with water which my father had brought in bottles from home, and we had spam sandwiches made by my mother. From door to door the journey took about four hours.

“Not long after returning to school I contracted Osteomyelitis, and was taken into Harrogate General Hospital. Over the course of three weeks I had 96 antibiotic injections in my bottom and an operation which involved drilling holes in either side of my ankle to drain off infected bone marrow.

“Had they not done this I would probably have lost my foot. This was my last year at Ashville and it’s one I will never forget.”