A.O.S.A. 2000 ANNUAL REPORT
An Ayton Old Scholars' Annual Reunion not held in Great Ayton!! Who would have thought such a thing possible even two years ago! Well, this year it happened. The Executive Committee knew in 1998 that, 12 months later, the old School premises would look as though a bomb had hit them. The foundations of new houses would be arising amongst the rubble of demolished classrooms and ripped-up playgrounds; not a sight for Old Scholars returning to renew memories of long lost schooldays.
At the '99 Summer Reunion -The President and her
supporters, Ted Dawson, Jimmy Shaw,
Dorothy Dawson (Easton), Gill Jackson (Hinds),
Biddy Stainsby (Brown),
Lil Pearson (Wrightson),
Pat Jowett (Craggs),
Margaret Carnegie (Wilkinson)
So, where to go? Much discussion and many suggestions later, it was decided that Dorothy Dawson had found the answer: in nearby Wensleydale. Bainbridge, less than 50 miles from Ayton, had all the facilities for our traditional Sunday programme. A Meeting House where Friends would welcome O.S. at their Morning Meeting and allow us to hold our AGM there in the afternoon; also a hotel run by Old Scholar, Anne Harrison (Hindle, 1955-61) which could provide lunch for 60 or 70 of us.
The Saturday evening rendezvous for supper was also found by Dorothy. The "Key Centre" in Middleham, much closer to the Ayton area with consequent shorter car journeys for those who preferred to return home rather than spend the night in Wensleydale.
Arrangements were duly made, mainly by Dorothy, who knows the area well. However, early in May, it was revealed that builders would be re-laying the floor in the Bainbridge Meeting House in June and it would be closed for several weeks. Since Bainbridge Friends had arranged to attend Countersett Meeting, three miles away, during the period of closure, Dorothy ascertained that O.S. also would be welcome to attend Morning Meeting there if they so wished, and Bainbridge Village Hall was booked for the AGM.
Relaxing in the market place Middleham,
Jimmy Shaw, Margaret Carnegie (Wilkinson)
and Brian Smith
About two weeks before the Reunion, Beth and I decided we had better reconnoitre the upper end of Wensleydale and find out exactly where all these places were! After lunch in Hawes, we headed for Countersett, approaching it over the hill from the West. The Meeting House proved elusive and we were about to give up, having knocked on three cottage doors to ask directions and finding no one at home. Persistence was rewarded, however, when, upon walking further down the hill, we saw a sign “MEETING HOUSE” pointing to a line of dwellings some distance back from the road. In the middle of the row were the unmistakable tall windows of a 17th or 18th Century Meeting House and, a short walk down, the unlocked door revealed a perfect example of a typical early Dales Quaker place of Meeting.
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