The rooms inside the school building were set out over a total of six different levels.
The ground floor lobby still had a bank of servant’s bells in situ and some of the rooms still had bell pushes next to the fire places.
Over the years a number of works were carried out on the building. These included:
The installation of toilets, wash basins and cloakroom pegs in one room.
The placing of a fire alarm bell in the form of a traditional school bell on a shelf next to the ground floor staircase as a practical response to an official requirement.
In the early days the Bees used the Big Room for all non -wet activities. As the Big Room was also the school dining room the Bees had to be ‘put away’ before every lunchtime.
At one stage, to reduce this upheaval, the Wasps ate round tables in W1 and the Hornets ate in R1.
The development of the Bees took some time to complete and the Hornet’s Hut was in fact built before the Bees was finished. The work carried out for the Bees included:
The construction of a wooden buttress to support the rear wall above the Bees.
The closing off of a door from the Bee wet area (B1) into the Wasp’s dry work area (W2) and the knocking through of the old serving hatch which had connected the Wasp’s activity room (W1) and dry work area (W2). This formed a doorway between the two (W1 and W2).
The building of the three level Bee library and dry play area including three large carpeted steps, a large plate glass windows and a large glass fire escape door.
Some information on the work carried out of the Bees is contained in the attached ‘Note from Virginia’ published in the Electric Egg in March 1973.
The Big Room was refurbished, the wooden floor sanded and sealed and the walls and ceiling decorated. Some information on this work is contained in John Powlesland’s ‘Letter to Parents’ (see ‘Narratives and Interviews’).
Finally, at some late stage, the external door from the kitchen was turned into a window.
As a guide I have drawn and annotated the attached sketches of the floor plans. These have been done from memory and it is about 35 years since I was last in the building.
Kirkdale School Narrative History Project 