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Education
& Schools
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The front
entrance of Lionel School photographed before the construction of
the £1.8 million 'Sporsnis' community sports & leisure & centre that
is currently under construction to the rear of the building |
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| In 1997,
Lionel School celebrated its 60th anniversary with an exhibition at
the Comunn Eachdraidh's Heritage Centre in Ness. The summer
exhibition featured documents, old school books, class photographs,
artefacts and other memorabilia that reflected many aspects of
education at that time, as well as press articles reporting on the
completion of the new school. |
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A
selection of press articles from 1937 describing the opening of the
new Lionel School |
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PRESS ARTICLE:
New School At Lionel Opened
"The new school at Lionel, which sets a standard for school
buildings in Lewis, was formally opened on Wednesday of last
week by Mr J.W. Peck, secretary of the Scottish Education
Department. On the following day the pupils bade farewell to
the damp stained walls of the old depressing building, and
took their seats in bright and airy classrooms, freshly
furnished from floor to ceiling. The bright white walls and
green windows of the school, standing apart from the village
on the Lionel machair, strike a note of modernity, and in
lay-out and equipment the building compares favourably with
any school of the size in the North of Scotland. In addition
to eight class-rooms there is a well equipped gymnasium, a
cookery department and a laboratory. Shelters are provided
in the playground for wet days; there are cycle sheds for
those who cycle to school, and the boys have their football
pitch." |
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PRESS ARTICLE:
Education Chief Blown Into the
Minch
"Mr Peck remarked that Lionel was the first new school built
in Lewis by the County Authority, but it was merely the
latest of a long series of useful school improvements
undertaken since 1918, on which he congratulated the County.
"His reward for a long journey - he had
travelled steadily by land for three hundred miles, and
somewhat less steadily by sea for seventy - was to meet the
Councillors face to face, instead of being merely "their
obedient servant", in letters and on circulars, and to find
himself standing on the tip of the Butt of Lewis, with
America almost in sight to the West, and the North Pole just
over his shoulder.
"Referring humorously to the
vicissitudes of the new school, which was blown down in
January of last year by a Hebridean gale of unusual
violence, Mr Peck remarked that he hoped nothing would
happen which would make really startling publicity for their
opening ceremony. "Education chief blown into the Minch" did
not appeal to him as a headline.
"Mr Peck reminded the gathering that
although the new building cost £12,000 and the County had
other building schemes in hand at Dingwall, Stornoway and
Tain, the Department had a kind heart and provided over
three-quarters of the Education Committee's expenditure
every year." |
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PRESS ARTICLE:
Contractors Thanked
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| "In the
unavoidable absence of Mr C.W. Murray, Lochcarron, Councillor John
Mackay, proposed a vote of thanks to the architect, the clerk of works
and the contractors. He referred to the figure of £12,000
mentioned by Mr Peck as the cost of the School. Looking round the
building, Councillor Mackay said that they must feel satisfied that they
had got value for their money. It gave him great pride and pleasure to
be a member of the Committee concerned with the erection of the
building. He did not think that anywhere in the North of Scotland there
was a school building which surpassed it. He hoped that the improvement
of school buildings would not stop at Lionel, and that the smaller
schools would not be overlooked.
"But whatever the County Council wished to do, they
had to rely on certain other people to carry out the work, and it was
his purpose to ask the gathering to accord a vote of thanks to the
people responsible. First of all to the architects, then the clerk of
works, and finally the various contractors.
"The architects were Messrs D. Matheson & Son,
Dingwall; the clerk of works, Mr D. Macritchie, Stornoway; and the
contractors, Messrs Samuel Morrison, Leverburgh, mason work; Ross &
Mackenzie, Stornoway, joiner work; John Macleod, Stornoway, plumbing;
Macswayde & Fraser, Dingwall, slating; Burness, Montrose, plaster work;
D. Macdonald, Stornoway, painter work; Taylor & Fraser, heating
installation; Briggs & Co., Dundee, asphalt work." |
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Back LtoR:
2nd Angus Graham, South Dell (Aonghas Thomais); 6th John Murray, 36
Lionel (Iain a' Bhogha); John MacLean, 4 Lionel (Iain Riabhach);
John Morrison, 11 Fivepenny (Seonaidh Iain Buachail); Donald
Campbell, 5 Lionel (an Irish); John MacLeod, Port (Iain Mhurdo) |
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