"As the 1930s moved in there was a general slump in worldwide economic activity.  However, life in the classroom went on much as normal.  For over forty years the national school followed roughly the same programme of instruction.  The standard of living of the school children had changed very little.  There was still a great deal of poverty and absenteeism.  Not all children remained at school until 6th class.  School conditions were unhygienic - chemical toilets and no hand-washing facilities.  The perpetual lingering smell of Jeyes Fluid that permeated the whole school in those years is well remembered.  Classrooms, heated by a single, open hearth fire, were cold and draughty in winter.  The children's clothes were largely homemade."

"With no proper sanitary and laundry facilities in many homes, the physical condition of some children left much to be desired.  Times were hard and money was scarce.  Life was not helped during intervening war years with food and petrol rationing.  A number of families came to live in the area, mainly from Derry and Glasgow thus increasing the schools' population.  Food rationing was still in existence in 1950.  The making of essential journeys was difficult as petrol was scarce.  Few people owned a car so people tended not to travel away from home too much.  Teachers who came from other parts of the county to work in Rathmullan took lodgings in local homes and wither walked or cycled to school."


From "A Century of Schooling in Rathmullan" by Mary Bowden
© Rathmullan and District Local History Society