YOUNGSTERS from a remote, rural community started the new school year in Furness 20 years ago in a new classroom within a different school.

The last few pupils left Ulpha Church of England School for the final time at the end of the summer term in 1999 and took up their studies in September 1999 a few miles down the Duddon Valley at Broughton CE School.

The Mail, on Wednesday, July 14, noted: “With only 10 pupils Ulpha is the smallest primary school in Cumbria and its closure marks the end of an era stretching back almost 200 years.

“Residents,old pupils and former staff were being invited to pay a visit to the school during an open day being held this afternoon.

“The school has been a central part of community life in the Duddon Valley for generations but, despite protests, Secretary of State for Education David Blunkett decided last December it would have to close.

“Under the guidance of headteacher Susan Wheeler and teacher Judith Bulley, pupils have been hard at work producing creative writing and artwork which will be left as a record of the school’s work.

“Some of the work by the pupils, who are to transfer to Broughton Primary School, will go on display in churches in Ulpha and Seathwaite.”

The Mail, on September 2, noted that a new classroom had been built at Broughton to help cope with the influx of Ulpha youngsters.

The open day held to mark the end of classes at Ulpha attracted former pupils, some of whom had been there in the 1930s.

To mark the closure a book called A History of Ulpha School was written by Janet Whitcut.

In February 1988 the school had 27 pupils - only seven of which lived within walking distance - and had already survived two closure threats in the past eight years.

By October1998 there was under a dozen youngsters and as school budgets were based on pupil numbers the school would soon be facing a deficit.

The small population of the Duddon Valley would have needed to find £10,000 a year to keep the school going.