The Mail has been a regular visitor to Barrow Island Primary School to report on its activities and achievements.

In 1988, Barrow’s mayor faced some tough questioning from ‘mini-councillors’ at a special council meeting at the school.

Sitting behind the ceremonial mace in the school hall, Cllr John Dick was quizzed about whether he liked being mayor and if he lived in the town hall.

The Mail:

The ‘councillors’, aged four to 11, were pupils at Barrow Island School, which hosted a full council meeting.

The children had the opportunity to sample local democracy during the afternoon.

Four children from each class made up the complement of 36 councillors, and the rest of the school joined in from the public gallery and watched as Cllr Jack Melling’s proposal that all school pupils be given a free lollipop looked briefly like it might taste defeat.

But there was no need to worry – the resolution was passed unanimously.

The Mail:

One class had made their own chains of office and all the children joined in voting nine-year-old Edward Grayless as mayor and 11-year-old Elizabeth Armstrong as deputy.

The children cheered when the mace was brought in.

They giggled as Cllr Dick explained that his job was to make sure that councillors behaved themselves and clapped when Cllr Sonia Gibson warned Cllr Melling that if he made promises about lollipops he had better keep them

The meeting concluded with a presentation to the mayor of a painting of the town hall, the work of seven-year-old Ryan Richardson.

Headmistress Maureen Wilson said: “We haven’t had a council meeting at the school before and it seemed a good idea to take advantage of it.”

Cllr Dick added “We tried to turn it into a bit of fun for them but also to show them it’s a serious side of life.”

The Mail:

In 1991, Delia Silcocks, from Dane Avenue, Barrow, revisited her old primary school, Barrow Island, to share her war memories with pupils of that year.

She thought pupils would enjoy a history lesson first hand, particularly as that week was the 50th anniversary of the evacuation of Barrow school children.