MURIEL PEARCEY

CATALOGUE

RECORDING

SUMMARY

BORN: Unstone, Derbyshire, 1908

LIVED: Countisbury, Blue Anchor

RECORDING MADE: 2001

RECORDING LENGTH: 1 hour 58 minutes

Muriel Pearcey, originally Miss Beck, taught at Countisbury school for over 40 years, first with her mother and then on her own. She was there until it closed. She thinks small schools are very valuable and was devoted to her 'scholars', many of whom still keep in touch. She was also devoted to the Halliday family, who owned the school, and deeply involved in the life of the community.

She held jumble sales to raise funds, organised sports days, and danced with the children round the maypole her father had built. She played the piano and sang in concerts. And she was there in emergencies, such as the Lynmouth flood, setting up an office in Brendon, which had been badly hit. Nobody asked her to help. She just did it. Ben Halliday says she acted as the unofficial social services for the area. She was made an MBE in 1973.

Muriel Pearcey died in March 2007.

Photograph by Mark J. Rattenbury