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Discovered - 90 Year Old School Satchel
An untouched 90-year-old school bag was discovered at the back of a school cupboard.
16:22 04 November 2015
An untouched 90-year-old school bag was found by teacher Jessica Griffith at Aylestone Business and Enterprise College in Hereford, U.K (originally called Hereford High School for Girls) . It contained exercise books belonging to a little girl who’d been a pupil at the school for almost 100 years ago.
The leather satchel belonged to Monica Stonyer and remained untouched since 1930. It contained Mona’s book for History of Arts, Biology, Religious Studies, and Geology, revealing fascinating insights into how the subjects were taught 90 years ago.
Assistant head teacher Cal Hendry, said: "Other than the books, there was nothing in the satchel except her name and address.
"Nobody knows why it was left behind. It's a mystery.
"We've found out that Mona was born in November 1913. Her dad was an engineer and she joined the school in 1927 when she was 13.
"In 1926 her dad was killed in a motorbike accident.
"She had an older sister but there is nothing in our records about her mother.
"She worked as a personal secretary for a local land security company.
"Mona died in 1990 and apparently she was very reclusive in her old age.
"We held a school assembly about the bag two weeks ago where I gave a slideshow presentation, comparing Mona's work to that of our current pupils.
"The old books are in amazing condition and the presentation hasn't faded.
"All of her work is neatly handwritten. She took great pride in it and it is beautifully presented.
"By showing it to the children, I was trying to emphasise the value of focus and encourage them to take pride in their work like she did.
"Our science teachers also used them in lessons to show how different their teaching methods are now, compared to those in the 1920s.
"This whole experience has been a revelation for me."