INTACK Primary School is this year celebrating its 85th birthday – among three generations of local families who have all been pupils there.

The school was opened in 1931 to serve the new housing estate being built around Whitebirk and cost £14,900.

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Those first pupils sat in orderly rows of wooden desks, girls on one side of the classroom and boys – many wearing clogs – on the other, ready to learn their three Rs.

The first headmistress was Miss Olga Bolton, who had a staff of nine to teach 350-plus pupils – seven years later, the roll had grown to 427, with a long waiting list.

A log book, which registers the life and times of the school’s early years, has survived eight decades and tells of the day a young lad swallowed a marble, when the heating broke down and of an outbreak of whooping cough.

Also logged are the entries in the Blackburn Festival of Music and Drama for the school’s vocal ensemble, nature study trips, swimming galas, doctors’ visits and attending Blackburn’s spring bulb exhibition at King George’s Hall.

On Armistice Day in 1931, the school assembled in the hall, which had a small raised dias at one end, for a service and minute’s silence – while at its first Christmas party, parents were invited to tea.

In that first year, the school also celebrated Empire Day by flying a flag, which the pupils saluted, and singing Empire songs.

Miss Bolton gave a talk to the older pupils about the country’s Empire builders.

In 1937, the infants' playroom was adapted as a classroom for the babies, and at lunchtime, all the tables and chairs were stacked outside to make space for their little beds for an afternoon sleep.

The following year, with the threat of war looming, air wardens used the school as a centre for the distribution of gas masks to local families.

Intack closed on September 4, 1939, when war was declared on Germany, but opened again eight days later, with fire drills and gas mask drills part of the everyday curriculum.

There were extra days’ holidays for the pupils to mark both VE and VJ days – and it is also logged that the whole school also enjoyed a day off to celebrate winning the netball league.

A parent teacher association was formed in 1946 and the following year a new kitchen and dining room was opened, with 90 per cent of pupils staying for school lunches.

A Ministry of Education inspection in 1948 reported: “There’s no fuss, no excitement, and work and play go on steadily.

"The children learn the habits of obedience and self control, yet at same time are happy and natural.”

Intack Primary celebrated its 21st birthday in 1952, with cake and ice cream, and there was an evening service in the hall, with parents and past scholars also in attendance.

Coronation Day in 1953 was marked by a party, and pupils also took part in the town’s celebrations, making a giant illuminated crown for the stage at King George’s Hall and joining in a physical exercise demonstration.

That year, pupils were taken on holidays to the Isle of Man and camping in the Lake District, while days trips were made to Bank Hall Colliery and Towneley Hall in Burnley, as well as Star Paper Mill, Imperial Mill and the YMCA in Blackburn.

As well as lessons, the pupils were involved in a variety of clubs, including hobbies, swimming, netball, swimming and drama.