Formby House School
In 1915 Miss Ashton operated a private school known as Formby House in a house that was located on the property of the present Seabreeze Motel. She had some few boarding students and advertised in England for an additional teacher. Mr. A.K.N. Oxenham was offered and accepted the position. He later married Miss Ashton. In September 1920, the school was moved to larger quarters in the old Tolson, later Ward, family home.10 This building, still standing, is located on the knoll west of the Esso Service Station. Leslie Jenkins assisted with teaching duties and also with the boarders. Mr Oxenham died in 1927 and Mrs. Oxenham continued operating the school with assistance from Leslie Jenkins and Leonard Cropper. When Mrs. Oxenham and her daughter went to England in 1935, Mr. & Mrs. Cropper took over Formby House School. The school continued in operation until just after the outbreak of the Second W.W.
| Formby House School
Formby House School (c1915) (Norah Nixon) |
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| Formby House School (c1911) (Norah Nixon) Residence of Leonard Tolson, school master, located on Ganges Hill |
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Tolson's School was across the highway from Drake Road. The main house still stands. Geoff and Sheila Ballard owned it for several years and did a lovely job restoring it. It is accessed across the highway across from Lam's store and a take-away place. The big building that was the forerunner of Formby House also still stands but it has been moved down Bittancourt Road several years ago. There is a picture of it in Frances's wonderful collection. The second school was later Goodman's Funeral Parlour and thankfully burned a few years ago - it had been Ward's farmhouse. There is a nice Phillips waterclour of the view from the school in the Museum. |
from Charles Kahn's so-useful book "Salt Spring - the Story of an Island", page162:Kathleen Ashton ... soon advertised in England for a second teacher and hired A.K.N. Oxenham, whom she later married. In 1920 the school moved to larger quarters in Tolson's old schoolhouse" (I'm not so sure Tolson's little schoolroom cottage quite qualifies for that wording - it was the boarding house she took on, as far as I know) "After Oxenham died in 1927, Kathleen operated the school for another eight years until she and her daughter moved to England. Leslie and Leonard Cropper, who had worked for the Oxenhams, ran the school until about 1940." (That makes it quite a long-lasting private school to have founded, in an era of a proliferation of small private schools that came and went)
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