The National School (later C of E) at the top of Station Road had been built in 1846. In 1887 the National School continued to function at the top end of Station Road for 180 boys and 160 girls. Samuel Hodson had served as headmaster since 1883 and Miss Emily Charlesworth assisted him while the infant’s school continued to be run by Mrs Brice. The Lower Rainham National School which had been erected in 1876 had about 60 pupils and was run by Miss Knight then by Mrs Seago. A small private school run by Miss Bertha Atkins also existed just off Rainham High Street near the church path.

The National School was enlarged in 1878 and 1884, to hold 600 (205 Boys, 190 Girls and 205 Infants) and in 1908 there were 549 scholars attending. 

 Some of my contemporaries will be interested to know that even in 1908 our Head teacher, Mr G.R. Bone, and the two Miss Campbells were already on the staff and the Girls' teachers included Miss Rickells. Nearly all female staff were unmarried and 1 believe that it was an act of 1941 which allowed married women to be appointed.

This photo of the National School on the left of Station Road was taken in the 1970s shortly before demolition and shows the building with the two extensions added in 1878 and 1884. The site is now the location of Wilkinson's shop.

Click to view the whole booklet about the Long Winter of 1962-63 (a Guardian pamphlet) which was published about the winter of 1962-63 and the impact across the UK.

By any standard the winter of 1962-3 was one of the hardest Great Britain has ever had. It has been reckoned that in the Midlands, which didn't have the worst of it, there has been nothing comparable since 1740.

Even the most conservative estimates for the country as a whole conclude that it was the coldest since 1829-30. It was a winter in which cars were driven across the Thames, pack ice formed a quarter of a mile outside Whltstable Harbour, a family was marooned on a Dartmoor farm for 66 days. It killed at least 49 people. And though its economic effects were not as severe as those of 1946·7, public transport was several times brought to a standstill, and the January power crisis was grave enough to provoke an emergency meeting of the Cabinet. It was a winter to remember. What follows-the day-by-day summary of the chilliest news, the special articles by "Guardian" reporters and correspondents which appeared in the paper at the time, the illustrations and the statistics is a memorial to the long winter 1962-3.

This article about house price rises was written in December 1989 shortly before the market started a long crash! The prediction from Woolwich Building society was that house prices would rise by 11.9% a year over the next decade reaching an average of £200,000 in 2000. The reality was somewhat different! It might seem like prices have been rising forever but the 1990s were quite stagnant for house prices and only started rising towards the end of the decade. Of most interest locally is that prices in Maidstone were predicted to rise by the most in the country to an average of £400,000 by the year 2000. The average still hasn't reached that 17 years later!