WWI and The Alvey

Probably replicated in towns and villages across the country.

We know Mary Beavis was Head of the Girls' Side from 1912-1935 (over this period she lived at 29 Eastgate). At the same time as being the Head Mistress of The Alvey, she was  a VAD nurse at the 'Old Place' during WWI.

Lilly Hoyes, a teacher at the school during WWI, was also a VAD nurse at the Old Place.

Mrs Ada Alice Bartlett, wife of the Head Master, George Colborne Bartlett who was living in the school house during WWI, was a VAD nurse too.

Perhaps most tragically, Edith Cracknell (20 Eastgate) mother of Edwin, former pupil, who was killed in France in 1915 and remembered on our Project 72 memorial, became a VAD nurse in 1916.