THEY are remembered more fondly than any musician or comedian. They were heroes revered as much as the adventurer and the sportsman.

We never forget our favourite teachers.

Judging by a terrific new book on local schools, Haxby had its fair share of teaching stars, among them Basil Hurdus.

"Few headteachers could claim the level of approbation that Basil Hurdus receives to this day from his former pupils," note the authors of The Happiest Days!, which chronicles Haxby's 150 years of educational life.

None of his pupils knew it, but Mr Hurdus was a First World War hero. He enlisted, although underage, and flew as an observer in a two-man plane over France.

It was forced into a crash landing. Badly injured, he scrambled from the wreckage, freed the pilot and together they made their way back to England.

He found his vocation in teaching. "Mr Hurdus loved music, and so we had lots of singing and we were encouraged to join the choir of St Mary's Church, where he was organist," noted one former pupil.

"Perhaps it would seem a bit simple, even a bit rough and ready nowadays. We had no playing field, we had no swimming pool and even the school conveniences were outdoors."

Despite the primitive facilities, "the school ran happily and well, and there are many of us who still live in the area and who have memories of Haxby Village School."

Of course, not every teacher was a hit with every pupil.

"My pre-war school days were fairly happy but I was plagued at this time with sweaty hands so I wasn't Mrs Lumley's favourite pupil," said Howard Snowden.

"There were times when I wished her fat little body would develop wings and she would fly out of the door like an agitated bumble bee.

"My next teacher was Dot Foster who once caused great hilarity when she stood too close to a gas fire in her smart patent leather shoes.

"One of them set alight and she shot off like a blazing rocket. The only casualties were her nylons and shoe."

The Happiest Days! is another fascinating account of village life by The Haxby Local History Group. Written by Alan Clark, Tom Smith and Brian Wainwright, and with 34 photographs prepared by Pauline Briggs, the book goes back to the foundation of the board school in the 19th century, with 46 boys and eight girls on the rolls.

Before the century was out, there were serious disciplinary problems in the school.

In 1897, the board school day book recorded: "The children are, for the most part, now in motion, careless in manner and address and generally rough and brusque...

"One cannot turn round for a moment without some advantage being taken; for the children seem to have the gift of talking in a marked degree."

Eric Lummas, a pupil in the 1920s, recalled the appointment of a temporary headmaster who "found discipline difficult to uphold due to many mischievous antics of certain pupils who, among other pranks, hid the cane and placed drawing pins in the teacher's cushion".

Gladys Shaw began her time at Haxby Board School in 1925, by which time headmaster Mr Atterton had imposed order on the place.

"She recalls that he took a regular stroll around the village and if any local schoolboys he met did not politely acknowledge him with the words 'Good evening sir' they were automatically segregated from school assembly the following morning to be humiliated by receiving a taste of the cane in front of all their colleagues."

Haxby Village School was succeeded in 1954 by the Ralph Butterfield County Primary School, named after a former headteacher and chairman of the North Riding Educational Committee, and a new era began.

The Happiest Days! Education In Haxby 1854-2004 by The Haxby Local History Group is on sale at Haxby Library, and the Barbican Bookshop, Fossgate, York, for £3.

Memories of Stroud's in Coney Street

THANK you for your feedback on the story of Stroud's Servants Agency, which we ran last week.

It brought back memories for Mrs Marjorie Clegg, of Haxby. "In the late 1920s I was a schoolgirl and I went to Stroud's Registry Office for weekly music lessons.

"Lionel Stroud was a full time music teacher, and he taught me to play the piano. He also was organist at Fulford Garrison church.

"He was very reserved, very strict and very quiet, obviously 'tied to his mother's apron strings', as we said in those days."

She attended Queen Anne School for girls, which ruled that pupils were not allowed down Coney Street, so she had to seek special permission from her headmistress Miss Netherwood to go to Stroud's.

Her letter also points out an error in our piece, also brought to our attention by Margaret Storey: Stroud's was not above the jewellers Darling, Wood & Anfield but next door: "over the corner shop," writes Mrs Clegg.

"I can't remember who owned the corner shop. I think it may have been a tobacconist."

Dennis Young, of Clifton, wrote: "I thought you and readers would be intrigued to know my Victorian grandmother's brother - a great uncle to me - was hired in 1917, in his middle years to work at Ryther Hall on the Wharfe for a year."

The remuneration? Board and lodging, a new pair of boots and £5. "Barely five feet in height, he oozed dignity."

Finally, we return to an earlier piece about June Scott's war as a wireless operator in India.

A letter writer responded by suggesting Mrs Scott was entitled to more than the two medals she eventually received.

She has investigated, and sent this update. "The Defence Medal is awarded to service personnel stationed overseas (qualifying varies to each area abroad).

"The Burma Star medal is awarded to those serving during 1939-45. In 1944-45 the border territory line was moved to east of the river Brahmap Utra. Calcutta is west of the river so those serving in Calcutta then did not qualify."

Updated: 09:13 Monday, July 25, 2005