Schools play a central role in the heart of their local community and newspapers have always been keen to report on the activities of their pupils.

Ulverston has many primary schools and their successes have been celebrated consistently over the years.

In 1987 it was reported that youngsters in Ulverston had been trying to make the world a greener place – with the help of hundreds of old cans.

The Westmorland Gazette:

Children at Church Walk School had been collecting cans as part of a national campaign to provide trees for some of the world’s less-developed countries.

A national company had agreed to plant one tree for every 20 aluminium cans collected. The Church Walk kids had managed to provide 20 saplings to be planted, after amassing 425 cans.

Deputy head Rita Jones said that any school which had taken part would also have an oak tree planted for it in Sherwood Forest.

The campaign was being supported by popular botanist and television star David Bellamy. The trees in historic Sherwood Forest were to be planted in the shape of Great Britain and the Church Walk youngsters had now ensured that south Cumbria would be marked by its own sapling.

The Westmorland Gazette:

In 1994 children and staff said goodbye to the 409-year-old Urswick Grammar School. The school was amalgamated with two other local primary schools to form Low Furness Primary School, which is located in Great Urswick.

A week of events was organised to mark the closure. More than 500 villagers and visitors, including former pupils from all over the country, visited the school to see a walking Tudor costume display, slide show of village views from 21 years previously and a rushbearing display.

Other attractions included a dialect speaker, the opportunity to view the school’s Elizabethan Charter and taped memories of the school and village from 80 years previously.

The Westmorland Gazette:

In 1986, around 40 youngsters at Penny Bridge School took part in a sponsored walk to raise money for a new television aerial and other equipment for the school.

A new aerial would allow the school to receive Channel Four, which broadcast some school programmes, and give improved reception of BBC1 and ITV.