Fascinating insight into life for deaf children in 1954

Last week my father bought to my attention two videos that had been uploaded to YouTube of a documentary into life at the Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate from 1954. Unfortunately, the videos were not subtitled so Teresa Quail and myself set about the task of transcribing the videos and re-uploading them for all to enjoy.

The video is particularly close to my heart because in part two it features my mother, Catherine, as an eight-year-old girl enjoying class with her friend Linda Fincham who has remained a friend of our family for years.

It's provides a fascinating insight into school life and the approaches to educating deaf children sixty years ago. In the second part of the film, the children are discussing a book called 'Little Black Sambo' which was popular in the first part of the 20th century. Since then the book has fallen out of favour in schools because the language and illustrations are not appropriate today. For more information on this book, please see it's Wikipedia entry.

Please click the 'CC' button at the bottom right of the screen to access the subtitles.