Mary talks about studying at Wensum Lodge, her work with Made in Cley pottery, and the impact of the closure of Wensum Lodge.
Background
I suppose you could say my background was academic. I got a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) for English and History. I followed these through university and trained to be a teacher, which I didn’t take up in the end. Originally, I worked in the Public Record Office and then I went on to do a bit of work in what was then called the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) when it moved to Peterborough.. So I’ve worked in a variety of jobs through my life before I ended up where I am now, which I assume will be my last job.
Prior to the ceramics course at Wensum Lodge, I had very small children and my husband worked long hours. I did, and still do, a lot of creative things like sewing and knitting. I was always keeping busy with something. We lived in Haltwhistle in Northumberland for a while and I got involved in the community crafts place in the centre of town there. I taught myself smocking whilst in Northumberland and started a little business making traditional smocks with embroidery. So I’ve always done creative things, when I could, alongside working for a living.
Ceramics course at Wensum Lodge
I had an opportunity to do a City & Guilds course in creative skills for ceramics at Wensum Lodge. At the time I was doing some part time work that I wasn’t really enjoying so it was a wonderful chance to try out something I was really interested in. I’d always had an interest in pottery, but at the time my children were young.
I studied during the year of 1997 and finished in February 1998. I was able to do this course without having to make any payment. In those days that kind of thing still existed if you were on any kind of benefit or had small children. So I went once a week to Wensum Lodge. The lovely tutor was a potter herself and I learnt some basic techniques in using clay. I learnt how to make pinch pots, coil pots, and slab pots, and how to use different textures and things like that.
At the end of the course, we had to produce examples of the work that we studied throughout the year. One pinch pot, one slab pot, and one coil pot. I still have them. My youngest daughter came to the class with me one day. The tutor let her make a tile and a little pot which I still possess as a rather nice memory of it. It was a wonderful place to be and the environment was fantastic for learning about pots. There was a huge kiln there and you could leave your pots from week to week in a storage area which was the right temperature.
Made in Cley
I subsequently went on to teach myself how to make pots on the wheel with the help of my friends at Made in Cley pottery. Eventually I joined Made in Cley and started contributing pots of my own. I also did other work there including packing kilns, glazing, and helping in the shop. All the things we did together to keep the business going. We’ve just passed the 40th year anniversary and we’re still going, with new people joining us.
I’ve enjoyed aspects of a lot of the jobs I’ve done, but certainly rather than working in an office environment, Made in Cley is nicer. I’m able to work at my own pace when I’m making pots and it’s a job with a lot of variety. But as with any job, if you’re working to earn a living, there’s pressures that can mean it’s not wonderful stuff all the time. It’s like any job. But it’s nice to be able to explore creatively.
Family connections
My daughter Ellen did her jewellery making course at Wensum Lodge before taking it on to college. She has taken over as the jeweller at Made in Cley after the original person retired. The original jeweller was a personal friend and she very kindly helped Ellen learn a bit about jewellery in the early days.
My other daughter is a speech and language therapist and I’m certain she did courses in things like sign language at Wensum Lodge. She also did a first aid course there.
Wensum Lodge
I’ve known about Wensum Lodge ever since we came to Norfolk. We lived in Cley for many years before we moved up to Northumberland for a while. And when my husband and I split up he was living quite close to Wensum Lodge. But we knew about it anyway because we were interested in adult education. We knew of the place and love it. Or loved it, sadly it’s gone now.
I’d been to tasters at Wensum Lodge for language courses. It’s always been a nice place to go, the environment was great, and the facilities were great. I’ve known plenty of people who lived 25-30 miles away from the city who said ‘oh, I’ve done a course at Wensum Lodge.’ The other thing about Wensum Lodge is it used to be used as a polling station for the local community. A very useful one because it was right in the centre of the polling area.
Very occasionally I went Jurnet’s bar. Because I lived out in North Norfolk I wasn’t exactly interested in drinking very much, but occasionally I went down and met people there. That’s sadly gone now too. Another bit of the local community now gone.
The loss of Wensum Lodge
We always knew Wensum Lodge was there. It was the one place you could start from to find out about the various kinds of adult education as well as information about education for people with learning disabilities and refugees. We’ve lost a great asset to Norfolk.
I think in the years to come it will be regretted that they made the decision to sell it. I’m very angry, very angry indeed. It was unnecessary and it’s a huge loss to the local community and further afield. It could have been avoided. It was a short-sighted decision for financial gain.
I think one of the saddest things about Wensum Lodge was that slowly, slowly, there was less variety of classes available. Also the cost of the classes made it prohibitive for people like me who maybe just wanted to keep an interest going. That’s been a death knell of adult education over the whole of Norfolk really, particularly if you live out in country locations where there’s the cost of getting there on top of paying quite a lot of money up front. There’s a lot of things that have happened over the years aside from our wonderful Wensum Lodge disappearing and it’s all but destroyed adult education for those of us who believed in education from 6-90. Or birth to the grave, if that’s the right phrase.
Mary Perry talking to WISEArchive on 20th February 2025. © 2025 WISEArchive. All Rights Reserved.
