On this day in Wembury — 16 July 1956
The Daily Mirror ran an amusing yet telling story from Wembury under the headline “Truants Made to Pay for It.” Parents in the village had found a note sent home from the Sunday School announcing a new rule: children who missed too many lessons would have to contribute towards the cost of the annual Sunday School outing. The newspaper reported that this unexpected “payment by results” scheme had stirred a few grumbles among local families.
The system, designed by the Sunday School teachers, was meant to reward regular attendance and discourage truancy. As the paper noted, “It works like this: if a child attends each week, the outing is free; if not, they must pay their share.” For most Wembury children of the 1950s, the annual trip — often a coach ride to the seaside or a picnic at Dartmoor — was the highlight of the year, and the threat of missing it caused no small stir.
The story spread far beyond the parish, becoming a light-hearted national example of village life and discipline in post-war England. Beneath its humour, though, lay a familiar truth about rural communities of the time: small, close-knit, and firmly guided by the twin influences of church and family. For Wembury’s Sunday School, it was simply a way to keep order — and make sure everyone earned their day out in the sun.
(Daily Mirror, 16 July 1956)