The Burston School Strike

' We want our teachers back: we want justice' ran the placards carried by the schoolchildren when they came out on strike in the village of Burston in Norfolk. It was 1 April 1914, but the children were not fooling: they were convinced that their much-loved teachers, TOM and ANNIE HIGDON , had been unjustly dismissed on a trumped-up charge. Their dismissal split the village. On the one side were the school managers, led by the vicar and well-to-do farmers: on the other side were the farmworkers and railwaymen of Burston, whose children were on strike. The Burston School Strike became a national issue - and the strikers won. With the help of labour organisations from all over the country the Higdons built a strike school on the village green - and continued to teach there for over 20 years.