Havens East
‘Ayuda’
The Magazine Produced by the Children
Comfortably settled in at Pampisford Vicarage, the children set about creating their own ‘school magazine’.
‘Ayuda’ (meaning ‘help’) reflected the name of the children’s home in Bilbao from which the 29 niños had come.
The editorial board used a gelatine pad to produce multiple copies of the handwritten (but later typed) magazines. Topics ranged from essays on outings to the seaside, trips to London, and visits to Cambridge, to poems, stories, and reports on football matches played by the Basque boys against local Cambridge teams.
Image: The editorial team working on ‘Ayuda’. Image from ‘Recuerdos’ magazine
Image: Cover page from one of the surviving ‘Ayuda’ magazines
Image: Football scores from the game played by the Basque boys against local teams, as shown in ‘Ayuda’
Image: Sports report from ‘Ayuda’ magazine
The text was written in Spanish and, as part of the Havens East project, surviving copies of ‘Ayuda’ have been translated into English for the first time. Here are some examples of the magazine’s content.
Mr. Cornford has invited us to spend the month of July at his mill which is near the sea in Hunstanton. We were very happy waiting for the day we were to go.
In this issue we are going to print 100 copies, as we have printed it so well for this 4th, because we sold out of the 3rd number and many people were left without it, which was disappointing for us.
We had a great game of football against the lads from Pampisford… When the game ended we put on our tops and the Señoritas told us that one should always play clean and not kick anyone.
Our seventh number of AYUDA is dedicated to our teacher Mr. Cornford, to show our respect for his friendship, and our affection for him.
This week we gave a concert in Ely. It was a great success and we admired the magnificent cathedral of the times of ….. let’s say distant past.
We had festivities in Pampisford for the English, who have taken us in and have taken us to festivities and to their houses. So we thought we would… show our gratitude and please them.