Looking back at the day Preston Lodge High School, Prestonpans, went up in flames 50 years ago

In its issue of February 3, 1967, The Haddingtonshire Courier had the following report on the fire:

FIRE raged through East Lothian’s biggest secondary school, which was completely destroyed in the early hours of Monday morning.

Hundreds of pupils left their homes to watch as flames leapt high in the air above Preston Lodge School, Prestonpans, and the clock tower crumbled into the inferno below in a cloud of sparks.

As a series of small explosions shook the red sandstone buildings, seven classrooms on the top floor were completely destroyed.

Seven other classrooms on the ground floor were made unusable by smoke and water.

And today, plans were still being rushed through to accommodate some of the school’s 740 pupils sent home on Monday morning.

About 130 senior boys and girls restarted classes in undamaged annexe buildings around the burned out school on Wednesday, but yesterday first, second and third year pupils had still not been accommodated, although an education sub-committee is still working hand in hand with the County Director of Education, Dr John Meiklejohn, to solve the problem.

Already it has been suggested that the empty primary school at Cockenzie or perhaps the old St Gabriel’s Roman Catholic School in Prestonpans might be pressed into service.

Mobile classrooms in the school grounds have also been mooted.

Ironically, work on the site of a new senior secondary school to replace Preston Lodge began at Sheepfield only last week.

The £800,000 school, however, is not scheduled for completion until 1968, although the contractors may be pressed to speed up building operations following Monday’s fire.

On Tuesday, a number of senior pupils volunteered to aid teaching staff and salvage crews working in the blackened shell that was once East Lothian’s most majestic school.

The pupils were anxious to find papers which they had taken two years to compile and which they need to study for the Higher Leaving examinations in April.

Most of them found their papers destroyed, however.

The Depute Director of Education, Mr H C F Pert, said: “Preston Lodge always has had a tremendous tone about it, so it was natural for the senior pupils to come forward and volunteer their help through members of the teaching staff.

“There was no question of us ever recruiting their help but it was a wonderful gesture.”

The brigades were called out by a motorcyclist who had stopped near the school to repair his machine.

The blaze was also reported by Mr David Davitt, of 31 Kirk Street, Prestonpans, who was on duty in the railway signal box nearby.

“I saw flames at one of the top floor windows about 2.50am and phoned for the fire brigade immediately,” he said.

“It was fantastic just how quickly the fire spread.

“By three o’clock the whole roof seemed to be alight.

“Flames were leaping up from the building and all the windows on the top floor were aglow.

“I could hear the crack of breaking glass and then there were one or two small explosions – probably from the science labs – which sent up showers of sparks into the sky.

“Then I heard one explosion louder than the rest, and the clock tower began to topple slowly, and fell into the rooms below it,” Mr Davitt said.

Fire crews, under the command of Edinburgh Firemaster Mr Frank Rushbrook, were still hosing down parts of the building when pupils arrived expecting to start classes.

There were cheers when a teacher met them at the main gate and said: “There will be no classes today. You can all go home.”

Many, however, hung around the school gates.

Only a few of the senior pupils were anxious about examination papers lost in the blaze.

Mr H C F Pert, said, however, that the examination papers were only used as part of an internal assessment of pupils within the school and might not necessarily have to be done again.

An early visitor to the scene was Dr Meiklejohn, who met the Fire Chief as well as the headmaster and members of staff to discuss the position before motoring back to Haddington.

Hero of the blaze was headmaster Mr Joseph Sykes.

Before the fire brigades arrived on the scene, he forced his way through the heat and smoke of the building with the janitor, Mr James Whyte (52) and a constable, to rescue the school log and records from his office.

“The smoke was blowing towards us down the corridors, and we had to crawl on our hands and knees to get below it,” said Mr Sykes.

“Fortunately my office was not too far from the main door and the fire had not got a real hold,” he added.

Among the things Mr Sykes managed to salvage was a detailed history of all important happenings in the school from the day it was opened.

“By the time we got out the fire brigades had arrived and the blaze was beginning to get a real hold on the roof.”

And he had a word of praise for the county officials and workmen.

“They have been simply wonderful – and I’ll never be able to thank my own teaching staff enough.

“They have put a lot of time and effort into helping me sort things out since the fire,” he added.

He revealed too that offers of help, in the form of equipment to replace that lost in the blaze had been pouring in from headmasters throughout the county.

“We even had an offer from Musselburgh Grammar School, which I thought was very kind,” he said.

Preston Lodge was built in 1929, the red sandstone being taken from the ruins of Amisfield Mansion House, which stood in Amisfield Park, Haddington, now the golf course.