Four generations of Ruby Booker’s family have been educated at Skelton Newby Hall, an idyllic village primary school in North Yorkshire.
It was the autumn of 1946 when she followed in the footsteps of her three older siblings and her father to begin her education in the draughty Victorian schoolhouse and since that day Booker, now a great-grandmother, has watched thousands more pupils enjoy its playing fields, including her children and grandchildren.
But this week, to her dismay, councillors ruled that the 167-year-old school will shut its doors for good at the end of term, after it became the only school in England with one pupil.
