Lost? school

Questions on schools and colleges, past and present
Terry
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Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:37 pm

Re: Lost? school

Postby Terry » Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:05 pm

Anyone remember "Shocker" Shaw the art teacher? If you misbehaved he'd put one of those big metal rubbish bins over your head and hit it with a stick. It certainly gave you a shock! There was a legend that he'd suffered badly as a POW in WW2. None of us schoolboys really believed it, but a few years after I left school he died and they wrote his obituary in the local rag. Guess what? It turned out to be true.

There were similar legends about other teachers, but I have no idea whether they were true or not. Those concernining Mr. Morse the geography teacher and Mr. Harvey the music teacher seemed a bit farfetched and far too personal to go into detail.

Aparently the guy who taught German (Taylor? Turner?) worked as a translator and wrote German/English phrase books for the armed forces.




Anonymous1
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:40 am

Re: Lost? school

Postby Anonymous1 » Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:43 pm

Lol_ _ __ _ _..I remember Shocker Shaw, he always used to slip up the back of the class for a quick drink, that chalk can sure dry the throat.
I guess quite a few teachers of the time had been through the war and suffered as a result, my heart goes out to some of them. I certainly remember the legends regarding some of the teachers.

Quite a few of the staff used the WhiteFriars Pub as a lunchtime watering hole. I don't think they would get away with it now, smelling of drink and smoking in the classroom. On the whole a good bunch but there were exceptions, in fact one or two of them were psychopaths.

Here's some nicknames I remember:

Gold Finger
Water rat
Bomb head
Shocker
Mickey




Terry
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:37 pm

Re: Lost? school

Postby Terry » Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:41 am

I remember the name Water Rat, but can't recall who it applied to.
Bomb Head was Mr. Venn.

There was also

"Masher" Morse
"Half P*#@%" Harvey
Mr. Jackson "Jacko"
Mr. Barker "Howler"
Mr. Pratt who didn't need a nickname!
Mr. David James, who also played piano in a local jazz band and was a secret fan of Jimi Hendrix
Mr. Kenwood
Mr. Dickenson, my form teacher also known as "Dicko"
and a teacher with the very unfortunate name of Mr. Urine!

There were many others, but memory fails me.




Terry
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:37 pm

Re: Lost? school

Postby Terry » Sun Dec 06, 2009 2:06 am

I ought to point out that most of the above were excellent teachers and despite the silly schoolboy nicknames, I have, on reflection, a great deal of respect for them and owe them a lot.




rich_bigtoe
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Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:45 pm

Re: Lost? school

Postby rich_bigtoe » Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:53 pm

Water Rat was the nickname for Tom Taylor the deputy head teacher, I seem to remember.
The german teacher drove a Sunbeam Alpine of a metalic bronze colour.His surname name was Temple.




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terry_again
Posts: 148
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 9:55 am

Re: Lost? school

Postby terry_again » Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:17 am

Temple, that's the name I was looking for. I thought the car he drove was the high power version of the Alpine with a larger engine. I think it was given a different name, Tiger (?).

I also remember "Pickle" Mr. Branston or Branson. On our last day a group of us picked up his car (a mini clubman estate) and manouevered it between two buildings with about an inch to spare front and rear between the walls. I have no idea how he ever got it out.

There was also a science teacher called Landwich and a maths teacher called "Barclay" Brocklebank.

I seem to recall Deputy Head Taylor had connections with the Caravan Club.

I still remember the school moto, which was also the school song "Veritae sans Puer" which I've probably spelt wrong. It meant truth without fear.

Although Prory Road was known in my time as a (mainly) boy's school, it's history is actually more complex. I haven't studied it in detail, but at various times it seems to have admitted girls as well. As I said above, there were a handful of girls there during my last years.

Another anacdote I recall: A bald woodwork teacher whose name escapes me pointed out that the date was 6-6-66 and told us that a similar date wouldn't occur for another ten years. I pointed out that 7-7-77 was actually 11 years 1 month and 1 day. He hit the roof, despite the fact that I was correct. It certainly didn't pay to be too clever with some of those guys. As you say, many of them were badly damaged.

One of the lads in my class was overweight and suffered terrible bullying from the other kids and even worse bullying from some of the teachers!

Thankfully, that wouldn't be tolerated today.




Anonymous1
Posts: 271
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:40 am

Re: Lost? school

Postby Anonymous1 » Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:37 pm

[quoted]
Terry again wrote:

Another anacdote I recall: A bald woodwork teacher whose name escapes me
[/quoted]


There were 2, Mr Grant who was short and bald and Mr Lambert who was tall and bald.

Other names:

Mr Sadler_ _ _..Metal work
Mr Chapman_ _ _..Metal Work
Mr Friendly _ _ _..Art
Mr Charrot _ _ __ _ _??? Careers advice
Mr George_ _ __ _ _English
Mr McMath_ _ _..Maths
Mr Billings_ _ _..Maths
Mr Fletcher_ _ __ _ _PE

There was a seriously Hunch back teacher with a club foot who was one of the nicest men I have ever met,,,,,but I can't remember his name????

I read that Kimbers wife died a few weeks back, she was a very good singer in her day apparently.

Trying to remember which teachers hit me with a slipper or cane_ _ _..probably most of them.




rich_bigtoe
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Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:45 pm

Re: Lost? school

Postby rich_bigtoe » Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:38 pm

The metalwork teacher was Tom Chatham and the woodwork teacher was Dennis Grant. You are right the German teacher Herr Temple had a car that was a Tiger _ _ _the top of the range Alpine.
The teacher who was disabled was Mr Alton. He often taught at the anex where the additional tech rooms were located. I seem to remember he had written a couple of basic woodwork/metalwork books_ _ _ copies of which I came across recently. He had a mild and friendly nature.
There were three girls from Ore Girls Secondary School in my chemistry class and they brightened up the proceedings a little.




rich_bigtoe
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Re: Lost? school

Postby rich_bigtoe » Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:52 pm

I think the science teachers name was Geoff Langridge if I remember correctly.
Tom Taylor, the deputy head ,was a caravan club member and always had a suitable car for towing_ _ _large and powerful.
The music teacher Ernie Harvey owned a bubble car,the one with the front door which openned out to enable entrance and exit_ _ _ which he drove with a fair amount of flourish. He used to run the tuck shop in the music hut across the playground.







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terry_again
Posts: 148
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Re: Lost? school

Postby terry_again » Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:21 pm

Langridge, that's right.

I certainly remember Grant. We called him the poison dwarf, but don't remember him being bald. It wasn't him I was refering to. The guy I meant had a display case in the workshop full of Stanley (?) tools which we were never allowed to use.

Sadler was always making or repairing stuff for an old 0 gauage three rail tinplate model railway.

Vaugely recall Billings I think, but not the others.

Damaged my memory with a mispent youth.







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