Author Topic: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich  (Read 54468 times)

WHITERYANO

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #30 on: 16:50:31, 19/10/15 »
Martin Ryan
1968-1975
Chadwick House Captain in 6th Form.
Football, Rugby (remember Staff v School matches as staff had quite few players playing for Broughton Park, De La Salle, etc at the time), Athletics...


Football team v. good - Dave Ryan = goalkeeper on United's books, 3/4 others played for Lancashire Schools.
Rugby only started in 2nd year when I was there. Ended up playing for Sedgley Park RUFC.


Remember playing for school football team, school rugby team and Sedgley Park Colts one game after another on the Saturday, and then Manchester Schools v Coventry Schools Sunday morning, and Sedgley Park Colts Cup game on the Sunday afternoon - oh, to be young and fit!!

Selclene

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #31 on: 00:26:22, 31/10/15 »
Excellent post . I too was there and assured of my path to failure. Sadly for them I live a rather good life in Cornwall!


Selclene

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #32 on: 00:52:20, 31/10/15 »
Any one out there attend this school (now St Monica's)
I was one of the first intakes into the school when it opened in 66, ironically i live now in Bury and pass the site quite often and always laugh when i think of the days we went swimming at Heaton Park Boating Lake, tried to get a drink at the Ostrich Pub next door, and tried to board the train into Manchester without paying. The headmaster was a Mr Hermolle (his daughter Sarah was always at the school teasing the hormonal lads), deputy head Mr Walker was incredibly strict, but i hasten to add fair.
Any memories guys?????
we are of the same intake...Rob Taylor..1d then 2a then disaster. Remember me ?

Bugs Dunny

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #33 on: 17:22:34, 30/04/16 »
Good to see the memories here. I was (briefly) a teacher at St. Peter's, from 1972 - 1974, mainly because I was a skint and jobless recent graduate with a modern languages degree, and Vic Hermolle  and I used to drink in the same social club. Vic had been pestering me for months before my finals, as he was about to lose his Russian teacher and hadn't got a clue where to find another one. He was also about to leave himself that summer of 1972, but honourably didn't want to leave a hard to fill vacancy behind.


I remember many of my teaching colleagues mentioned here, particularly Colin Sutton, Tony Mallalieu, Mike Sandiford, Christine Heslop (what a colourful story she has), Maria Fulgoni (whose name somebody on this forum was trying to remember), Michelle Frere, Angela Smith, David Levaggi of the deadly duster accuracy etc. etc.

It was a weird experience going for the interview with the board of governors, knowing full well that unless I told them I performed back street abortions in my spare time I was guaranteed to get the job. I had no intention of teaching, but as the dole drew ever nearer I relented, and had a great couple of years at St. Peter's. Probably clouted some of you a few times, but

As a local Prestwich boy I could walk to work, but after a few pay packets I invested in an ageing Austin 1100, so that I could spend the night at my then girlfriend's place in Warrington and still get to school by 9 am. It looked really scruffy parked next to (Geoff??) Walker's smart new Volvo. One of my 6th form lads, Roger Oddie, who was much more technically gifted than I have ever been, fitted it with a heated rear window, either for a small fee or a week off homework - I can't remember which.

 I remember driving one of the minibuses to North Wales, with my very own smoker's corner at the back of the bus, (what the hell, I let them carry on), and picking up various under age drunks from the fleshpots of Llandudno. Happy days!!


Another memory is the early days of City's Junior Blues in 1973, when the club sent round free tickets to all Manchester schools, with each school getting one allocation of about 6 tickets per season. I was the only City fan on the staff, so I got the tickets. Sadly most of the little gits who accompanied me to the match were Reds, but I was confident of a home win, as were playing Coventry, who had never even got a point at Maine Rd. since they were promoted. Of course the Law of Sod applied, and Coventry won 2-1, much to the delight of said little gits.

 I never really had the teaching vocation, and have spent most of my career since in business publishing. After spells living in Blackpool and Kent, my wife and I now live near Pickmere Lake in leafy Cheshire. Still a City fan, with a season ticket at the Etihad, and all memories of home defeats by Wycombe Wanderers and Stockport County fully exorcised.

celeste

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #34 on: 17:38:44, 30/04/16 »
Welcome to the forum, we have or had someone on here who lives in Pickmere, you may have taught him - maybe he will notice your post and reply.
All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

The Windy Man

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St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #35 on: 14:38:45, 17/10/16 »
I too was part of the '66 intake and attended the school until '73.[/size]Mr Ramsden taught woodwork (I think). I remember him for his tweed jackets with the leather strap draped across his shoulder under the jacket. I still have a few of the scars of that fast draw action.Names to remember Paul Devine (RIP), his best friend Steven Whitfield, Paul Knight, Andy Considine, Billy Jubb, John Bird (he of the flying jacket in football games in the yard).Sitting in a row with our back to the high wall behind the playground smoking happily until you heard the bellowed "YOU BOY!" which heralded the arrival of Mr Walker which prompted a fireworks display of lit cigarettes being lobbed over the wall.School plays with the girls from Bury Grammar. Ahh, sweet memories. I've loved Shakespeare ever since.School trip to Arenal in Majorca and the souvenir bulls heads removed from the shield backing and the cavity packed with flick knives and stilettos before being reassembled for the trip home? Anyone remember?What a scandal the Rob Eli affair was. God, we were all so jealous of him!Being allowed to smoke in the 6th Form Common Room. I can still smell the odour that surrounded the coffee bench at the end of Common Room.Fishing Heaton Park lake, the cross country runs and eventually the beers in The Ostrich when we were in 6th Form. Mr Pounder used to join us there occasionally.

Bobbins

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #36 on: 20:59:32, 02/03/17 »
I was class of '67 in Tony Slade's form (who married Hattie Jaques and became a tour guide at Old Trafford). Hopkins was a really excellent teacher - and never resorted to the cane, slipper or strap. I remember Owens (Geography); Duffy (can't remember); Mike Healey (think he played for Saracens at Rugby and taught music); Levaggi (think his family ran an ice cream business and he eventually zogged off to Gregs when St Petes closed - obsessed with "Moston Squatters"); Sandiford (Mr and Mrs - French?); Finneron (?); Lynch (Mastermind contestant); Hopkins (PE) and Tony Mallalieu (PE); Harrington (English); Mulligan and his mate (Art); Goggins and Ramsden (Engineering Workshop Theory & -not a lot of- Practice). There are a lot of faces I just can't put a name too like the french woman who introduced fencing, the blobby bloke who did RE and the science teacher who played for De La Salle at rugby. Oh - and Miss Heslop "known to us as "George" for obvious reasons + Jimmy Beetroot (English). Hermolle was the Head - tho' Jack Walker ran the place - I can still feel the sting of the cane after walking on the wrong side of the corridor...

Reptile

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #37 on: 19:26:53, 05/06/17 »
'68 (I think) to '76.


I think all the teachers were decent and conscientious, doing their best for us but one or two sometimes came unstuck with their old fashioned attitudes.


Mr Slade had a rule that you had to present pen (cartridge only) pencil, ruler and comb within ten seconds on demand.  You got one stroke for not meeting the deadline and another for every item you couldn't present.  Letters that where sent home to parents had to have the signed reply-slip returned the following day.  Failure to do so would result in one stroke but this would double every subsequent day.  One lad decided to see how far it would go.  Every day he would get double the number of strokes.  One morning, that was 32 strokes!  The next day he duly presented himself for 64 strokes but Slade backed down.  A few weeks/months later, Slade announced that he would not be using the 'slipper' again.  I often wondered if the two events were connected...


I expect that such a punishment today would rightly carry a risk of a jail sentence...


I remember in the fourth year (Mike Openshaw's form) persuading Mr Openshaw to let me and a couple of volunteers brew some beer in the classroom after school.  (Really  :D ). At four PM we duly set up a paraffin primus stove on the teacher's desk and started heating a large pan of water.  Mr Learie (excuse spelling) otherwise known as Stan whistled his way down the corridor doing his rounds, put his head round the door and carried on whistling.  Five seconds later the whistling stopped and he came back to the classroom and asked us what we were doing.  My reply that we were brewing beer only caused his jaw to drop further.  He told us we could not do that 'here' but I stood my ground so he took us to his little room where he had a sink but also a wall full of bails of waste paper and a very large heating-oil storage tank.  After a while, the primus ran out of fuel and I refilled it, with petrol.  Just to make sure that I had refilled with paraffin and not petrol, I poured some into a bottle top and placed it in the sink.  I struck a match but didn't get near the bottle top as there was a loud 'whoosh' and the whole sink was ablaze.  Sensibly, the other lads ran out but I turned on the tap, splashed water over the sink and wiped the water and burning petrol into the sink. 


I had almost put the fire out when Stan put his head round the door and said "Right, that's it.  You'll have to stop now"...


Although my hands were a bit burnt, we took the equipment to the house of one the lads and finished the job. 


The following day I was summoned to the Headmaster (Macguire at that time) who asked me why I had been trying to burn down the school.  I replied that if I had been trying to burn it down, the school would now be a smoking ruin...  He predicted that one day I would disappear in a puff of blue smoke but he let it go at that.


We finished the beer in time for the last day of term and were allowed to drink it in class.  One or two of us had also nipped out at lunch time and bought whiskey so it was a pretty good last day of term.


The Italian Physics teacher (very good by the way) was Roseanna Fulgoni, not Maria as mis-remembered elsewhere.


I believe Mr McGarron, French teacher and head of languages, became the Head of St Monicas.


I left the school with a grade nine O' level in French (I was reliably informed that spelling your name correctly would get you an eight) but did reasonably well in my other subjects.  This was NOT a reflection of the quality of the language teaching I have to say.  M. MacGarron and the other French teachers I had were very good.  I just seemed to have a block with languages.  In those days even a trip to France seemed like a remote possibility.  Now I live in France and I'm working hard to get my French up to an acceptable standard:  Eat your greens and work hard on your language skills...


I'm not sure I understand the comment elsewhere in the thread that 'Tony Slade married Hattie Jaques and became a tour guide at Old Trafford'.  Can anyone explain?


Good luck to you all, staff and old boys alike.

Parky

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #38 on: 20:13:28, 05/06/17 »
My brother in law Michael scibor went to St. Peter's between 1970 and 1975 does anyone remember him.?

Bobbins

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #39 on: 10:29:36, 06/06/17 »
Do you mean Mike Szabo - went to St Pete's and also St Phillips - lived in Prestwich (Bury New Road)?


Also Tony Slade/ Hattie Jaques...
Slade was my form teacher (1A in '67) and very fond of the cane - as well as smacking you on the back of the head. Most of the teachers were violent - to some degree or other - and had their own preferred method of inflicting pain (eg Ramsden had "007" = a leather strap with knots in the end so it really hurt).
Mrs Jaques (known as Hattie after the actress in the Carry On Films) was a Chemistry teacher (I think) and got it on with Slade. They had a large Ford Consul which (for some reason) kept having flat tyres. They got married...
Years later I was at a United Shareholders meeting - then held at Manchester Uni - and questions were being taken from the floor. Who should pop up but Tony Slade. I went over and said hello - I could see he had a vague memory of who I was - and discovered he was working as a Tour Guide at Old Trafford Football Ground - he always was a Big Red - so made sense. Hope that explains things...

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Parky

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #40 on: 11:37:40, 06/06/17 »
Do you mean Mike Szabo - went to St Pete's and also St Phillips - lived in Prestwich (Bury New Road)?


Also Tony Slade/ Hattie Jaques...
Slade was my form teacher (1A in '67) and very fond of the cane - as well as smacking you on the back of the head. Most of the teachers were violent - to some degree or other - and had their own preferred method of inflicting pain (eg Ramsden had "007" = a leather strap with knots in the end so it really hurt).
Mrs Jaques (known as Hattie after the actress in the Carry On Films) was a Chemistry teacher (I think) and got it on with Slade. They had a large Ford Consul which (for some reason) kept having flat tyres. They got married...
Years later I was at a United Shareholders meeting - then held at Manchester Uni - and questions were being taken from the floor. Who should pop up but Tony Slade. I went over and said hello - I could see he had a vague memory of who I was - and discovered he was working as a Tour Guide at Old Trafford Football Ground - he always was a Big Red - so made sense. Hope that explains things...

[size=78%]no it was scibor lived in Newton Heath

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Windym

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #41 on: 23:01:25, 16/06/17 »
Re reply 39
Did Michael go from St. Peter's to Warwick university?
If so, I remember him.

Parky

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #42 on: 06:56:26, 17/06/17 »
Yes he did , sadly michael passed away in 2002 , a good man greatly missed .

Bugs Dunny

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #43 on: 00:15:14, 20/08/17 »

Despite being a longstanding season ticket holder at the Etihad, It was unfortunately necessary for me to vist O*d Tr&££#rd on business in late 2016, and I bumped into Tony Slade, who's now in his 80s but still doing part time tour guiding there. I introduced myself as a former teaching colleague of his at St. Peter's, but it was clear he had no recollection of me at all. Perhaps the fact that I was sporting a Mexican bandit moustache had something to do with that, but it was still a bit disconcerting that he did remember my predecessor, Kevin Preston. Just shows what a lasting impression I made at St. Peter's!!


For anyone else who found me instantly forgettable, which I fear is quite a lot of people, perhaps the nickname I was given by the kids during my brief tenure - Budgie - might ring a bell or two. Apparently I got the name because of my supposed resemblance to the character played by Adam Faith in the TV series called Budgie at the time. As far as I could see, the only similarity was that we both had shoulder length blonde hair,  (Come on, it was the was the early 70s and I was in my early 20s - everybody had shoulder length hair then). I actually felt vaguely insulted, because Adam Faith was at least 10 years older than me.


Tony did fill me in on a lot of my former colleagues though, mainly those who had passed away. I was particularly sad to hear that Mike Sandiford, the head of languages and my immediate boss, was no longer with us. A good guy and a well respected teacher.

mikegahan00

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Re: St Peters R/C Grammar school, Bury old Road, Prestwich
« Reply #44 on: 15:24:52, 01/09/17 »
Anyone remember the strange machine at the back of the big 1st floor science lab (the one that looked out onto Bury Old Road)? It stretched the whole width of the room, and was behind metal railings. It looked like a generator or something like. I never saw it in operation, nor heard any explanation of what it was (from either teacher or pupil).