Author Topic: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys  (Read 133693 times)

johnbedson

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #225 on: 15:33:09, 20/12/20 »
Is there anybody around who was at Kirby Lane from 1963 to 1968? I started in 1H, Mr Hales’ class then went into the L stream as they decided I wasn’t cut out for A levels and university. I left in July 1968 and went straight into an apprenticeship as a draughtsman with a building firm. Some of the names in my class were Arthurs, Barber, Henderson, Lavin, Welch, Watson, Josephson and others I can’t remember. 
Never met up with anybody from the old class after leaving. Saw Welch one crossing Mount Road and I nearly ran over him on my scooter but not sure if he saw me. Would love to hear from anyone from those times.

Alan J

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #226 on: 14:51:50, 26/12/20 »
Hello John,
I'm sorry that I have not been on the site for a week or two and have not responded to your post.  I have taken on the responsibility to welcome Old Boys to the merry band.  I had left MCGSFB a year before you joined but there are many members on the site from your generation up to when the School ceased to be a Grammar School and eventually closed.  I hope that you are contacted before long and that you are in good health.
Best,
Alan Jackson

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #227 on: 03:26:55, 08/02/21 »
Hi Guys
Like others I have just discovered this Forum. My wife was sent a link for the Girls School by a nephew. She went there in the mid to late 60’s.

I am from the same intake as Alan (soulman1949) I think? Also born in 1949 and went to CGS from 1960 to 1965, leaving after my “O” Levels to get a job to have money in my pocket like my mates around home who had all left secondary or technical schools to go straight into jobs or apprenticeships. So didn't go into the 6th form and yes, we were very lucky then compared to today.

Much of what has been written is quite nostalgic and brings back many memories. Whilst I generally enjoyed my school years and have fond memories I was not as academic as soulman1989 so wasn’t put in the “x” (express stream).  I was in 1R the first year at Whitworth St then Kirky Lane thereafter. Funny thing about 1R that year (1960) – our Form Master was Mr ECKERSLEY (Boris) and we should have been in 1E (beginning with the letter “E”) whereas 1R should probably have been Mr RYDER? However, due to some administrative [censored] up we were stuck with 1R and Mr Eckersley, whom I recall was also the Scout Master of the School Scout Troop.

However, I did show a penchant for languages, so had the choice of a second language to take along with the compulsory French. I was in the “L1” stream (2L1, 3L1, 4L1 and 5L1) as opposed to the “L2” stream who did compulsory German as the second language. My second language choice was Latin we could have chosen German or Russian, but my folks weren’t keen on me taking German so soon after the war  (relatively speaking) and Russian just seemed too foreign in those days. So Latin it was, and we had Piggy STEWART who was great in Latin and lost that fierce reputation with us few lads in the class (just 7 or 8 of us I think). After he retired, we had a really tall guy, ex-army boxer 6’4” and pretty well built – can’t remember his name – but used to thump the blackboard when he got annoyed with us! He also took us on trips to York and Chester to look at Roman remains etc. – an interest that has stayed with me throughout my life and was particularly valid when visiting the ruins at Pompeii some years ago.

We also had John HOPLEY for Maths – he used the slipper a lot, and also had a “spanking” paddle that he got one Christmas, he used that quite a lot too! During classroom tests he often wandered up and down running his paddle along the radiators whilst singing or humming his favourite hymn “Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer”!

Mr THOMAS for English, who ran the school rambling club, which I joined and we had many happy Saturdays in the Peak District climbing Kinder Scout and the like. I’m sure he lived in the High Peak area with another English teacher not sure of his name though. Looking back now I do wonder if they were Gay, something not discussed much at that time. That said there was never anything untoward that I was aware of, and if they were good luck to them.

After my first experience of Speech Day at the Free Trade Hall I was so impressed by the sound of the Recorders that I joined the group immediately and stayed until the end of the 4th year. I recall travelling around for competitions and the like, in particular going to the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Thanks for reminding me of the teachers name Charles HALE.

I remember many of the other names mentioned too, Mr LAWS (French), Mr ROURKE (singing) – he told me that I was tone deaf and classed me as a “non singer”. Mr MILLINGTON (General Science – early years and much” Brylcreemed” hair?), Mr STELFOX (Physics in later years) – I found him wooden and he failed to hold my attention thus I lost any interest in the subject. Of course it could just have been me! Mr ROGERSON (Chemistry) far more interesting due to the experiments and ex RAF guy Mr POTTER for PE. I believe Mr Rogerson was also the Officer in Charge of the school Air Cadet Corps, and of course Dr de la PERELLE and Mr BOWCOTT. I do have a little anecdote about de la Perelle from many years after he retired but I’ll leave that for another time.

As has been said it was a great time to be at the school and I agree that we were lucky as I also got the chance to have a good education living in a council house on the edge of Moss Side during my school years and feel it stood me in good stead for the rest of my working life as well as life in general. I now live on the south coast in West Sussex where I’ve lived for some 27 years now. I still travel up to Manchester occasionally as we have family still in the area, but I do find myself wondering where I am at times when driving around, until I see an old landmark still standing!!

Thanks for the memories guys. I have never seen or heard from any of the boys from my year or form since I left school in 1965, so it would be good to hear from someone who was in the same stream as me, although Alan, I suspect we must have known or been aware of each other -  vaguely at least?

Apologies if I’ve waffled on a bit – it is a bit of a fault of mine, I’m afraid.  :)
Hey Fletch. I do believe we were in the same class. Spicer. I've just found this board too. Johnny Hopley, Thomas, Stelfox, Eckersley, Stones.
Firth, Bill Lawes...here's a pic....I intend to go through it all and have lots of pics

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #228 on: 05:00:47, 08/02/21 »
The more I read here the more I remember so here are some of my memories. My name is Malcolm Spicer and I entered Whitworth Street MCGS in 1959-60.
I was in Grade 1W with Mr Wyeth as HR teacher. It was the class room top left through the Hall. The Old dark brown intricate wooden structures and walls inside and the shaped windows. The small playground outside with the toilets hut thing. I had my first ever fight in that school yard. No idea why. Used to share Spic and Spans.
After the first year we moved to Kirky Lane and I loved my years there, from 60-67, grades 2L1 up to 5L1 and then upper and lower sixth.
I lived in Cheetham Hill and then Blakely near Heaton Park. It was 59 or 60 bus to Queens Rd and then the 53 to Kirky Lane. That 53 was something else!  I remember every inch of that journey I made every day, most days in glorious Manchester showers.
I was an avid trainspotter and used to walk down to Longsight sheds just around the corner, once or twice a week.
Would stay behind after school to play table tennis and then pick up a cigarette at the little shop round the corner and then it was 53 and home.
I remember we used to go across the field at the back to the right and climb over the fence to a fish and chip shop there and get steak and kidney pie, chips and mushy peas.
We had a craze of skipping class by hiding in the top cupbard in the room, which was empty and could hold two people. Teachers never missed us.
De La Perelle was a sweet humble man and I liked him, even though I was the only prefect he ever caned, he told me. Can’t remember what it was for but must have been bad.
Bowcott was a typical Deputy head , scaring the [censored] out of everyone and always seemed to be angry.
Johnny Hopley was my favourite teacher, maybe because I was real good at Maths. He was also a United supporter and I actually met him several times at Old Trafford. Me and my buddy Rick Jones would hitchhike to all of United’s away games. We had to take a day or two off school and Hopley always knew why I’d missed class (and privately asked me how the game was).
Mr Thomas, our English teacher, was a kind man and always stable and sober, unlike some. I became a teacher in my earlier years after that and I think he had some bearing on my style.
Mr. Eckersley and I were enemies. His lessons were so boring and me and my buddies were always laughing and joking. He walked up to me one day looked me in the face and then slapped me across the face. Wallop. Never seen anyone get that before or since. He’d be arrested if he did that today. Following that we went on a hiking trip to the Isle of Aaron. That really cemented our friendship. On our train trip to Scotland the train stopped at Carlisle and me being an avid trainspotter and seeing all these Scottish Jubilees and Scots I got of the train and ran up and down the platform to saee the other trains in the station. I knew our train wasn’t moving cos the engine was being changed and so off I went. When I got back on the train I thought Eckersley was going to kill me. I think I heard certain words for the first time! When we got to Aaron, it was a walking tour. First day out both feet blistered up. What the hell was I thinking going on a walking tour. So me and another had to stay behind next day with instructions to make all the marmite sandwiches for the goup for when they returned. We had other plans. We snook off from the hostel to a crazy golf setup nd spent the whole day there having a ball. Of course when we got back to the hostl, they’d all arrived back and we were nowhere to be seen.  Eckersley had me banned from all school trips in the future so I missed the class trip to France the next year.
Was it Mr Horrocks (?), the history teacher, with Willy Whakem, a slipper he kept in his inside pocket. Boy did he like to whack young boys with that. Every lesson.
And then Mr Firth appeared. Killer Firth, smashing his fist into the blackboard. He was about 6”6”. Everyone was afraid to even smile in his class. It was real fear.
I remember Mr Rourke, the music teacher in the dingy basement in Whitworth Street. What a freak he was. He used to walk up to you and rub his stubble chin across your face and used to love to whack you with his slipper, for any reason. I did learn to play the recorder though.
Mr Judson was my buddy through the sixth form, doing A Level math, further math and Physics and spending many hours with just the 4 of us who were doing those topics, over two years. He made me laugh when I got a perfect score in the A Level Math mocks but he said he’d never given 100% in an A-level test before and so he gave me 99% ! It was announced at assembly and was my 15 minutes of fame in the school!
I was really in to Physics, and Alf Dobbins and Stelfox helped me a lot. I owe them both. Dobbins was grumpy and Stelfox was much more open and friendly. Liked him a lot.
Form teacher was Rocky Stones, our German teacher. I did not want to take German! I was forced into it and continually got 0% on my tests and exams. We used to hide under the table in the lecture room for the whole lesson. Being Jewish and with the World only a decade or so away from WWII it was abhorrent to me.
French was different and Bill Lawes, boring as he was (and also a City supporter) always provided me and my mates with constant laughter, especially doctoring the drawings in the French textbook.
The woodwork teacher was a real bad*ss. Can’t remember his name. He was like sergeant major. Great with the insults.
We used to have to go by bus to Parrs Wood for PE/Games every week. I hated it. We had to do Cross Country and we found some great short cuts which cut the trip by about two thirds. We eventually skipped the bus trip altogether and went into town, bought lunch at Henry’s and wandered around Lewis’s and up and down Market Street. Saw my first ‘erotic’ movie there one afternoon ( I was 16) in the theatre next to Henry’s.
Memories are flowing back. More later.
 

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #229 on: 05:04:20, 08/02/21 »
Here's Mr Judson, my buddy. I'm sure he'd be recognised by everyone on here. I visited him one day when I returned to Manchester from University in London and took this pick. I thought I was his best student. He didn't remember me! We spent an afternoon together and talked a whole lot of stuff, none of which I remember.

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #230 on: 05:18:53, 08/02/21 »
Here's Kirky Lane before the school was built. Is that some sort of allotment there?

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #231 on: 05:28:44, 08/02/21 »
Here's a few more I found in my files

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #232 on: 05:53:41, 08/02/21 »
What a marvellous site this is. I've just stumbled on it. I attended Central Grammar School for Boys from 1960-1967. Ended up in form 6X before leaving for university. Now live in Melbourne Australia. I still recall the class list (I think)

Antrobus, Arnold, Beirne, Clark, Daniels, Darby, Ford, Frost, Haslem, Jackson, Jackson, Jones, Kiernan, Liptrot, McGough, Milewczyk, Patchett, Payne, Perry, Robinson, Rooney, Shanks, Smith, Smith, Spicer, Stead, Thompson, Tryzinski, Webb, Winston

My worse teacher, Mr Dobbins, a sadist who put me off Physics forever.

My best teachers: Josh Harwood (Economics), Horrocks (Geography), Panter (English)

Great memories. Loved every minute. Also ran cross country with the coach being Mr Basketter (Chemistry teacher)
Spicer here.........remember all those....I finally settled on a small island in the Bahamas where I've lived for the last 45 years. I must say this forum has brought back memories in my head hat should have been long gone. 

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #233 on: 06:05:51, 08/02/21 »
I wanted to attach the School Roll: 62-63 (scanned + converted to html)
but only image formats are permitted so I'll include it here as text and
you'll need to copy+save and then filetype to .htm - ok?

Wow that's great! I'm right in there at 3L1. Oh the names..........

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #234 on: 06:10:53, 08/02/21 »
NON  NOBIS  DOMINE       !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right as I am sure you have noticed not very good at this computer lark very old fashioned pen and paper man.
Must admit but have never even sent a text message, no need when others do it for you, so now you realise how much I am struggling.
No Nobis Domine !  ;D ;D   Still don't know what it means.

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #235 on: 06:19:14, 08/02/21 »
Who was the Russian guy who rode his bike to school in Kirky Lane sometime between 1960 and 67 ?

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #236 on: 06:45:34, 08/02/21 »

BOYS;
Abrahams, Arnold, Armstrong, Alderson, Barnes, Bruce, Baguley, Beswick, Campbell, Clarke, Collinson, Clayton, Davies (you) Derby, Foulkes, Faragher, Grainger, Greatorix, Gifkin, Gaffney, Gaffin, Harrison, Hatton, Hargreaves, Hall,
Key, Kennedy, Karl, Kaushik, King, Jackson, Jenkins, Rus and Rick Jones, Liptrot, Lomas, Lavelle, Lyndon, Maxwell, Maguire, Ogden, Oldfield, Osborne, Pertoldi,
Playfoot, Poynton, Pye, Patchett, R.Ramsden, S.Ramsden, Ramshead, Rice, Rooney, Robinson, Spicer, Simpson, Standering, Smith, Samuels, Simms, Thorpe, Wallace, Watt, Wright, Ward, Warburton, Warhurst, Weinberg, S.Williams and me C.Williams.

Malcolm Spicer here. Wow. Hope you're all still around (and wearing a mask!). I went on to Kings College, London, got a degree and went into teaching for a couple of years, then went through Africa in a Land Rover with my girlfriend, thro the Sahara. Spent a couple of years on that and then when I got back to England, went to my parents and one evening was looking through The Guardian for a report on the Manchester United game the previous night and there was a full page advertisement wanting math teaches in the Bahamas. That was in 1975. Been here ever since. Married a local brown skinned lady and have 4 boys and 11 grand children. Taught until 1995 then opened my computer store. Got into darts, started my local island league, then the Bahamas National league, then the Caribbean Darts Organization and then the World Darts Federation, Americas Region, president. Paid no money but got to travel all over the World for darts. MCGS set me off with a strong bow. I was able to progress in those things I was good at. There was a lot I was not good at! And so I laughed a lot and got into lots of trouble. De La perelle caned me, as a prefect, and told me he had never had to cane a prefect before! I can't for the life of me remember what I did cos I did so many naughty things. Great memories

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #237 on: 07:09:47, 08/02/21 »
It's still famous! I compare the 53 route with my trip thro Africa!

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #238 on: 18:11:49, 08/02/21 »
Here's another Judson pic. I loved that man.

Spicer

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Re: Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys
« Reply #239 on: 18:34:36, 08/02/21 »
Speaks for itself