Found this site by accident, but what memories it brought back!
I was there between 1966 - 1973, being in the last grammar school intake before the name was changed to Central High.
I still remember my first day arriving with my new cap, but that was the only day I ever wore it & my sister took it for her panda bear - nearly 50 years on, she still has it!
A lot of the old teaching staff started to leave, but there were some great teachers still left, but also some who bordered on evil! The music teacher with the aluminium ruler he called "Felix"; the maths guy who would throw a fully chalked board duster with some venom & the one who hit you with the palm of his hand on your derriere!!
Some great characters as well like "Joe" Potterton the English teacher, who if you made a spelling mistake would ring it in red. A second mistake would invoke a bigger ring...& so it went on!!
The PE staff were hard to please, but my favourite was a Mr Gallup who was a decent athlete in his time.
Speech Days at the Free Trade Hall were great as we got half a day off & then straight to Tib street! I still have my Henry Lever prize somewhere, a book called Picturesque Lancashire.
"Jack" Firth was the enormous Latin teacher who would conjugate verbs by punching the wall...amo...amas..!!
He was a very keen cricketer & if anybody walked over his sacred turf, then God help them.
My best mates were Phil Lowe & Steve Turner aka "Ernie" along with Bernie Athy who sadly died at the age of 51. Bernie was best man at my wedding & godfather to my kids; a great guy,sadly missed.
Michael Owen, the brains of the year, who after I took a girl home from the St Joseph's disco asked if she had seen my face in the daylight as my face resembled a pizza. Well Michael...I married that girl & we will be celebrating our 40th anniversary next year!
6th form was great as we could choose ten pin bowling at Belle Vue or conventional sports. For some reason we chose the bowling & the fact that they allowed us to drink beer had nothing to do with it.