Hi John and Charles (a very happy birthday to you).
Nice to see you both here. As a 1960-67 pupil, looks like I'm the baby here! :-)
Good to see some of the names mentioned here though we probably won't agree on a few likes/dislikes! ;-) I was a weedy skinny totally non-athletic kid, more into academia, especially Sciences, so that probably determines my likes and dislikes. But you've certainly sparked a few memories from half a century ago!
Dr LP de la Perrelle, the head, of course, stands out, such a gentle man, IIRC he was from the Channel Islands. I was amazed by his ability to learn the names of each pupil - the first he met you, he greeted you by your surname, from the second time on by your first name. How he did that with an annual intake of around 150 and a total school roll of approx 850 remains a mystery.
My first year was in Form 1B (at Whitworth Street), the form teacher was Charles T Hale, who taught French and was also in charge of the School Recorder Society - my half hour trying to get to grips with that instrument made me realise just how cack-handed I was! Mr Hale had this strange nasal voice and never seemed to show much personality, but was a great teacher. General Science was (Cecil?) Millington. RE was Mr Charles Bowcott, not that I can remember us doing much religious stuff, for which I was grateful - I must have been one of the few who got on with him, somehow he found out about my interest in Chemistry and gave me one of his Chemistry text books which was a prized possession for many years. We had also Josh Horrocks, think that was for History and Mr Eckersley for Geography, or was that the other way round? Can't remember who took us for Maths, surprisingly enough. We had a particularly nasty piece of work, Mr Powell, for Woodwork and Technical Drawing. Mr Rourke for singing, memories of him throwing PE slippers through the air to awaken dozy pupils from their slumbers, LOL!
From the second form onwards we were at Kirky Lane, forms 2X, 3X and 4X (the Express stream). The form teacher was Norman (Nozzer) Bland, who took us for History, one of my weaker subjects, which bored me senseless. However, I do recall in the third or fourth year doing my Project on the History of Aviation - I excelled in this, much to Mr Bland's surprise - my project was 3 times the length of everyone else's - but, being science/engineering oriented, it was the first thing that had interested me that was historically linked! I now realise that dates, kings and queens do nothing for me, although social history does. French was Albert "me le, me la, me les" Winterbottom, one of Monty's closest advisers! ;-) A good teacher, nonetheless. Maths was Bob Acton - he couldn't pronounce my surname so to him I became Smiler, he was another great teacher. English was Mr Salmon (I think) - "Yambo" (why that?), all I can recall was his bad stammer. Physics Was Robert Stelfox (in 1962 Susan Maughan had her hit record "Bobby's Girl" which was sung to embarrass him) - I liked him but I don't think others did. Art was "Maverick", Mr Garner - I was lousy at this, except "perspectives" as that was basically straight lines disappearing into a point at the horizon. My dad did my painting homework, but I'm sure I was rumbled at exam time when my true lack of ability showed itself for all to see!
In the fast stream, we had a choice in our second foreign language. My dad could speak fluent German and promised to teach me that (but never did), with my Polish roots, Russian was a total "nyet", so Latin it was. Enter "Froggy" Wilkinson, a nasty horrible specimen with round specs, looking like the murderer from 10 Rillington Place! ;-) In the third year, I got impetigo (which is an infectious skin disease) and he embarrassed me by setting fire to my notebook in front of the whole class. I wasn't good at Latin at the time, but the lessons learned in mental discipline and language structure have been useful in general and specifically from a linguistic standpoint. I vaguely recall a massive ginger haired guy (must have been 6'5") taking over in the 4th year. I think Russian was taught by Dr Sutcliffe (?), a bearded bear of a man, but I can't recall who did German. Strangely, even though it was my favourite subject, I can't remember who took us for Chemistry (a Mr G???).
At Kirky Lane, we came across Caldbeck for the first time, standing on stage in the morning in front of the whole school, with some wooden implement in his hands as a disciplinary threat, a nasty sadistic thug who took us for Woodwork, Metalwork and Tech Drawing (I hated the first two). At our get-together at Whitworth Street last summer, someone mentioned he had subsequently been convicted of assaulting a pupil after he left MCGS. Although we didn't have him as a teacher, Mr Pedler was a really nice guy, I don't know what he was doing in that department of thugs and sadists!
I'm afraid I didn't like Piggy Stewart at all, but was never taught by him, so never got to know him the way you guys obviously did. I seem to recall Joss Harwood teaching us, a creepy guy, but what subject? Without exception, I found the PE teachers to be horrible bullies and because of that and my total lack of sporting prowess, I loathed all sporting activity and I came up with all sorts of inventive ways to avoid it.
I'm trying to remember who became deputy head once Bowcott retired. I'm sure at one stage it was Mr Pope.
Being in the express stream, we did some 'O' levels at the end of the end of the fourth year and then went into a three year Sixth form where we were mopping up some of the subjects we hadn't taken in addition to starting our 'A' levels. A mixed blessing as I lost focus on the 'O' levels as I was delighted to ditch some of the subjects such as English Literature and History but it was frustrating not to ditch them fully. The result for me was only 4 'O' levels by the end of the fifth year, but there was a benefit doing material not on the 'A' level curriculum.
In the sixth form, Mr Panter (the English Literature teacher) became our form teacher. We had Mr Smith for Chemistry - he was a chain smoker and used to send the African lab assistant to the shops to get 3 packs of 20 ciggies a day. He used to have a cigarette permanently stuck to his lower lip! Can you imagine that these days?? Anyway, things changed when he had a stroke or heart attack - he came back multiple stone lighter and without the facial tobacco appendage. Johnny Hopley took us for Maths and Alan "Alf" Dobbins for Physics - the latter was another teacher who wasn't popular with the pupils but I always got on very well with him. He is the one teacher I wished I'd kept in touch with. I vaguely recall the Head taking us for some aspects of General Studies.
I vaguely recall Mr Panter becoming Head after I left (which is when we went Comprehensive), but maybe that was at a different school. I know that in the summer of 67, there was a mass exodus of staff. Speaking with one of the Old Boys I met at the get together last year who was a year younger than me, I got the picture of a steady decline from then on. So so sad. I know that Grammar Schools have had their critics, but even as a Labour supporter most of my life, all I can say is that for me, the son of Polish refugees, coming from the slums of Manchester, Central provided a passport to another world - I loved learning (although I did take my eye off the ball somewhat in my mid teens) and I'll be forever grateful for being given such a solid foundation that served me so well in adult life.
John, whereabout in West Gorton were you, as I started work at the ICL factory on Wenlock Way in December 1970 and was with the firm till April 1982, when I left along with thousands of others as part of the mass redundancies of 1981 and 1982. I've been going back to the area this past year as they have started demolishing the "new" properties from the 1970s - amazing that they only lasted 40 years whereas some of the terraced housing is still there, well over a hundred years old.
Happy days, for me anyway!