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.