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Norfolk School, Arbourthorne


DaveH

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Guest wayneybabes

....a couple more from the first school. this was the old headmaster/mistresses office on cradock road. Not a place i visited very often may i add lol

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Guest wayneybabes

First School play around 1982/83. I am the one in the flat cap, middle row, to the right of the kids with the glasses

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This picture was taken during demolition of the 'tower block' in 2003/4. The tarmacced area is of the old 'Annex' building which where demolished some years earlier. Does anyone remember going down the old air raid shelters underneath the 'annex'?

I sure do remember going down the old air raid shelters wayneybabes, - with the school technician Pete Harrison on a reconnaisance to see if we could run a telephone cable through it from the secretarys office in the new block to the gymnasium near the main entrance. Turned out it wasn't possible as the shelters ended well short of the Gym.

I have commented on the school air raid shelters before and described them in some detail in a thread on this site to do with air raid shelters. I think its in the Sheffield during the war topic if you want to find it. I don't have any pictures of the shelters to show here but in the other thread I comment how similar the school shelters were to some others which have a picture posted with them.

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First School play around 1982/83. I am the one in the flat cap, middle row, to the right of the kids with the glasses

So that will be the one almost hidden then?

Just like to say thanks to wayneybabes for sharing these pictures of the last days of the school with us.

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Guest wayneybabes

So that will be the one almost hidden then?

Just like to say thanks to wayneybabes for sharing these pictures of the last days of the school with us.

yes, the one partially hidden

No Problem, glad to share them with you all

BTW; i lived on City Road across from the Travellers Rest car park entrance nearest the Doctors House

Just a couple more pictures, this time of the middle school taken in 2004 as well (I know this school is still standing but as you know, its not Norfolk no more so therefore i class it as 'gone')

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Just like to say thanks to wayneybabes for sharing these pictures of the last days of the school with us.

Following on from that, here are a couple of shots of the end of the new extension in 2004, although I think I have posted these in another thread somewhere but they now seem to fit here with wayneybabes pictures.

By 2004 the new school extention had become the junior school, the old secondary school had been demolished in 1997 and replaced with the Craddock Mews houses. Obviously the bridge had gone and been replaced with what appears to have been a staircase added to the outside. The school had finally closed following the opening of the "New Norfolk School" on the Norfolk Park Estate and was awaiting demolition.

Then on 5 August 2004 arsonist struck and set fire to the building. The blaze was large and took a lot of controlling, the story made the front page of The Star.

These pictures were taken at the end of August 2004 before the final demolition of this burnt out wreck.

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The school that replaced it

{ or like the phoenix, - the school that rose from the ashes, - except that the phoenix is City School's emblem not ours!}

The New Norfolk School on the Norfolk Park Estate

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CHRISTMAS 1969

Here is a scene from the school Christmas production taken in December 1969

The location is the school hall in the new extension building.

QUIZ QUESTION

Which Sheffield History member is shown on stage in this picture dressed as Father Christmas?

You did not disqualify me from guessing lol

Not Sure who lol

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You did not disqualify me from guessing lol

Not Sure who lol

Like I said, it's Father Christmas, and you have to believe in him when you have met him ;-)

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Just a couple more pictures, this time of the middle school taken in 2004 as well (I know this school is still standing but as you know, its not Norfolk no more so therefore i class it as 'gone')

Great pictures here wayneybabes, bring back a lot of memories from 1963 - 67 for me, my junior school days.

As you say the junior school on Brimmersfield Road is still standing, the only original buildings of the school left, but it is currently the Sheffield Education Committee "pupil referal unit", in other words a place to send all the "bad lads" that other schools can't cope with. Not the sort of school we went to and not the way I would like to remember it.

Your first picture, taken across the lower playground, is taken from a viewpoint that would have been inside the long gone school kitchen and dining rooms for both junior and senior school dinners. Two of my auties worked in there as cooks. The door on the left of the stairwell was the boys toilets and to the left of that was a footpath up to the secondary school, near where I took the bridge picture. The upper floor of the building between those semicircular stairwells was the school hall, to the left was a craft room and to the right the headmasters office (Mr. Rackham in my day). Underneath the hall on the ground floor were changing rooms, cloakrooms and the staff room, to the extreme right, hidden by that staircase up to the bottom Brimmersfield Road entrance was the girls toilets.

Your second picture shows the upper playground. It shows mainly a dead end corridor with a large room at the end. In my day pupils were forbidden to go up this corridor, it was "out of bounds", and on the few occasions we ventured up this corridor it was quite scarey. You see, this corridor was actually the "special school for the disabled" and the students on it were much older than us, possibly up to 17 years old, but would not have fitted into normal schools as they unfortunately suffered a range of physical and mental disabilities which gave them severe learning difficulties. there were kids in leg calipers who couldn't walk because they had polio in the 1950's before the vaccine was available for example. I actually got to know some of these students and to young lads, although they were "different", they were just really nice ordinary people. There was a girl called Elaine who was deaf and dumb and 2 boys called Gary and Peter who had suffered from meningitus or hydrocephilis as babies which had left them with some disability. This "special care" aspect of Norfolk School is often overlooked, so thanks for reminding me of it and the people I knew who went there. To the right of your picture was the top Brimmersfield entrance which went between that last large special needs room and the old secondary school girls toilets into the school playground, again almost exactly where I took that bridge photo.

Great pictures, brought back a lot of memories from over 40 years ago!

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Guest wayneybabes

the dead end corridor when i was there led up to either an art room or cookery room. i remember it as a cookery room but a mate of mine insists it was for art. the corridor was always 'spooky' and 'eerie'. there was a boys toilet to the left before reaching any of the classrooms and a lot of the lads didnt like going to them alone.

speaking of 'spooky', did you use to stand underneath the new tower block (*** corner) at the bottom of those 'spooky black steps'?. did you ever venture up them?

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the dead end corridor when i was there led up to either an art room or cookery room. i remember it as a cookery room but a mate of mine insists it was for art. the corridor was always 'spooky' and 'eerie'. there was a boys toilet to the left before reaching any of the classrooms and a lot of the lads didnt like going to them alone.

speaking of 'spooky', did you use to stand underneath the new tower block (fag corner) at the bottom of those 'spooky black steps'?. did you ever venture up them?

The big room at the top was an art / craft room for the disabled kids, but a few years later when the disabled unit was moved away from Norfolk my younger brother said it was used by them as a cookery room.

The toilets you describe were the main toilets for the school when I was there so you had no choice but to use them. That long entrance corridor to get into them didn't help put fears at rest.

At secondary school there were concrete steps down to rhe annexe from the end of the tower, just beyond the staff car park, you can possibly locate them but not see them in the picture that just misses your house. The black steps were more central behind the new tower as I remember not at a corner, - but then again I never smoked. These steps I believe gave access to the school hall at the back of the stage and into the stage wings. I can't remember using them on more than a couple of occasions.

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Guest wayneybabes

The big room at the top was an art / craft room for the disabled kids, but a few years later when the disabled unit was moved away from Norfolk my younger brother said it was used by them as a cookery room.

The toilets you describe were the main toilets for the school when I was there so you had no choice but to use them. That long entrance corridor to get into them didn't help put fears at rest.

At secondary school there were concrete steps down to rhe annexe from the end of the tower, just beyond the staff car park, you can possibly locate them but not see them in the picture that just misses your house. The black steps were more central behind the new tower as I remember not at a corner, - but then again I never smoked. These steps I believe gave access to the school hall at the back of the stage and into the stage wings. I can't remember using them on more than a couple of occasions.

we where never allowed up those black steps and no-one dared to go up them.

Just a funny little story:

i remember once when we where doing friday activities (badminton) in the school hall. the teacher thats was watching over us was old man smith (cant remember what car he had but it WILL have been the same one he drove when you where at school, it was that old!), Well, Smithy got called outside by another teacher and while he was gone 3 or 4 of us decided to go for a walk behind the stage. For a laugh, we all hid underneath the stage. (if you ever went under there you will recall it was full of boiler pipes) After getting 3rd degree burns from the pipes, about half way across we could see through the heating grids at the front of the stage and old Smithy was just stood there, scratching his head wondering where the missing pupils had got to. He proceeded to scour around back stage, then went down the stage wings towards those black steps. While he was gone we all rushed out and back into the hall!. The look on his face when he asked where we had been and we said "weve been here all the time Sir", was a picture!!.

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we where never allowed up those black steps and no-one dared to go up them.

Just a funny little story:

i remember once when we where doing friday activities (badminton) in the school hall.

"Friday Activities", there are some memories!

Last lesson Friday was "Creative Activities" where you had a choice of what you wanted to do, sports, crafts, hobbies etc (all still very educational, but different and fun). I was usually in the photographic club and it is because of this club that many of the old pictures I can now produce for sheffield history have any existance at all. The films were developed and printed on Friday afternoons in the dark room which was the preparation room between the 2 science labs in the new tower block.

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the teacher thats was watching over us was old man smith (cant remember what car he had but it WILL have been the same one he drove when you where at school, it was that old!), Well, Smithy got called outside by another teacher and while he was gone 3 or 4 of us decided to go for a walk behind the stage. For a laugh, we all hid underneath the stage. (if you ever went under there you will recall it was full of boiler pipes) After getting 3rd degree burns from the pipes, about half way across we could see through the heating grids at the front of the stage and old Smithy was just stood there, scratching his head wondering where the missing pupils had got to. He proceeded to scour around back stage, then went down the stage wings towards those black steps. While he was gone we all rushed out and back into the hall!. The look on his face when he asked where we had been and we said "weve been here all the time Sir", was a picture!!.

There were 2 man Smith's, both veterans of the school.

John Smith, taught woodwork, drove an old morris 1000 if I can remember correctly

Eric Smith, taught maths (and photography), drove a Ford Anglia.

I was talking to Eric Smith last November after one of the 8mm films we made "dead easy" was shown by region on film. His car featured in it. There is a thread about it somewhere on this site started off last November by Karen Marsh. I have posted 2 stills from the film into it if you want to have a look and find it.

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Guest wayneybabes

There were 2 man Smith's, both veterans of the school.

John Smith, taught woodwork, drove an old morris 1000 if I can remember correctly

Eric Smith, taught maths (and photography), drove a Ford Anglia.

I was talking to Eric Smith last November after one of the 8mm films we made "dead easy" was shown by region on film. His car featured in it. There is a thread about it somewhere on this site started off last November by Karen Marsh. I have posted 2 stills from the film into it if you want to have a look and find it.

it was John Smith and yes, it was a morris!!! a browny colour if i remember correctly

also, when i was in the middle school the dark room had moved into one of the annexe. dont know if the dark room you remember was still used as one.

i will look at those stills when i have time. i noticed the thread last year and thought about going to see it but i was busy that night and couldnt re-arrange my appointment so typically i was gutted!!

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it was John Smith and yes, it was a morris!!! a browny colour if i remember correctly

also, when i was in the middle school the dark room had moved into one of the annexe. dont know if the dark room you remember was still used as one.

i will look at those stills when i have time. i noticed the thread last year and thought about going to see it but i was busy that night and couldnt re-arrange my appointment so typically i was gutted!!

That sounds like exactly the car, - it lasted him well then.

In the days of "proper discipline man Smiths prefered form of punishment for any little misdemeanor (Stuart0742 may remember being a little too heavy handed when chiselling a mortice hole in a piece of wood and putting the chisel straight through it!) was the size 13 plimsole slipper with loose sole to give you a double whack. He was also the one that gave me the keys (or it could have been man Piercey) to get the stuff to put the corridor roof back up.

Science Preparation room was fairly large and may have been converted to a specialist laboratory when Norfolk briefly had a sixth form in the late 70's, - I'll have to check with my brother. In any case when they knocked the old school down and removed that bridge the prep room on the ground floor would have been in the way of a new staircase from the school yard to the hole left by the missing bridge.

You should have gone to the Eric Smith do, me and Stuart0742 went, along with a lot of old staff (including lass Moore) and a few ex students. We were personally invited as we had some involvement and memories of the making of Eric Smiths film (photo club became a film club in creative activities) and I also had a set of photos on display of all the staff at Norfolk on the day I left in 1972. these photos have already been on FriendsReunited but I intend to post them here in this thread eventually. Although many of them would have left before you got there I certainly have pictures of both Eric and John Smith so keep looking for when I post those.

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Guest wayneybabes

yes ive seen the photos on friends reunited, i thought it would have been you that put them on there!. The one teacher that stands out that i know most of all is Man Pyle. He was my form teacher in the 3rd year. He always got the pee took out of him for his dress sense but i thought he was a great teacher. He is also on facebook!!!!!!. there is a norfolk comp group and he is a member of that!!. its a small world.

i remember him, miss moore, john smith and Man Cooke. Just looking at the picture of Man Cooke puts the shivers up you if you have ever been taught by him!!. miss moore was the deputy head when i was there. Man Smiths class was the one at the side of the old bike sheds behind the building on your 'bridge' photo.

there are some more pictures of Norfolk since demolition on friends reunited and they are detailed with what was where etc http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk/SignedIn/...t=0&Type=SS

its been great remembering the old school as it used to be!. keep the photos coming!. I am hoping some time in the near future to get permission to enter the old middle school to take some photos of the old hall and corridors etc so will keep you posted.

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yes ive seen the photos on friends reunited, i thought it would have been you that put them on there!. The one teacher that stands out that i know most of all is Man Pyle. He was my form teacher in the 3rd year. He always got the pee took out of him for his dress sense but i thought he was a great teacher. He is also on facebook!!!!!!. there is a norfolk comp group and he is a member of that!!. its a small world.

i remember him, miss moore, john smith and Man Cooke. Just looking at the picture of Man Cooke puts the shivers up you if you have ever been taught by him!!. miss moore was the deputy head when i was there. Man Smiths class was the one at the side of the old bike sheds behind the building on your 'bridge' photo.

there are some more pictures of Norfolk since demolition on friends reunited and they are detailed with what was where etc http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk/SignedIn/...t=0&Type=SS

its been great remembering the old school as it used to be!. keep the photos coming!. I am hoping some time in the near future to get permission to enter the old middle school to take some photos of the old hall and corridors etc so will keep you posted.

Man Pyle started at Norfolk the year that I left and so was never taught by him although due to my notoriety within the school I did know who he was and he certainly knew me. He started the same time as another teacher called Man Kite, although I am not sure what he taught. (NOT the same MR. KITE who ran a Victorian Circus made famous by a track on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album!!!)

You describe Man Smith's room perfectly, behind the bike sheds which were at the top end of the nusery / infant school yard. This was the woodwork room. On the same corridor, and partly visible in my under the bridge shot was Man Cookes metalwork room. Man Cooke taught me and Stuart0742 and yes he could be scarey, in the late 1960's when boys had a fashion for growing sideburns down in front of their ears he had a habit of trying to pick you up off the ground with this short piece of firmly attached facial hair if he was in the slightest annoyed with you, - it was the done thing then, - and he was a good teacher.

Lass Moore was senior mistress in my day, Man Whitham, who was even more fearsome, was deputy head. as senior mistress Lass Moore was ruthless and most of the girls were terrified of her. Again she was a good teacher and it was nice to meet up with her, under different circumstances, last November at the Eric Smith film showing.

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Guest wayneybabes

He started the same time as another teacher called Man Kite, although I am not sure what he taught. (NOT the same MR. KITE who ran a Victorian Circus made famous by a track on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album!!!)

Man Kite never taught me but taught my sister who left around 1983. He went on to teach at Myrtle Springs (Hurlfield) when Norfolk closed. As far as i know he is still there.

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Man Kite never taught me but taught my sister who left around 1983. He went on to teach at Myrtle Springs (Hurlfield) when Norfolk closed. As far as i know he is still there.

Of course Hurlfield school, our old arch rivals, and even its reincarnation as Myrtle Springs, the school where I did my first teaching practice in 1977-8 have now gone and at present the school is just a pile of rubble visible from East Bank Road. Sadly I never took any photos of Hurlfield, either while I was at Norfolk (we used to go up their for our swimming lessons as they had a swimming pool) or while I was teaching there, - what a loss that I didn't, I could have posted them here in a Hurlfield School thread and perhaps given someone else a few happy memories as well.

Fortunately there is a new building around the back on Hurlfield Road which is its direct replacement, - "Springs Academy" so Man kite could still be working there.

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Now for something a bit different.

Not Norfolk School but Peasholme Park, North Bay, Scarborough in April (Easter) 1970.

At the end of 1969 the school had run a "sponsored walk" to raise money to buy camping equipment to take students out on educational camping breaks. The form which raised the most money won the prize of the first ever camping holiday with the new equipment. Our form, 3A easily won the prize as we had 42 students in the class at the time due to the closure of Wyborn school and the introduction of comprehensive education.

In the rowing boat from left to right are, -

Lass Hughes, the girls needlework teacher

Man McDermott, the boys PE / sports teacher. sadly he died of a brain haemorage in February 1972 following a Sunday league football match.

Man Bridson, science teacher, started 1968 and left for promotion in 1973 so was at the school roughly the same years as Stuart0742 and myself

Man Cooke, metalwork teacher, see wayneybabes previous comments.

There is also one unidentified female teacher hidden from view behind Man Cooke, this may be Lass Bagnall, the cookery / domestic science / housecraft teacher.

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Guest wayneybabes

Now for something a bit different.

Not Norfolk School but Peasholme Park, North Bay, Scarborough in April (Easter) 1970.

At the end of 1969 the school had run a "sponsored walk" to raise money to buy camping equipment to take students out on educational camping breaks. The form which raised the most money won the prize of the first ever camping holiday with the new equipment. Our form, 3A easily won the prize as we had 42 students in the class at the time due to the closure of Wyborn school and the introduction of comprehensive education.

In the rowing boat from left to right are, -

Lass Hughes, the girls needlework teacher

Man McDermott, the boys PE / sports teacher. sadly he died of a brain haemorage in February 1972 following a Sunday league football match.

Man Bridson, science teacher, started 1968 and left for promotion in 1973 so was at the school roughly the same years as Stuart0742 and myself

Man Cooke, metalwork teacher, see wayneybabes previous comments.

There is also one unidentified female teacher hidden from view behind Man Cooke, this may be Lass Bagnall, the cookery / domestic science / housecraft teacher.

Miss Bagnall was still there when i went. her classroom was a couple of doors along the corridor from Man Cookes room.

Also, on the picture of the girl on the corridor, you mentioned the girls toilets. In my time at the school i recall the toilets at the top of the stairs where one for boys and one for girls. To use the toilets during lesson time you had to go down to the school office and sign for the key.

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Miss Bagnall was still there when i went. her classroom was a couple of doors along the corridor from Man Cookes room.

Also, on the picture of the girl on the corridor, you mentioned the girls toilets. In my time at the school i recall the toilets at the top of the stairs where one for boys and one for girls. To use the toilets during lesson time you had to go down to the school office and sign for the key.

Unfortunately I have no other pictures of Lass Bagnall and this one is useless thanks to Man Cooke getting in the way.

Spot on about her room though, further on than Man Cookes on the bottom corridor, it was a cookery room. In my days only girls could do cookery and only boys could do wood / metal work. Strange really from todays perspective. Like in science, girls had to do biology and boys physics. Me and Stuart0742 had to prove we were top rate scientists in order to do chemistry, - the first students to take it for 8 years! With national curriculum that couldn't happen now at all.

The downstairs toilets into the yard were boys at one end, naturally enough near the wood / metal work rooms as only boys did these. The girls toilets were at the other end near the cookery / housecraft flat areas as only girls could do those subjects.

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