King Edward V11 Grammar. The Clapton Era

[Athy]

Well, hello again. Is your middle name William>

Spiv was Mr. Bramhall, a daspper.neatly moustached man who looked as if he was about to try and sell you a used car. I also remember Mr. Lockett, nicknamed Lucy, who taught either French or English I thinnk. Scobie may have been after my time.

   I guess some budding business mogul amongst the prefects probably had those records away. The mention of records reminds me of a group of boys singing £Twyf and Vout" to the tune of 'Twiast And Shout'. All of us came to school  in our scout uniforms on the day on which our particular troops met (Friday for me). Whether any other teachers apart from Vout did likewise I can't remember. Somewhere, I still have the 1(3) form photo, with him resplendent in  his scout gear. I seem to remember Haworth telling me that Vout left teaching and became a vicar. Not sure if I've mentioned before, but Haworth and I are still best friends 60 years on. He retired a few years ago from his position as a Crown Court judge. I followed the more mundane path of teaching French in independent schools.

   

[paulhib48]

Great memories, guys 

I remember seeing Eli resplendent in khaki scouts uniform. What a treat that was !!

Athy, that’s a brilliant description  of Spiv Bramhall. That perfectly trimmed moustache.

Lucy Lockett was one of the nice guys.

Anyone remember Ted Prescott ? Called Ted cos of his hairstyle.

Josh Hemming ?

Martin Axford ?

Bert Towers ?

Some decent teachers there that took no prisoners , which is how I personally preferred it. Like most teenage lads I just wanted to a**e around and I learnt so much more from those that didn’t tolerate it 

[Athy]

Now there's a memory, probably from the school magazine: "All Rhodes lead to Rugby Towers". Those two were I think in charge of rugby, which we attempted to play in the Arctic wastes of Castle Dyke rather than the far more civilised Whiteley Woods where we did soccer and cricket, and where a groundsman (Mr. Wahorn?) had a sideline selling us soft drinks, or coloured water anyway, after our games sessions.

 

1. In retros[ect, I wonder if Vout and Bramhall had honest claims to heterosexuality, but we innocent  fags had no onkling of thye demi-monde of poofery, which was of course still illegal back then.

[paulhib48]

Yes I guess you may be right on that last observation. Our innocent minds were unaware of these things apart from the odd shenanigans between pupils in the ‘ backs ‘

It was unfortunate for the rugby guys that their pitches were up at Castle Dyke ( you’re also right about Bert Towers being the master in charge of rugby )

An afternoon up there on a games afternoon was definitely character building in the style of the film Kes.

Exposed to the elements all year round  ( could there be a worse site for a school playing field ?)

Howling wind and horizontal rain. It appears this was deemed the best environment to shove not only the rugby players but also the kids who were invariably not the best at sports and just wanted the 2 hours over as soon as possible.

I used to think Thierry Henri was one of the first outfield footballers to wear gloves but the idea originated in the ‘ pickups ‘ at Castle Dyke.  Gloves, hands down shorts and the occasional balaclava.

Meanwhile , down on the sheltered lawns of Whiteley Woods , the First and Second Elevens were displaying their cricket and football prowess and being served drinks by Waggy.

In the 3rd year, 3 of us got apprehended for sneaking out of school at lunchtime to go down town and get tickets for the Beatles at the City Hall. We thought we’d got away with it until we were summoned to Flinky Jackson’s office, roundly chastised , given detention and told we had to miss games for 3 weeks and stay behind and do lines ( I must not …. ad nauseam )

Well the final part was a bonus, as it saved us 3 weeks of Cross Country.  Happy days !!

[Welney]

Sorry to say that I haven't visited this thread for nearly a year but one thing intrigues me. You mentioned a guy called Howarth, was he the same whose family had a shop/business on Middlewood Road in Hillsborough that made and sold lemon curd? I have this vague memory that the family were distant relatives of my maternal grandmother.

One last memory is that after I moved to Leeds we visited Bolton Abbey and who should I see there but Flinky Jackson. I didn't have the courage to speak to him.

[Athy]

It was always a shock to disover that staff had lives outsode KES.

[paulhib48]

On 10/02/2024 at 14:54, Athy said:

It was always a shock to disover that staff had lives outsode KES.

Think that was a sign of the times , Athy.

We had respect for them like we did for most people in authority and that made them somehow different 

I remember going to Martin Axfords house to listen to some Shakespeare reading one evening when doing A levels and was amazed to find he lived somewhere quite normally and even had a wife !!