Norfolk School, Arbourthorne

[DaveH]

Dave that would be great.

I have a very distant memory of a teacher that I think taught at Norfolk Juniors, but for the life of me I cant remember his name. All I do remember about him is that one day he started behaving strangely and started eating chalk! Not long after he was found to have a brain tumour. Anyone help solve this one please????

Don't remember him suzy, - must be after my time.

Perhaps we need another line of enquiry on this one.

[Guest davexl5]

Great stuff davexl5, - a new set of teachers remembered by someone from another generation at the school.

Lass King, - can't remember her at all

Lass Blenco / Blencard, -could it have been Blanchard? Again can't remember her

Man Crank, definately before my time but remembered by my cousins. With a name like Crank I never knew weather it was for real or they were making it up.

Have you any other old teachers you can add to this 1960's list?

I don't suppose you can remember the name of the female science teacher who left to go and live in Israel (or perhaps she was from Israel in the first place) can you?

It's been bugging me and Stuart for years. She was there while we were first years (1967-8) then left and only taught for a term of Friday afternoons doing science creative activities. We spent ages looking up the most dangerous chemistry experiments we could find only to be told "no you can't do that!". But all that changed when we got Man Bridson (her replacement) and Moggy Matthews who DID let us do whatever experiments we wanted.

in a phone conversation with my sister 2 years my senior . she confirms the art teachers name as isabel blenco but is not sure of the spelling. she is sure however that she left to care for a child . she is now something to do with the samaritans. am seeing my sister tonight for a beer or two . she left in 68 and has a better memory than me.i will get a list of teachers from her and pass them on.

Fortunately the school did survive a Friday afternoon disaster in the making on a number of occasions.

[Guest davexl5]

The Bristol Beaufighter had a crew of 2.

Can you imagine what it would be like having Man Dixon as your other crewman?

like the cartoon sums it all up quite well. like the shot of the baufighter too as i am plane nut and have been since a child. how do you highlight the question i keep putting my answers in the wrong place .as previously mentioned am new to this and it takes ages with one finger

[DaveH]

like the cartoon sums it all up quite well. like the shot of the baufighter too as i am plane nut and have been since a child. how do you highlight the question i keep putting my answers in the wrong place .as previously mentioned am new to this and it takes ages with one finger

If you reply to a post the question will already be in the new post inside some quote tags.

To highlight the question in the post you can select the required text with your mouse and then click on BOLD above to insert bold tags, - this make the selected text appear in bold in the final posting. Bold is the first of the boxes above your reply box which are lettered b 9bold) i (italic), u (underline) aA (subscript superscript), some smileys and then 5 more boxes to do with special features like adding links to other sites, inserting images, email and word wrap.

[Guest suzy]

Don't remember him suzy, - must be after my time.

Perhaps we need another line of enquiry on this one.

Thanks Dave - I will just repeat just in case anyone else can remember

Otherwise, I dont know how to progress it

"I have a very distant memory of a teacher that I think taught at Norfolk Juniors, but for the life of me I cant remember his name. All I do remember about him is that one day he started behaving strangely and started eating chalk! Not long after he was found to have a brain tumour. Anyone help solve this one please???? "

[DaveH]

Thanks Dave - I will just repeat just in case anyone else can remember

Otherwise, I dont know how to progress it

"I have a very distant memory of a teacher that I think taught at Norfolk Juniors, but for the life of me I cant remember his name. All I do remember about him is that one day he started behaving strangely and started eating chalk! Not long after he was found to have a brain tumour. Anyone help solve this one please???? "

Have we got some approximate year or dates on this suzy?

[DaveH]

dixon told me about his raf days whilst i was in his creative studies chess group.i hasten to add not my first choice of activity

i think i missed out sports etc most likely i was waggin it when the options were available and thought chess wouldnt be too taxing.

Now when I was there Man Dixon offered model making as his Creative Activity session, - so you could have made that Airfix Bristol Beaufighter with him.

Curly Whitham was a pretty mean chess player, - I don't think me and Stuart0742 ever beat him and he would play both of us together.

Then in 1969 when Man Chapman started he was something else at chess, totally in a league of his own, almost a chess grand master.

He ran a chess club seperate from Creative Activities which is why we played a lot of chess in our final year when he was our form tutor.

My younger brother was in his lunchtime / after school chess club. He can remember that there were 10 or 12 members of the club and Man Chapman would play them all, individually at the same time. Each student had a chess board and the tables were arranged in a circle. Man chapman was in the middle of the circle and after he had made a move he moved to the next player around the circle to make a move on his board. Each player had the time it took for Chapman to work his way around everyone and make his moves before he got back to them in order to make their move.

Even playing like this Chapman very rarely lost a match, and those he did I suspect he lost deliberately.

[DaveH]

There you go davexl5

A bit of creative activity for you with Man Dixon

[DaveH]

There you go davexl5

A bit of creative activity for you with Man Dixon

But with a name like davexl5 perhaps you should be making models of Fireball XL5 like these

[Guest davexl5]

But with a name like davexl5 perhaps you should be making models of Fireball XL5 like these

some more teachers names provided by my sister 2 years my senior she attended n h s from sept 64 to 68.

lass kemp housecraft.

lass glister p e'

succeeded by lass hindley.

lass guiton (rachel)

lass blincoe (isabell) art. left to care for a child . my sis thinks she now something to do with the samaritans.

lass bolton. housecraft.

man milner science i can remember him in 66 'dont know when he left.

man wright. i cant remember him at all.

sorry drew a blank on the female science teacher.are you sure you wasnt sniffing chemicles and imagined this one.

hope this is of some help.

[DaveH]

some more teachers names provided by my sister 2 years my senior she attended n h s from sept 64 to 68.

lass kemp housecraft.

lass glister p e'

succeeded by lass hindley.

lass guiton (rachel)

lass blincoe (isabell) art. left to care for a child . my sis thinks she now something to do with the samaritans.

lass bolton. housecraft.

man milner science i can remember him in 66 'dont know when he left.

man wright. i cant remember him at all.

sorry drew a blank on the female science teacher.are you sure you wasnt sniffing chemicles and imagined this one.

hope this is of some help.

Great list of names there davexl5, vaguely remember some of them and never heard of others. Fortunately your sister has managed to fill in some "girls subject" teachers (girls PE, housecraft) which would have been lost on us boys.

Can anyone remember that "housecraft flat" that groups of girls had to look after and live in for a week at a time as part of their housecraft lessons?

I spent 5 years chatting up and dating suitable girls just to try and get an invite into that flat for a free dinner without any luck. They had to cook a meal for a dinner party and invite "guests", which were mostly but not exclusively teachers, occasionally carefully vetted "boyfriends" got in as well I think Lass Moore must have kept giving me her veto. However I did finally get invited by some younger girls after I had left and was allowed back for my meal.

Not imagining the female science teacher at all, - I think even Stuart0742 will remember her as she took us for some science creative activities in our first year.

I thought everyone could remember Man Wright. He was an excellent English teacher (got me and Stuart through CSE / O level and we thought we were crap at it at school) and had a long career at the school from, I think, the late 1940's (he was certainly there in the 1950's as I have seen pictures of him with his form from that time) and left after I had left, - late 1970's possibly.

In fact earlier in this thread there is a picture of him which I took and my details of what he was like,

try this link

Man Wright

Finally, it has occured to me that if your sister was 64 -68

and if you are 2 years younger than her you would be 66- 70

Now me and Stuart are 67 - 72

and SteveHB is (I think) also 66 -70

So all 5 of us could have been there at the same time (67 - 68) :o

[Guest suzy]

Great list of names there davexl5, vaguely remember some of them and never heard of others. Fortunately your sister has managed to fill in some "girls subject" teachers (girls PE, housecraft) which would have been lost on us boys.

Can anyone remember that "housecraft flat" that groups of girls had to look after and live in for a week at a time as part of their housecraft lessons?

I spent 5 years chatting up and dating suitable girls just to try and get an invite into that flat for a free dinner without any luck. They had to cook a meal for a dinner party and invite "guests", which were mostly but not exclusively teachers, occasionally carefully vetted "boyfriends" got in as well I think Lass Moore must have kept giving me her veto. However I did finally get invited by some younger girls after I had left and was allowed back for my meal.

Not imagining the female science teacher at all, - I think even Stuart0742 will remember her as she took us for some science creative activities in our first year.

I thought everyone could remember Man Wright. He was an excellent English teacher (got me and Stuart through CSE / O level and we thought we were crap at it at school) and had a long career at the school from, I think, the late 1940's (he was certainly there in the 1950's as I have seen pictures of him with his form from that time) and left after I had left, - late 1970's possibly.

In fact earlier in this thread there is a picture of him which I took and my details of what he was like,

try this link

Man Wright

Finally, it has occured to me that if your sister was 64 -68

and if you are 2 years younger than her you would be 66- 70

Now me and Stuart are 67 - 72

and SteveHB is (I think) also 66 -70

So all 5 of us could have been there at the same time (67 - 68)

I can remember the Housecraft Flat and couldnt wait to go in there. I think it was limited to the higher year/s and just before I would have been eligible, they stopped it What a crying shame!

I totally agree with you about Man Wright - he was our form teacher at some stage and I was also in his English class - dont know when he left though. What a lovely man he was :rolleyes:

[Guest suzy]

Have we got some approximate year or dates on this suzy?

"I have a very distant memory of a teacher that I think taught at Norfolk Juniors, but for the life of me I cant remember his name. All I do remember about him is that one day he started behaving strangely and started eating chalk! Not long after he was found to have a brain tumour. Anyone help solve this one please???? "

Dave - it must have been prior to 1968, if we moved up to Seniors at age 11??? Hope this helps - I know its a wild shot.

[DaveH]

I can remember the Housecraft Flat and couldnt wait to go in there. I think it was limited to the higher year/s and just before I would have been eligible, they stopped it What a crying shame!

I totally agree with you about Man Wright - he was our form teacher at some stage and I was also in his English class - dont know when he left though. What a lovely man he was

Yes its a shame.

The housecraft flat for a week must have been a great experience (but hard work as well) and probably provided a lot of girls with many useful skills which would come in handy when they eventually left and had a home of their own to lok after. OK it may get looked down upon a bit because it was more vocational than academic but it was still a very valuable piece of education, - that's what the comprehensive system was all about.

Whats more, the "free meal" I finally got, cooked by 3 teenage girls, was as good as anything you would pay a high price for in a posh restaurent, showing that the proof of the pudding is in the eating , sorry, showing that these particular girls had learnt a valuable domestic skill and could carry it out to a very high standard.

Must admit, although I didn't particularly enjoy English, it's not really my subject, I did enjoy being taught by Man Wright, I couldn't have had a better English teacher.

[DaveH]

"I have a very distant memory of a teacher that I think taught at Norfolk Juniors, but for the life of me I cant remember his name. All I do remember about him is that one day he started behaving strangely and started eating chalk! Not long after he was found to have a brain tumour. Anyone help solve this one please???? "

Dave - it must have been prior to 1968, if we moved up to Seniors at age 11??? Hope this helps - I know its a wild shot.

Well I was at Junior School 1963 to 1967 which is prior to 1968 but I can't remember that happening to anyone and there were only a few male Junior school teachers as most of them were women.

Who were the men at that time, -

Man Rackham

Man Walsh

Man Beaumont

Man O'Leary

(a right hard case but taught us French for last 2 years at Junior school in an "experiment" to proove the theory that if you start foreign languages early you do better at them than those who start at secondary school due to a 2 year head start. I am living proof that this theory was a load of rubbish as I didn't do any better than anyone who joined me at secondary school having done no French at all previously)

I can't remember ANY other male teachers from that period.

Having mentioned the years up to 1968 that reminds me

Up to and including 1966, the 11+ exam was compulsory, the few that passed went to a posh grammar school, the rest that failed went to Norfolk.

From 1968 and onwards the 11+ was abolished, no one took it and everyone went to a comprehensive school, which was Norfolk.

But for one year, the class of 1967 (and that's ME) we had a choice of either doing the 11+ or not

I can remember my dad asking me, with the form to fill in, what I wanted to do (he wanted ME to make this decision for myself)

I told him I didn't want to do the 11+ so that I could go to Norfolk as all my friends were going to Norfolk, and that's what I did.

Now in theory by doing that I had thrown away the opportunity of a "better" education and had consigned myself to the scrap heap of being "one of lifes failures" according to educational philosophy of the time.

In reality,-

I got a better education at Norfolk, and ended up more highly qualified, than if I had gone somewhere else.

I enjoyed my secondary years and didn't feel as though I was being forced to learn stuff just to pass exams.

But ironically,-

2 of my 3 best friends at Junior school DID pass there 11+ and move on

Most of my best friends at secondary school (including Stuart0742) were not from Norfolk Juniors at all.

just goes to show you doesn't it ;-)

[tav2002]

Hi all. I was at Norfolk nursery & then a couple of years in the Infants before leaving the area. I lived at the bottom of Edenhall so didnt have far to walk in a morning. The nursery teacher was a Mrs Whitworth , cant remember the name of her helper. Then the only other teachers I can remember are Miss Longden (sp?), Miss Brockelhurst & Mrs Smith. I left halfway through Miss Brockelhursts class in Feb 1971.

One thing that I can clearly remember is the old toilets had one hell of an echo & got told off for trying to get the loudest echo. All these years visiting my old neighbour who still live on Edenhall & didnt take a single photo of the infant school before if was flattened ...shame on me. Been trying to think of any names from nursery or infants & only came up with ... Alan Coward, Tracy Allen ,Joanne Tingle. Remember a lass called Kay who was the caretakers daughter at the house on Craddock Road & a Mark Bailey on City Road. Nice to see some of the photos taken of the school.

[DaveH]

Hi all. I was at Norfolk nursery & then a couple of years in the Infants before leaving the area. I lived at the bottom of Edenhall so didnt have far to walk in a morning. The nursery teacher was a Mrs Whitworth , cant remember the name of her helper. Then the only other teachers I can remember are Miss Long den (sp?), Miss Brockelhurst & Mrs Smith. I left halfway through Miss Brockelhursts class in Feb 1971.

One thing that I can clearly remember is the old toilets had one hell of an echo & got told off for trying to get the loudest echo. All these years visiting my old neighbour who still live on Edenhall & didnt take a single photo of the infant school before if was flattened ...shame on me. Been trying to think of any names from nursery or infants & only came up with ... Alan Coward, Tracy Allen ,Joanne Tingle. Remember a lass called Kay who was the caretakers daughter at the house on Craddock Road & a Mark Bailey on City Road. Nice to see some of the photos taken of the school.

Welcome to Sheffield History tav2002,

I think you must be the 13th member of our site that has attended Norfolk School.

Thanks for the memories and names from the Infant / Nursery school as some of our members (not me) never went to the nursery / infants and others that did (me) are getting a bit too old to remember that far back, I was in the nursery + infants from 1958 to 1963

If the "lass called Kay" was the caretakers daughter her surname was more than likely Wilkinson. Mr. Wilkinson was the caretaker of the school for many years and eventually received a new years honour for his service to the community.

Tingle was a well known family in the area which attended the school, did Joanne have a brother called Stephen? He was always known as "Tango" to his mates.

[tav2002]

Regarding the caretaker, name of Wilkinson, not sure if it is him but will ask my dad as he sees him in the pub occasionally & Kay was the youngest of two daughters I think.

Regarding Joanne Tingle , I think that they may have lived on Eastern Avenue, not sure how I know from that far back and didnt know of any other family.

Hope I am the "lucky 13th" member of Norfolk School.

PS. The year I was in left school in 1980.

[DaveH]

Regarding the caretaker, name of Wilkinson, not sure if it is him but will ask my dada as he sees him in the pub occasionally & Kay was the youngest of two daughters I think.

Regarding Joanne Tingle , I think that they may have lived on Eastern Avenue, not sure how I know from that far back and didnt know of any other family.

Hope I am the "lucky 13th" member of Norfolk School.

Mr. Wilkinson was called Leslie Wilkinson.

His eldest daughter, same age as me and Stuart0742, was also calley Lesley Wilkinson

{Hope I've got the Leslie / Lesley gender naming the right way round.}

I think the Tingles did live on Eastern Avenue

Stuart0742 has a 1971 Kelly's directory, I'll get him to look it up.

[Guest suzy]

Mr. Wilkinson was called Leslie Wilkinson.

His eldest daughter, same age as me and Stuart0742, was also calley Lesley Wilkinson

{Hope I've got the Leslie / Lesley gender naming the right way round.}

I think the Tingles did live on Eastern Avenue

Stuart0742 has a 1971 Kelly's directory, I'll get him to look it up.

I can confirm that the Tingles lived on Eastern Avenue, as I used to go to their house. Sharon Tingle was a good friend of mine and I also remember Stephen. I am not sure though whether there was one other sister, Joanne, or two. I do know that Sharon's elder sister married and lived on City Road, but I have a feeling there was another sister who was younger than Sharon :unsure:

[DaveH]

I can confirm that the Tingles lived on Eastern Avenue, as I used to go to their house. Sharon Tingle was a good friend of mine and I also remember Stephen. I am not sure though whether there was one other sister, Joanne, or two. I do know that Sharon's elder sister married and lived on City Road, but I have a feeling there was another sister who was younger than Sharon

Thanks suzy,

Stuart has just sent me a PM having looked it up in his directory.

Definately the same family and lived where we thought at the bottom of Eastern Avenue (low numbers) on the side nearest the school.

[Guest Iveco]

God some of these photo's bring back some weird flashbacks , hated school then (wish i was there now) never really lasted till the end (left in about 81 i think).

Man Reeves was my form teacher..what top bloke. Man did i hate deadley headley he was a bully

[Guest davekowl]

Hello again. I havn't contributed to this topic for some time now but I have been following it with interest.

As regards to the Tingle family , I had a mate in my class called Graham Tingle who also lived on Eastern Avenue (must be the same family). We left in 1963 so I don't think any of you young uns will remember him or me . However its nice to see my name in the list of old pupil contributors.

Carry on with this great thread, it makes really interesting reading.

[DaveH]

God some of these photo's bring back some weird flashbacks , hated school then (wish i was there now) never really lasted till the end (left in about 81 i think).

Man Reeves was my form teacher..what top bloke. Man did i hate deadley headley he was a bully

Hi Iveco and welcome to Sheffield History

By my count you are the 14th member of Sheffield History to have attended Norfolk School

Man Reeves must have been after my time as I can't remember him, and with a name like Reeves there are reasons why I would remember him

But Man Headley, started in September 1969 when we went comprehensive, straight to use from the old Wybourne School so he was already a hard case to have done well there.

Obviously continued that way through a long career at Norfolk.

Anyone know what eventually happened to him?

[DaveH]

Hello again. I havn't contributed to this topic for some time now but I have been following it with interest.

As regards to the Tingle family , I had a mate in my class called Graham Tingle who also lived on Eastern Avenue (must be the same family). We left in 1963 so I don't think any of you young uns will remember him or me . However its nice to see my name in the list of old pupil contributors.

Carry on with this great thread, it makes really interesting reading.

Welcome back davekowl, I'm glad you are enjoying this thread.

If we are "the young ones" how about adding a few details about the school in the 1958 -63 period, or if you went to the juniors, infants and nursery as well, even earlier still. Hopefully we will eventually build up a full history of the school from 1935 to 1991.

As I said originally the Tingle family was well known in the local community and they all went through Norfolk school. There were many other families like this and their stories also form part of the schools history so any names of local ex students are also appreciated.