Norfolk School, Arbourthorne

[SteveHB]

OK, here's one for me and Stuart to remember with some affection

The girl wearing the patterned dress was in the same class as me,

sorry I can't remember her name.

[DaveH]

The girl wearing the patterned dress was in the same class as me,

sorry I can't remember her name.

I sort of had it in the back of my mind that the particular girl you mention was in our year (a year younger) and was called Gillian Topham but it would only be a guess and I wouldn't have been sure.

So, new challenge, - who is "the girl in the patterned dress"?

[SteveHB]

I sort of had it in the back of my mind that the particular girl you mention was in our year (a year younger) and was called Gillian Topham but it would only be a guess and I wouldn't have been sure.

So, new challenge, - who is "the girl in the patterned dress"?

The name Gillian don't ring any bells with me,

but Topham does as there was lad by that name in my class.

can't remember his first name :(

[DaveH]

The name Gillian don't ring any bells with me,

but Topham does as there was lad by that name in my class.

can't remember his first name

Like I say it was only an intuitive guess.

The Tophams were well known on the Arbouthorne so the lad could easily have been her older brother.

[Guest davekowl]

Also found on the Internet was this school prefects photo from 1964

It is taken in the "school hall", but as this is a 1964 photo so was taken a year or two before the glass tower accessible by bridge extension was built it is not the hall we know.

I think the location is in the room which we knew as the school library on the opposite side of the corridor to the staff room.

Man Whitham, Man Thompson and Lass Moore are clearly visible in the centre of the picture

They are of course authoritive figures for the prefects, being Deputy Head, Headmaster and Senior Mistress respectively.

The blonde girl on the left of the second row wearing a school tie is my elder cousin, Kathleen Sneesby.

Also in the picture somewhere is Gordon Kind.

I don't know which one he is and I have never met him, but I do know that in 1964 he passed O Level chemistry.

Very few students took chemistry at all due to a system whereby for science

All the girls did Biology (they were going to marry and have a family)

and all the boys did Physics (they were going to get jobs in steel, mining and engineering)

at least that was the logic, - they wouldn't get away with that argument these days.

Only those students with particular aptitude in sciences ever took chemistry and they had to apply specially to do it as it caused a lot of timetabling problems.

Even then, because of the nature of the school, very few students did O Levels, most did CSE.

So, Gordon Kind passed chemistry O level in 1964.

The very next person to achieve that was me in 1972!

The photo was taken the year after I left school, but I do remember Gordon Kind . He is on the back row , far right as you look

at the picture.

[DaveH]

The photo was taken the year after I left school, but I do remember Gordon Kind . He is on the back row , far right as you look

at the picture.

Thanks for identifying him for me davelowl,

He was one of those ex students whose reputation (in this case a reputation for being a high achiever in chemistry) had gone on after he left and I have heard a lot about him but never seen or met him.

At least I now know what he looked like when he was at school.

It was Moggy Matthews who told me about his former achievements, but as far as I can remember from what was said he did not go on to a career in chemistry / science.

Instead he went on to a career in accountancy / banking / insurance / finance (that sort of thing), so he did do well beyond school.

[Guest wayneybabes]

some more pictures off facebook

"say it better in a letter" trip, feb 15th 1984. The kids in the photo will have been 10 and 11 years old

Misc:

[Guest wayneybabes]

Man Crozier, Maths Teacher

Man Beaumont, Maths Teacher

Dinnerladies

More Misc: (is the corridor to the right on the 1st photo, the "bridge"?)

[DaveH]

Man Crozier, Maths Teacher

Man Beaumont, Maths Teacher

Dinnerladies

More Misc: (is the corridor to the right on the 1st photo, the "bridge"?)

Great pictures wayneybabes.

It certainly looks like the bridge viewed from the glass tower block end.

I can't be certain because if so, where that wall display is used to be a wall full of student lockers (with no locks on) which were new in 1966. By the time I got there in 1967 they were already damaged and by the time I left they were practically unusable so perhaps they are long gone.

If it is then that student would be stood waiting to go into Pop Wards classroom!

Me and Stuart once got caned by Pop Ward for doing just that. :o

[Guest CarriKP]

Just one extra thought I have here wayneybabes.

Is this your own wording or are you quoting my texts?

In just about every school I know the students, when talking ABOUT teachers (not TO teachers) refer to male teachers as Mr. (Mister) and female teachers as Miss., Mrs. or Ms. (Miss, Missis or Mus) to fit in with normal English. However at Norfolk Stuart0742, myself and a load of other old students ALWAYS called male teachers MAN and female teachers LASS. This seemed to be something of a tradition and, as far as I know is unique to Norfolk school.

So in the 1980's how would you talk about teachers to your mates in the way you addressed them?

Was it still Man and Lass?

- Really giggling now - having just read the above and trying to imagine what would have happened if anyone had dared to address any of my school mistresses as 'Lass' - :o

[DaveH]

- Really giggling now - having just read the above and trying to imagine what would have happened if anyone had dared to address any of my school mistresses as 'Lass' -

I did say that it was probably unique to Norfolk School.

As a teacher myself if a kid addressed me as "man" H then I wouldn't be able to stop laughing either, but most of my colleages unfamiliar with this would be annoyed.

The "Lass" one gets even better as it replaces both "Miss" and "Mrs"

The normal one was just "Lass" which doesn't sound too bad

However, an elderly looking married female teacher would occasionally be called "Owd' Lass" (meaning old Mrs.)

There was also an even rarer "Owd Man"

Now I may just about draw the line at a kid at school calling me "Owd Man H" :angry:

[DaveH]

- Really giggling now - having just read the above and trying to imagine what would have happened if anyone had dared to address any of my school mistresses as 'Lass' -

Just read another of your posts CarriKP in the Manor / Wybourne topic.

If you lived on the Wybourne there was a time between 1969 (when Wybourne School closed when secondary education went comprehensive) and 1992 (when Norfolk school closed) that you would have been "bussed in" on a special school service bus to Norfolk every day

Norfolk would have been YOUR school

Then you would have been able to call some of your female teachers "Lass"

Did you attend Norfolk School?

Were you "bussed in" from the Wybourn / Manor?

[Stuart0742]

I did say that it was probably unique to Norfolk School.

As a teacher myself if a kid addressed me as "man" H then I wouldn't be able to stop laughing either, but most of my colleages unfamiliar with this would be annoyed.

The "Lass" one gets even better as it replaces both "Miss" and "Mrs"

The normal one was just "Lass" which doesn't sound too bad

However, an elderly looking married female teacher would occasionally be called "Owd' Lass" (meaning old Mrs.)

There was also an even rarer "Owd Man"

Now I may just about draw the line at a kid at school calling me "Owd Man H"

Owd man H, it is then

[DaveH]

Owd man H, it is then

I'll be up there at Owd Man 0742's in about half an hour to collect my pint for naming all those traction engines in that other topic.

[Guest wayneybabes]

another couple of pics from facebook, unsure of dates but it is around the very early 80's

the teacher on the class photo i am told is man sadler

[Guest wayneybabes]

......and another one (no idea of year)

[DaveH]

......and another one (no idea of year)

I like this one just for the view, -

The old annexe, so before the mid 1980's

The Juniour school craft room (before they built a bridge across into it)

The old dining hall where my aunties worked

The Guildford Tower block (demolished November 1999)

It's like looking back in time to an old, lost and now gone, but very familiar world.

So familiar you just know exactly where everything is (was) like it is your "home"

[SteveHB]

I like this one just for the view, -

The old annexe, so before the mid 1980's

The Juniour school craft room (before they built a bridge across into it)

The old dining hall where my aunties worked

The Guildford Tower block (demolished November 1999)

It's like looking back in time to an old, lost and now gone, but very familiar world.

So familiar you just know exactly where everything is (was) like it is your "home"

And the handrail on the steps that was often used as a slide

.. ;-)

[Guest wayneybabes]

I like this one just for the view, -

The old annexe, so before the mid 1980's

The Junior school craft room (before they built a bridge across into it)

The old dining hall where my aunties worked

The Guildford Tower block (demolished November 1999)

It's like looking back in time to an old, lost and now gone, but very familiar world.

So familiar you just know exactly where everything is (was) like it is your "home"

I thought you would like it Dave

[Guest wayneybabes]

And the handrail on the steps that was often used as a slide

..

Did you ever slide 'too far' and end up on the tarmac at the bottom?

i did

ouch

[DaveH]

Did you ever slide 'too far' and end up on the tarmac at the bottom?

i did

ouch

Remember it, but can't say that I ever bothered sliding down it.

[Guest wayneybabes]

not sure if these have been posted before, but.................

after browsing the arbourthorne schools topic, i searched picture sheffield dot com and browsed on cradock road category

six pictures of the school before it was re-named Norfolk

Dave, on the school leavers photo, note the four shields above the pupils

picturesheffield 01

picturesheffield 02

picturesheffield 03

picturesheffield 04

picturesheffield 05

picturesheffield 06

[DaveH]

not sure if these have been posted before, but.................

after browsing the arbourthorne schools topic, i searched picture sheffield dot com and browsed on cradock road category

six pictures of the school before it was re-named Norfolk

Dave, on the school leavers photo, note the four shields above the pupils

picturesheffield 01

picturesheffield 02

picturesheffield 03

picturesheffield 04

picturesheffield 05

picturesheffield 06

Picture 3

That's the junior school top yard (now just newly refurbished and extra buildings in it.

Surely picturesheffield should have filed this one under Brimmesfield and not Cradock Road

No idea who that 1940's teacher is though

[DaveH]

Picture 3

That's the junior school top yard (now just newly refurbished and extra buildings in it.

Surely picturesheffield should have filed this one under Brimmesfield and not Cradock Road

No idea who that 1940's teacher is though

Picture 4

Only 4 houses and not 6 in 1953 then , I suppose the school was smaller then in number of students and only needed 4 houses.

Having said that, the school I work at is massive, nearly 2000 students, and that only has 4 houses, in comparison Norfolk had 650 students in 1968 before going comprehensive and about 900 a year later when it took in students from the Wybourn. I suppose on the late 1970's when it briefly had a 6th form it could have topped 1000'

I am having difficulty identifying teachers, and recognise no students in this 1953 picture.

My friend, the ex school technician Peter harrison would probably know as he left around this time, possibly a year or two earlier.

[DaveH]

Picture 4

Only 4 houses and not 6 in 1953 then , I suppose the school was smaller then in number of students and only needed 4 houses.

Having said that, the school I work at is massive, nearly 2000 students, and that only has 4 houses, in comparison Norfolk had 650 students in 1968 before going comprehensive and about 900 a year later when it took in students from the Wybourn. I suppose on the late 1970's when it briefly had a 6th form it could have topped 1000'

I am having difficulty identifying teachers, and recognise no students in this 1953 picture.

My friend, the ex school technician Peter harrison would probably know as he left around this time, possibly a year or two earlier.

Picture 6

That picture of Man (woodwork) Smiths woodwork room taken in the 1930's when the school was new looks exactly the same as when I was there in 1970, not changed at all.

I could even tell you which bench me and Stuart worked at