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Frecheville Comprehensive School


Guest shezza91

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Guest shezza91

Just thought it would be interesting to hear ex-pupils memories.

I was there in the early 80's.

Also any photos would be interesting..

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Guest lingus

I was in the year that merged with Thornbridge i lived just up the road would love to see some old pics

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Guest stalborg

I went to Frecheville and left in 1983.

I remember Mr Cable and his hair, Mr & Mrs Frost, Mr Sheard (horrid little man) and Mr Tucker wearing the same clothes every single day.

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Frechville school

Thornbridge school

Birley school

I didn't attend any of these schools but I am familiar with this area of S12

Unfortunately I keep getting the locations of these 3 schools mixed up and I often refer to them as though they were the same

Is there any chance someone could post a map in this thread with the positions of these 3 schools marked?

Which was the school that looked like a set of log cabins which had a youth club at the top end of it near a footpath that cut across to the Jaunty estate, or even over the stream and across to Gleadless Junior school?

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Guest stalborg

Will see if I can sort a map for you.

Frecheville School was on Fox Lane (that was the log cabin one) and is now a housing estate.

Thornbridge was separated into two schools - Crescent and Avenue and is now called Birley Community College.

In the days I attended Birley it was only an infants and middle school.

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Will see if I can sort a map for you.

Frecheville School was on Fox Lane (that was the log cabin one) and is now a housing estate.

Thornbridge was separated into two schools - Crescent and Avenue and is now called Birley Community College.

In the days I attended Birley it was only an infants and middle school.

So Frechville must have been the school that about 9 years ago (1999 - 2001) my wife went to for one evening or afternoon a week to do a CLAIT computer course (using the latests version of Microsoft, Windows 98 at the time!).

The school must have still been their then but when I went to pick her up after the course it looked a bit run down and neglected. Never saw any school kids either.

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I went to Thornbridge in 1960 when it was almost brand new. I think the first intake would have been 1958'ish.

It was completely separate from next door Birley at that time.

I've just been searching round the net and I'm amazed at how little information there is.

Not even a decent photo that I can find.

Footnote

Pupils and teachers all seemed able to get there even in knee deep snow.

I don't remember schools closing for any reason in those days.

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Footnote

Pupils and teachers all seemed able to get there even in knee deep snow.

I don't remember schools closing for any reason in those days.

I'm a teacher vox and have been for over 30 years now. For details of what happened to me in this weeks snow have a look in RichardB's £ per mile thread about travel times in the snow conditions.

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It was just an observation Dave.

Oh Yes I know all the reasons.

People live further from their work,

More traffic = more people getting stuck

Snow is less common so people are less prepared.

etc

Having said that, I walked to work many times in the 60's/70s when the buses coudn't run.

It wouldn't have crossed my mind not to.

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It was just an observation Dave.

Oh Yes I know all the reasons.

People live further from their work,

More traffic = more people getting stuck

Snow is less common so people are less prepared.

etc

Having said that, I walked to work many times in the 60's/70s when the buses coudn't run.

It wouldn't have crossed my mind not to.

Back at work for 1 day, then it snows again and the school shuts again. At least this time I didn't get to find out we were shut when I finally arrived there, I heard it on local radio half way to work, pulled into a slippy snow covered lay by to check my mobile phone to find I had missed 4 messages telling me not to bother coming in.

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and I loaded my van in town, picked up my son, and we battled our way to the centre of Rotherham to find there was no-one on the job. When I phoned to find out why I hadn't been told, they said they didn't think I would bother turning out. Obviously the job wasn't quite as urgent as I'd been lead to believe.

Anyway - we digress.

I'm supprised at how little information there seems to be about Frechevill, Birley and Thornbridge schools.

I can't find a single photo of Thornbridge, which was the latest in design at the time it was built. The "arts tower" was designed to flex in strong winds if I remember rightly.

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I'm supprised at how little information there seems to be about Frechevill, Birley and Thornbridge schools.

I can't find a single photo of Thornbridge, which was the latest in design at the time it was built. The "arts tower" was designed to flex in strong winds if I remember rightly.

Unfortunately although I am familiar with this area of S12 and have taken many photographs around it over the years I never actually took any pictures of any of these schools. Wish I had now.

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Guest stalborg

Have searched too and can't find any pics of Frecheville school - even looked on friends reunited and only pics of pupils on there.

Will search through mums old pics this weekend.

I do remember Birley school being closed a couple of times - but it was when the heating had broken down in winter.

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I don't think Frecheville School was still standing around that time, i'm sure houses had already been built on the site by then, it might have been what i knew as the youth club just up from where the school was that your wife went to?

Jeff

So Frechville must have been the school that about 9 years ago (1999 - 2001) my wife went to for one evening or afternoon a week to do a CLAIT computer course (using the latests version of Microsoft, Windows 98 at the time!).

The school must have still been their then but when I went to pick her up after the course it looked a bit run down and neglected. Never saw any school kids either.

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I don't think Frecheville School was still standing around that time, i'm sure houses had already been built on the site by then, it might have been what i knew as the youth club just up from where the school was that your wife went to?

Jeff

This was the year 2000

If you went along Birley Moor Road to Frechville and turned up Hopefield Avenue near the church and went all the way up to the top where it met Fox Lane this was round about where the youth club was. At the top side of it was an electrical transformer and a footpath down to the back of Jaunty Avenue.

If you now doubled back on yourself and went down Fox Lane towards Birley Moor Road again the school, which looked half very dark timbered, was on your left. The entrance my wife used was down there and it had a small car park. At the bottom end of the school was another footpath which cut down and around the school field and actually more or less joined up with the other footpath but at the bottom it was possible to cross a samll stream, walk past a playground near the end of Birley Vale Road, cross a bridge that went over a bigger stream near Quarry Vale Road (Shire Brook) and then cut over Gleadless Junior School field to Hollinsend Road which was my quick route home if walking it.

The school was still there in 2000 but it may not have been open as such because I never saw any students there, apart from the computer class it seemed quite empty.

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Guest wavydavy1234

I went to Frecheville and left in 1983.

I remember Mr Cable and his hair, Mr & Mrs Frost, Mr Sheard (horrid little man) and Mr Tucker wearing the same clothes every single day.

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Guest wavydavy1234

I left frecheville comp 1985 ish can remember mr redhead pe teacher wot a little poo poo once got detention had to do 200 lines once finnished he ripped them up,can you remember mr wright maths teacher and mr green music teacher with his pink shirts and purple shoes those were the days.I used to do running can you remember me david rains and mark law ?

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Just thought it would be interesting to hear ex-pupils memories.

I was there in the early 80's.

Also any photos would be interesting..

Went to Thornbridge for 5 years when it was Grammar, I never saw Birley School but I knew it was there! The Birley kids used to give us hell. We had to walk to Birley Moor Road to get the bus and they'd be waiting for us. I think it was the uniform they resented, the Birley kids didn't have to wear one. Sometimes they'd just nick the cap, empty the satchell in the road and play footy with the books. But often it turned nasty and we'd cop a bashing. Things came to a head when they twisted one kids arm up his back and dislocated it. I think the headmasters intervened and things settled down for a while but we were never safe. Despite all that Thornbridge was a great school in the 60's. Sorry, got no photo's either.

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A severe shortage of photos for this school then. Unfortunately its not there to go back and take some.

Here's what it looks like today.

Main entrance on Fox Lane, now a little cul de sac into a private estate.

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Then at the bottom end of the school, where there used to be access past the fields and down into Jaunty Park, there is now a residential care home

Brackenfield Hall.

I suppose at least the old folk who live there will get some very good views across to Intake.

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The old youth club building still seems to be there though.

Once a place which provided evening entertainment for young people it is now a CONNEXIONS centre which tries to find young people employment.

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I went to Frecheville for a year, 1985-6 before it merged with Thornbridge and so I went there until 1990. A couple of my aunts and uncles

went there, too. One aunt was in the same class as the girls from the Human League, apparently. Even my grandad went there in the late 40s.

I remember us going across to Frecheville for science lessons with Mr Fern while at Birley and I think we had all our exams there in the hall.

Remember Mr Robinson taking us for metal work and swearing at someone! And I also remember hiding out there with a lad while we should

have been at Mr Sheard's history class at Birley. We were caught by one another teacher though :rolleyes: We were there during the teachers

strike and it was always Mr Tucker who would send us home.

Also remember it burning down some years later, I could see it from our house as we lived on Hopefield Avenue.

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