Newfield School Gleadless, 1968 - 1977

[SteveHB]

These films were made by the Newfield School Film Unit.

As well as the usual film of school sports, trips out,

and camping,

the collection also includes some imaginative fictional films.

Link to .. Yorkshire film archive online

Run time: 25 mins: (silent)

2/ LAUNCH (1970) Sailing at Underbnk Reservoir, etc.

Run time: 14 mins 56 secs: (silent)

3/ Summer Fayre (1977)

Run time: 8 mins 26 secs: (silent)

4/ Needlecraft Exhibition at Grosvenor Hotel (1968)

Run time: 10 mins 47 secs: (silent)

[DaveH]

These films were made by the Newfield School Film Unit.

As well as the usual film of school sports, trips out,

and camping,

the collection also includes some imaginative fictional films.

Link to .. Yorkshire film archive online

Run time: 25 mins: (silent)

2/ LAUNCH (1970) Sailing at Underbnk Reservoir, etc.

Run time: 14 mins 56 secs: (silent)

3/ Summer Fayre (1977)

Run time: 8 mins 26 secs: (silent)

4/ Needlecraft Exhibition at Grosvenor Hotel (1968)

Run time: 10 mins 47 secs: (silent)

Thanks Steve.

I did my second teaching practice at Newfield in 1978 and the film unit was alive and well then.

I also remember it from years before when I was still at Norfolk

During the period 1970 -72 when we did creative activities on Friday afternoon is when me, Stuart, frithy and a few others did photography and film making.

Man (E-type) Smith took us for film making and he had this idea for a film which would eventually become his recently seen again film "Dead Easy"

One particular Friday afternoon we were stuck for filming because it was raining and Man Smith deceided to show us a 16mm film on the schools Bell 7 Howell projector which had been made by another local school film group, - Newfield.

So Man Smith must have had contacts there.

The film was excellent, it was silent and was about a group of teenagers who go out on the town and get involved in "sex and drugs and rock and roll" (obviously only in a very mild sort of way). I can't remember what the film was called but it does say on the Yorkshire Film Archive that they have 9 films from Newfield and your links cover 4 of them, - perhaps they have it.

The Newfield film unit was excellent and must have had a large budget to make films as they were able to use 16mm rather than 8mm film. 16mm uses up film by the foot 4 times faster than 8mm as the frames are 4 times bigger. Much better picture quality from those bigger frames but at a cost. 100 feet of film would last for 16 minutes on 8mm (becoming 200 feet when split lengthwise0 but would be a mere 4 minutes on 16mm, and 100 foot spool of Kodachrome was not and never has been cheap. I also know that Newfield edited their films well to get good results, so probably there were as many feet of film in the cutting room waste bin as there were in the finished film. If you look at the length of the films they made on the YFA site they are short but not that short, each one would require several reels of film.

As well as the Newfield School film unit another local school, Ashleigh, which I attended in 1972 -74 had its own closed circuit TV system instead. Their "studio" was under the stage in the upper school building (Gleadless Road) and it was run by one particularly enthusiastic teacher (can't remember his name, think he was a drama teacher, had blonde hair, wore bow ties and flamboyant clothing) and a group of upper school lads interested in electronics. They had a video recorder in these days before VHS and Betamax were even thought of which recorded onto 35mm reel to reel magnetic recording tape. I wonder if any of their recordings have survived, and if so where they are and if anyone has any equipment to play them!

[Oldbloke]

I remember the sponsored walk to raise money to buy a school bus very well. The following year we did it again to raise money to build a garage below the gym. I must say that Mr Wilson was on good form that day, it was very rare to see him smile he was much more likely to seen waving a cane menacingly.

[DaveH]

I remember the sponsored walk to raise money to buy a school bus very well. The following year we did it again to raise money to build a garage below the gym. I must say that Mr Wilson was on good form that day, it was very rare to see him smile he was much more likely to seen waving a cane menacingly.

When I did my teaching practice there in early 1978 I went on my motorbike and to keep it safe from the attention of kids I was told to park it at the back of that garage.

As I remember it the garage had a large open inspection pit with little clearance between the pit and the garage walls. I thought it was quite dangerous driving a motorbike down to the back of the garage with one handlebar and a knee rubbing on the wall and the tyres perilously close to the drop into the inspection pit.

[Oldbloke]

When the foundations for the garage and the inspection pit were dug, much to our amusement the JCB fell into the hole! I'd never seen how the driver could get himself back out using the the two arms and the jacks before. Us kids volunteered / were enlisted / forced to handball the bricks and blocks around the site and general labouring. No safety equipment back in those days. Of course we'd do anything if it meant getting off a lesson or two.

The school bought an old Duple(sp?) coach, which must have been built in the late 50s/ early 60s, which several of the teachers learned to drive. As I recall Mr Phillips (physics), Mr McDermott (Maths), Mr Marriot (Metalwork) and Mr Pye (Music) were the most regular drivers.

I only ever went on the thing twice. Once to Monyash and Lathkildale, on which occasion Mr Phillips reversed into a dry stone wall demolishing it. The lads jumped off the bus, after telling him to drive down the road half a mile and wait for us, and rebuilt the wall.

The second trip was to see Wednesday play Crystal Palace at Villa Park in an FA cup semi-final.

By the time I left in 1975 the scool had a minibus, but I don't recall if the old bus was still around even by then, it had developed an amazing habit of breaking down every trip out very quickly.

[DaveH]

When the foundations for the garage and the inspection pit were dug, much to our amusement the JCB fell into the hole! I'd never seen how the driver could get himself back out using the the two arms and the jacks before. Us kids volunteered / were enlisted / forced to handball the bricks and blocks around the site and general labouring. No safety equipment back in those days. Of course we'd do anything if it meant getting off a lesson or two.

The school bought an old Duple(sp?) coach, which must have been built in the late 50s/ early 60s, which several of the teachers learned to drive. As I recall Mr Phillips (physics), Mr McDermott (Maths), Mr Marriot (Metalwork) and Mr Pye (Music) were the most regular drivers.

I only ever went on the thing twice. Once to Monyash and Lathkildale, on which occasion Mr Phillips reversed into a dry stone wall demolishing it. The lads jumped off the bus, after telling him to drive down the road half a mile and wait for us, and rebuilt the wall.

The second trip was to see Wednesday play Crystal Palace at Villa Park in an FA cup semi-final.

By the time I left in 1975 the scool had a minibus, but I don't recall if the old bus was still around even by then, it had developed an amazing habit of breaking down every trip out very quickly.

When I was there in 1978, 3 years after you had left, I don't remember seeing a school bus. It seemed as though the garage was used mainly to store materials for the craft department, - wood and metal for CDT lessons

[SteveHB]

1970

 

[DaveH]

Brilliant find Steve.

Newfield school in 1970 raising money for a school bus by having a sponsored walk.

Interestingly, and as an old Norfolk school student you may remember this, Norfolk also had very similar sponsored walks in 1969 and 1970 to raise money for camping equipment and a new school bus, - how similar an experience for 2 different schools.

What a pity no one at Norfolk had the forsight to make a film record of the event.

Second thoughts, if they had done it would more than likely have fallen upon me and Stuart to do the filming, - and if we had done that instead of some of the walking our form may not have won the prize for most collected, - a camping holiday at Cayton Bay, Scarborough. Also, our sponsored walks took place in the evening in late October / November and I remember doing it in the dark, so not as easy to film.

I wonder if oldbloke is in the film?

In the film you can see some of the splices where the film has been edited. The splices only cover a quarter rather than half of the frame, indicating that this is also on 16mm film and not 8mm. Again this is also evident in the much higher picture quality. It must have been quite expensive to produce this film just like the other 4 in post #1, but didn't they do an excellent job of it.

[LaviniaGee]

Hi, guys, (this is my first post on here.)

I went to Newfield School and was in the 5th Year when this film was shot - I make an appearance at 2.44!

I remember many of the faces who were in my year in the film.

It's a wonderful thing to be able to look back like this - the film's evoked many great memories for me...sigh!

[DaveH]

Hi, guys, (this is my first post on here.)

I went to Newfield School and was in the 5th Year when this film was shot - I make an appearance at 2.44!

I remember many of the faces who were in my year in the film.

It's a wonderful thing to be able to look back like this - the film's evoked many great memories for me...sigh!

Welcome to Sheffield History LaviniaGee and thank you for posting.

I am glad you enjoyed the film, and, hopefully the 4 other Newfield school films linked to the first post in this topic.

I bet it brings back memories, like it did for me having done a teaching practice there in 1978, just seeing the school buildings as they were on that site as 2 buildings some distance apart. Many Newfield students would have walked a fair distance every day just getting between lessons if they had subjects taught in the different buildings, - and that's before they start doing a sponsored walk. Ashleigh school had a similar set up with 2 buildings about the same distance apart, except that the path between their 2 buildings got very muddy in wet weather and went past a pig sty which always smelt as though the pigs had never been cleaned out.

I don't suppose you know who filmed these films or which particular teacher was responsible for them do you?

I was at Norfolk school at the time these films were made and in the schools photography and film club. We always had the highest regard for the quality of these films made at Newfield and one of our teachers was in a position to be able to borrow them from Newfield and show them to us as examples of how it should be done so I would love to know who was in charge of making these films at Newfield.

[LaviniaGee]

I don't know for certain who made these films, but I seem to recall Dr Whiting (@2.20 in the film) being involved in the Film Club?

Before the school went comp in 1969, I (obviously) was in the blue building - the desks and all the décor were in pristine condition.

Occasionally, a girls was required to take a message to the boys' school and when it was my turn to go (dreaded it!!) I saw all the desks were old, ink-stained, carved into, and décor was shabby, and smelly - the difference between young ladies and frogs, snail & puppy-dogs' tails !!!

After going comp, as you say, we had to walk between buildings between lessons. The terrain was ok but obviously we got soaked when it rained!

The forms were 1E 1G 1A 1P etc (Excellent/Good/Average/Poor). The top stream did O Levels and CSEs, the G stream just did CSEs. The A's often 'ended up in the typing pool'! Girls weren't allowed to do Physics/Chemistry (those were boys' subjects), they could only do Biology as a science subject.

Prefects in the Girls' School wore lovely tartan sashes, but when I got to be a prefect in my last year, I guess they were short of money because they cut all the sashes up and we just wore a piece attached to a prefect badge! Still got my prefect badge - and my school reports AND leaving report!!.

(now I'm rambling too much )

[DaveH]

I don't know for certain who made these films, but I seem to recall Dr Whiting (@2.20 in the film) being involved in the Film Club?

Before the school went comp in 1969, I (obviously) was in the blue building - the desks and all the décor were in pristine condition.

Occasionally, a girls was required to take a message to the boys' school and when it was my turn to go (dreaded it!!) I saw all the desks were old, ink-stained, carved into, and décor was shabby, and smelly - the difference between young ladies and frogs, snail & puppy-dogs' tails !!!

After going comp, as you say, we had to walk between buildings between lessons. The terrain was ok but obviously we got soaked when it rained!

The forms were 1E 1G 1A 1P etc (Excellent/Good/Average/Poor). The top stream did O Levels and CSEs, the G stream just did CSEs. The A's often 'ended up in the typing pool'! Girls weren't allowed to do Physics/Chemistry (those were boys' subjects), they could only do Biology as a science subject.

Prefects in the Girls' School wore lovely tartan sashes, but when I got to be a prefect in my last year, I guess they were short of money because they cut all the sashes up and we just wore a piece attached to a prefect badge! Still got my prefect badge - and my school reports AND leaving report!!.

(now I'm rambling too much )

Not rambling too much at all

It's great to have these memories of school life recorded on the forum.

As I have said I have been in several local schools (Norfolk, Hurlfield, Ashleigh and Newfield) for one reason or another on either side of the teachers desk and it is interesting to compare how local schools both differed in how they did things, and also how similar they were.

The idea of having a boys school and a girls school for example happened at Hurlfield, but when they went Comprehensive the boys school became mixed and the girls school became the lower school (taking years 1 to 3) of Ashleigh. Ashleigh upper school (taking years 10 to 6th form) was formerly the all boys Central Technical School which had moved from it's city centre site 9 years previously.

sadly none of these schools exist with the buildings they had 40 years ago, and some of them no longer exist at all.

[Oldbloke]

I wonder if oldbloke is in the film?

I believe he is, round about the 1 minute mark walking with "Chinny" (Mr Wilson)and wearing the then compulsory bush hat.

Not saying which one is which though in order to protect the innocent :ph34r:

[DaveH]

I believe he is, round about the 1 minute mark walking with "Chinny" (Mr Wilson)and wearing the then compulsory bush hat.

Not saying which one is which though in order to protect the innocent

From the posts we made previous to SteveHB posting the sponsored walk film I suspected that you would be in it from it's date and the fact that it is obviously an event involving the whole school.

[Guest JFrudd]

By chance I stumbled across the footage of the sponsored walk film and was amazed to see that I was actually in it!!!! I was 12 years old at the time and just seeing myself and the people I was with at that time has brought back so many memories. I had forgotten about the walk itself but remember well the old bus that the school bought with the proceeds. We went on a few field trips in that bus and it also took us to Granville College each week where we studied typing, shorthand and office studies. It was full of spiders and cobwebs, but it served us well!!

How great to see Mr Wilson............... he was quite a character, but knew how to teach maths. Is there anyone out there who recognises themselves?

[DaveH]

By chance I stumbled across the footage of the sponsored walk film and was amazed to see that I was actually in it!!!! I was 12 years old at the time and just seeing myself and the people I was with at that time has brought back so many memories. I had forgotten about the walk itself but remember well the old bus that the school bought with the proceeds. We went on a few field trips in that bus and it also took us to Granville College each week where we studied typing, shorthand and office studies. It was full of spiders and cobwebs, but it served us well!!

How great to see Mr Wilson............... he was quite a character, but knew how to teach maths. Is there anyone out there who recognises themselves?

Welcome to Sheffield History JFrudd and thank you for posting

Glad you enjoyed seeing yourself as a youngster in one of the old Newfield films.

We have plenty more to offer so have a look around (only members can see most of the pictures) and feel free to post on any topic that takes your interest.

[maxiesmum]

I went to Newfield girls school 1964 till I was 15  in1969  My hubby went to the boys school.