Hands Up If You Attended Frecheville School Mid 50s

[GrahamT 10]

Hi. I was at Frecheville from 1953 - 1960 and then went to Chesterfield Tech to get some O levels.

I lived on Basegreen Close at number 19 about 50 yards down from John Eyre. He and I stole into the Rex Cinema when we were 13 to see the Wizard of Oz!! It was the first time I'd smoked a Woodbine. I was violently ill. Anyone from my class?

Janice Higgins, Vivian Hayes, Vicky Roberts, Heather Campbell (funny how I only seem to remember the girls...)

 

Yes, I remember them,too, Dick. In fact,you,Viv. and I all went to Chesterfield together. Hope you're keeping well.

[echo beach 587]

Hi. I was at Frecheville from 1953 - 1960 and then went to Chesterfield Tech to get some O levels.

I lived on Basegreen Close at number 19 about 50 yards down from John Eyre. He and I stole into the Rex Cinema when we were 13 to see the Wizard of Oz!! It was the first time I'd smoked a Woodbine. I was violently ill. Anyone from my class?

Janice Higgins, Vivian Hayes, Vicky Roberts, Heather Campbell (funny how I only seem to remember the girls...)

 

Yes, I remember them,too, Dick. In fact,you,Viv. and I all went to Chesterfield together. Hope you're keeping well.

 

If I recall correctly your aim after Chesterfield C of T was to go into teaching.

Did you achieve that goal?

[GrahamT 10]

Hi, Echo, Yes I did. Went to Leeds for 3 years then taught at Killamarsh and Westfield.

 

You obviously know me. Don't keep me in the dark, who are you ?

Regards, G.

[echo beach 587]

Hi, Echo, Yes I did. Went to Leeds for 3 years then taught at Killamarsh and Westfield.

 

You obviously know me. Don't keep me in the dark, who are you ?

Regards, G.

 

Hi Graham. Thanks for your reply and welcome to SF.

 

I too am an old Frechevillian and remember both you and Dick amongst many others from that era. It's good to hear that you're both still alive and kicking. A good few folks from our time have not made it this far!

Funnily enough, a few years later than you, I too undertook a BEd at Leeds and have subsequently taught in six Yorkshire schools, non of which were in Sheffield, may I add. I'm now retired as, no doubt, you will be.

As for who I am, well let's just settle for an echo from the dim and distant past, shall we?

 

Regards, Echo.

[Palman 10]

Hi Stuart, Did you get the photo I sent you of the football team with you Dickie and my Hubby Ken Hollingsworth. I was in the next Bed to Margaret in the N.Gen. for a minor opp. I still see Dickie, Jeff Clarke, Pete Hides, Hillary Watson, Mollie Sherwood, Josie Harrison, Billy Welbourne, Tony Randle. I am sure it was all the cane on my hands that caused my Arthritus !!! Some great day on Frecheville, was up there a few weeks back ( I go when I want a few memories!) They have done it all up and it looks great.

Nice Talking. Hazel Orio.

 

Hi Laughter,I used to live on Birley,how is Hilary Watson.

[Borninthe40s 10]

Hi. I was at Frecheville from 1953 - 1960 and then went to Chesterfield Tech to get some O levels.

I lived on Basegreen Close at number 19 about 50 yards down from John Eyre. He and I stole into the Rex Cinema when we were 13 to see the Wizard of Oz!! It was the first time I'd smoked a Woodbine. I was violently ill. Anyone from my class?

Janice Higgins, Vivian Hayes, Vicky Roberts, Heather Campbell (funny how I only seem to remember the girls...)

 

Miss Green was tough but inspiriational to me. She made me read books (Biggles was my first)

Mr Furness I always remember because we were discussing the universe and he asked who made GOD? At 12 years old this is a very disturbing question.

Mr Sharpe for maths had a bad limp.

Mr Bennett in art class I remember the potato prints

Also remember

Pirates at Xmas, ringing the school bell, being thrown in the gorse bushes, drawing a picture for maths class and getting 3 house points, getting caned. Many times

Happy days

 

I've only just found this thread but I was in your class most of the way through I think! I moved to 39 Jaunty Avenue in 1952/53, started at Frecheville Juniors and was gobsmacked when I failed my 11 plus. I went on to the secondary school, my younger brother always was a bit of a smartarse and passed his! He went on to Thornbridge grammar.

 

I remember most of the names you mentioned including Mr Sharpe, probably the most influential on me ( though I recall being caned by him for some minor misdemeanour). Another pupil name I recall was Rhonda Skelton, a fun girl! There was another too called Janet but I forget the surname.......

 

At the time, I rather enjoyed my time there but not long after leaving, I soon realised it's shortcomings......

 

I left with no qualifications of note and no foreign languages.... Years of night school and Royal Navy addressed that problem!

 

At that time, I always knew you as Richard, I was Tony Maris, my brother was Mick, Mike or Michael, and I had two sisters who also went through Frecheville, an older one called Margaret (now often known as Stella) and a younger one called Elizabeth. Margaret was a year in front of me, Liz was 7 years behind!

 

It's good to know that some of us are still alive and kicking!

 

By the way, my home is now in Lincolnshire, but I'm currently living in Poole harbour on a boat (midweek at least) !

 

Kind regards

 

Tony M

[Laughter 10]

Hi Laughter,I used to live on Birley,how is Hilary Watson.

 

Hi, Just got your reply, Yes Hillary Watson is ok and we have met up a few time. I remember you to her.

Hazel.

 

---------- Post added 03-10-2013 at 15:16 ----------

 

Im sure a Ken Hollingsworth was in my class at Birley school

 

---------- Post added 26-04-2013 at 12:49 ----------

 

 

Did Ken go to Birley school,I remember a Ken Hollingsworth in my class at school.

 

No Ken is my Hubby, we both went to Frecheville, his younger brother Eric, went

to Birley.

[winterskye 10]

Ah, nipper7444, Stuart Herriot, yes, I remember your supreme running ability. I was not so keen on that "running lark" so all the time I was at Frecheville I only ever did one cross country run........and its all thanks to you and your fellow greyhounds! After doing the first run I figured out that you and a few others raced off in the lead leaving the rest of us straggling behind, so I figured out that if I gave it everything I could, I would be behind you lot....but well in front of the stragglers so that as I went over the brow of the hill at the top of Fox Lane....I would be out of sight for a few seconds which gave me time to nip into the field on the left side and hide. There I would sit and have a woodbine until you all returned and then pick my chance to rejoin you all, If anyone spotted me, well, I was just having a pee.

This strategy served me well until, maybe the third year ( not too sure when) but Stenton put me down for the cross country in the annual school sports, maybe he had cottoned on to my fiddle but I dont think so. Anyway, I tried explaining that I was crap at running but his reasoning was that he knew I never came in first or anything like that but I was never exhausted which he thought meant that I had stamina and staying power, yes, he understood that I was a plodder but if I was to really try he thought I could do well.

So, come the big day of the race.....I got my running gear on, five minutes before the off.....I went to the loo......and didnt return until you had all set off, Oh! Damn I, m too late! so at that point I changed back and kept a low profile, nothing more was said about it.

I wasnt always alone with the woodbines in the field, cant remember who came with me, possibly it was Fuffer Fox.

[Laughter 10]

You were not with the bunch that got caught getting off the 99 bus at the Old Harrow were you. Everyone was laughing at that.

The thing I remember most (well apart from old Slats blowing the chemistry roof off) was when we were all sledging down the fields at the back of the dinner huts (Which had Asbestos roofs!) and some of the boys had built a ramp with the snow. What they had not taken into the equation was they would become

airborne when going fast. Two of them went straight into the greenhouse and 'old Slats' went berserk when we went back to school after the weekend because they had landed on his prize plants. We though he was going to internally Combust - so funny. Well not for the lads Bums who he gave several Wacks to !

[echo beach 587]

Ah, nipper7444, Stuart Herriot, yes, I remember your supreme running ability. I was not so keen on that "running lark" so all the time I was at Frecheville I only ever did one cross country run........and its all thanks to you and your fellow greyhounds! After doing the first run I figured out that you and a few others raced off in the lead leaving the rest of us straggling behind, so I figured out that if I gave it everything I could, I would be behind you lot....but well in front of the stragglers so that as I went over the brow of the hill at the top of Fox Lane....I would be out of sight for a few seconds which gave me time to nip into the field on the left side and hide. There I would sit and have a woodbine until you all returned and then pick my chance to rejoin you all, If anyone spotted me, well, I was just having a pee.

This strategy served me well until, maybe the third year ( not too sure when) but Stenton put me down for the cross country in the annual school sports, maybe he had cottoned on to my fiddle but I dont think so. Anyway, I tried explaining that I was crap at running but his reasoning was that he knew I never came in first or anything like that but I was never exhausted which he thought meant that I had stamina and staying power, yes, he understood that I was a plodder but if I was to really try he thought I could do well.

So, come the big day of the race.....I got my running gear on, five minutes before the off.....I went to the loo......and didnt return until you had all set off, Oh! Damn I, m too late! so at that point I changed back and kept a low profile, nothing more was said about it.

I wasnt always alone with the woodbines in the field, cant remember who came with me, possibly it was Fuffer Fox.

 

I also remember the running abilities of 'Nipper Herriot'. In terms of cross country running I was never near the leading group but neither was I in the straggling pack to the rear. On one outing, whilst returning to school via White Lane I was overtaken by a post office van with Chris Fowler waving through the back window. Now, to be fair, Chris was never one to put much effort into any form of physical exercise and, yes, you guessed it, he'd hitched a lift from the very back of the field. 10/10 for ingenuity I say.

That year end Stenton put Chris above me in the PE rankings and from that point onwards he lost all credibility as a PE teacher in my eyes. I rarely tried in the subject again. By the way, it didn't have a lasting effect because now, fifty odd years later, I still actively participate in regular sport as I have done ever since leaving Frecheville.

[winterskye 10]

echo beach, Yes I remember the Chris Fowler incident well but I wasnt there at the time to actually see it.

I, m guessing that I was relaxing in the field awaiting your return

 

LAUGHTER

No I wasnt on the 99 bus, maybe I wasnt bright enough to think of that one. Cant remember it either, I was there from 1957 to 1961

Edited December 16, 2013 by winterskye

[echo beach 587]

echo beach, Yes I remember the Chris Fowler incident well but I wasnt there at the time to actually see it.

I, m guessing that I was relaxing in the field awaiting your return

 

LAUGHTER

No I wasnt on the 99 bus, maybe I wasnt bright enough to think of that one. Cant remember it either, I was there from 1957 to 1961

 

Yes winterskye I've no doubt you were relaxing in that field, out of breath smoking whilst I was the same, running!

Fluffer Fox was quite a lad. I recall an incident which occurred in a woodwork lesson involving a certain part of his anatomy and the drawer in a bench. As this is a public forum I'll not go into any more detail but needless to say it was audacious and had everyone present in fits of laughter.

In another woodwork lesson I think it was Michael Saxton who accidentally??? dropped a mallet on a scale model of a Chippendale chair which the teacher, Mr Dyson, had lovingly created, smashing it to pieces. Dyson not unnaturally went ballistic. I'd never seen a teacher so irate. Retribution was swift and painful, as it was in those days.

As you were around at that time maybe you were an eye witness to one or other of these events.