Finding An Old School Friend At King Edward's

[salmonbones 17]

I am putting this in the "ex pats" forum, because I had a previous post for an old friend moved into this section of the forum, quite incorrectly (as we both still live in Sheffield!)

 

I have looked for a kid I used to know for nearly two decades kind of on and off every so often.   We went to King Edward's together, both at the lower school and upper school.

 

He has a brother called Owen who I think I may have figured out lives or moved at some point to Manchester, but I have never found a way to get hold of Ben.   We met briefly by accident after leaving school, meeting at the roundabout near St Mary's church, actually opposite while we were both on a lunch break (I worked at the time on Edmund Road and walked into town most days for my lunch).   We were surprised to see each other, had a chat and in the days before mobile phones were prevalent, did not realise that would be the last time we would see each other.  I think that may have been  1997 ish and he had literally just told me he was working for Royal mail....who knows if that remained the case for long or not, but if anyone knows this man, please pass on my thoughts about reconnecting.

 

The surname is Colreavy, I am not sure if it was Col-Reavy or some other variant.   

 

[salmonbones 17]

If anyone does know Ben, I suddenly realise my forum name would be irrelevant to him as I acquired it only in 1999.   Basically hurting my arm playing football at Pitz, and someone saying, of course he's broke his arm, he is so thin he looks like he has fishbones.   Then someone else piped up, yeah like salmonbones.

 

So Ben would know me as either Shaun, or "Prof", with that being my nickname during my last few school years.

[crookesey 636]

My son was there then, same name as me, I’ll ask him when he’s next here

[Guest makapaka]

2 hours ago, salmonbones said:

I am putting this in the "ex pats" forum, because I had a previous post for an old friend moved into this section of the forum, quite incorrectly (as we both still live in Sheffield!)

 

I have looked for a kid I used to know for nearly two decades kind of on and off every so often.   We went to King Edward's together, both at the lower school and upper school.

 

He has a brother called Owen who I think I may have figured out lives or moved at some point to Manchester, but I have never found a way to get hold of Ben.   We met briefly by accident after leaving school, meeting at the roundabout near St Mary's church, actually opposite while we were both on a lunch break (I worked at the time on Edmund Road and walked into town most days for my lunch).   We were surprised to see each other, had a chat and in the days before mobile phones were prevalent, did not realise that would be the last time we would see each other.  I think that may have been  1997 ish and he had literally just told me he was working for Royal mail....who knows if that remained the case for long or not, but if anyone knows this man, please pass on my thoughts about reconnecting.

 

The surname is Colreavy, I am not sure if it was Col-Reavy or some other variant.   

 

What years did you attend king Edwards ?

[Dreb48 35]

18 minutes ago, makapaka said:

What years did you attend king Edwards ?

Yep always the most relevant thing to do is to quote your intake year .

In my experience , a couple of years either side of that year and you’ll know hardly any names at all.

Ex King Teds 59 intake 😉

[salmonbones 17]

On 26/12/2022 at 17:45, makapaka said:

What years did you attend king Edwards ?

Sorry, I thought I had dated this by putting  the date of 1997 bumping into him, re-reading it though I can see it's far from clear.

 

I think our GCSE final year was 1994, by 97 we were both working.

[Guest makapaka]

24 minutes ago, salmonbones said:

Sorry, I thought I had dated this by putting  the date of 1997 bumping into him, re-reading it though I can see it's far from clear.

 

I think our GCSE final year was 1994, by 97 we were both working.

Ah you’re a bit older than me and the split sites probably meant we were never in same school building.

 

I started in 1992 and left in 1997.

[hillsbro 33]

Hi salmonbones - as a (very) Old Edwardian  - same year as Dreb48 - I'd like to help, and I first looked at Sheffield births records in the online General Register Office index. This showed that a Ben Colreavy was born in Sheffield in Jan-Mar 1978, and an Owen Colreavy in Jul-Sep 1979, in each case the mother's maiden surname being given as Howes.

I then looked at electoral rolls. Colreavy is by no means a common surname, and only 30 are listed on the rolls for the whole country (but bear in mind that some people "opt out" of the public part of the roll). Ben Colreavy is not among those listed, but I found an Owen Colreavy at a Manchester address, albeit on the electoral rolls for 2002-2003. Looking for Sheffield Colreavys I found a current one - a Marie Colreavy at an S4 address on the rolls for 2008-2022.

If you open your Forum ID to Private Messages I can send you the two addresses by this method.

Good luck in your quest!

Edited December 30, 2022 by hillsbro

[salmonbones 17]

1 hour ago, makapaka said:

Ah you’re a bit older than me and the split sites probably meant we were never in same school building.

 

I started in 1992 and left in 1997.

 

Absolutely!  I remember being in the old "Lower" school site on Darwin lane in 91, because that's when Wednesday won the Rumbelows cup and I well, just remember where I was.

 

I am not sure if I started in the upper school in 92 though, and if so probably missed you.

 

 

11 minutes ago, hillsbro said:

Hi salmonbones - as a (very) Old Edwardian  - same year as Dreb48 - I'd like to help, and I first looked at Sheffield births records in the online General Register Office index. This showed that a Ben Colreavy was born in Sheffield in Jan-Mar 1978, and an Owen Colreavy in Jul-Sep 1979, in each case the mother's maiden surname being given as Howes.

I then looked at electoral rolls. Colreavy is by no means a common surname, and only 30 are listed on the rolls for the whole country (but bear in mind that some people "opt out" of the public part of the roll). Ben Colreavy is not among those listed, but I found an Owen Colreavy at a Manchester address, albeit on the electoral rolls for 2002-2003. Looking for Sheffield Colreavys I found a current one - a Marie Colreavy at an S4 address on the rolls for 2008-2022.

If you open your Forum ID to Private Messages I can send you the two addresses by this method.

Good luck in your quest!

Thank you for this info, I believe I have allowed messages now!  I was an old forum member and this wasn't a thing when I was last majorly active.  

 

 

[hillsbro 33]

18 minutes ago, salmonbones said:

Thank you for this info, I believe I have allowed messages now!  I was an old forum member and this wasn't a thing when I was last majorly active.  

 

 

Message duly sent! 🙂

[Dreb48 35]

21 minutes ago, hillsbro said:

Hi salmonbones - as a (very) Old Edwardian  - same year as Dreb48 - I'd like to help, and I first looked at Sheffield births records in the online General Register Office index. This showed that a Ben Colreavy was born in Sheffield in Jan-Mar 1978, and an Owen Colreavy in Jul-Sep 1979, in each case the mother's maiden surname being given as Howes.

I then looked at electoral rolls. Colreavy is by no means a common surname, and only 30 are listed on the rolls for the whole country (but bear in mind that some people "opt out" of the public part of the roll). Ben Colreavy is not among those listed, but I found an Owen Colreavy at a Manchester address, albeit on the electoral rolls for 2002-2003. Looking for Sheffield Colreavys I found a current one - a Marie Colreavy at an S4 address on the rolls for 2008-2022.

If you open your Forum ID to Private Messages I can send you the two addresses by this method.

Good luck in your quest!

Hi Philip 

Nice to see that we both are still alive, and ostensibly well enough, to still continue contributing to these pages 

Are you still in touch with any others from the intake of 59 ?

I fear a large proportion may now have passed to that great assembly hall in the sky 

[hillsbro 33]

9 minutes ago, Dreb48 said:

Hi Philip 

Nice to see that we both are still alive, and ostensibly well enough, to still continue contributing to these pages 

Are you still in touch with any others from the intake of 59 ?

I fear a large proportion may now have passed to that great assembly hall in the sky 

Hi Paul - yes, still alive and kicking! But we can't be 74 . . SEVENTY-FOUR? . . come off it! But in fact I was reminded of Anno Domini in September when the Queen died - I can remember the Coronation.

I'm still in regular contact with Patrick Burns from our year - he now lives near our Sheffield home in Wadsley. And I occasionally hear from Chris Gilson, who has lived in South Wales since c. 1970. I contacted Alan Chittenden via the Forum a few years ago (and did his family tree - I quite enjoy this sort of research!) Also Don Nicolson via the "Clapton Era" website. This is apart from Ian Minogue who married my sister (in 1978 - I wasn't sure if I should be the best man or a bridesmaid 😄) Of those who have joined N.L.C., A.J., N.J.B., V.A.V., E.L.V. & Co., I don't know of many but Dave Pringle died as long ago as 2003, and David Askham in 2015. John Ramsden died in 2009 (see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ramsden_(historian)) But with any luck we'll still be around for quite a while yet!