Sunday, 20 September 2015

Memories of Greenfield Street Secondary Modern 1965-1969


Written by Steve Whitehead.

I attended " Greeny " between the above dates, having done my earlier schooling in the infants and juniors at the same school.
I was wondering if any visitors to your blog went to this school and if they remembered the teachers and the classes they took.
The Headmaster was a Scotsman called Christie and as far as I can remember, the only time he spoke to you was in his office if you were in bother : he possibly took a class now and the but I can't recall. His office was right in front of one of the two stairwells up to the classrooms. If you turned left here and past the cloakrooms you came to the classroom of Mr Williams who took History , but who sadly died , and then taken by a Mr Jenner who was crazy and looked exactly like the lead singer from Jethro Tull. Past this room was Mr Pickfords class which was RE or RK.
When you went back past the cloaks and past Christies office you came to several other classrooms and then the assembly hall/dinner hall. In these classrooms in no particular order were Robinson (maths ) Hindley (English ) Mr Howes who took Geography – we called him Howsie.
There was also a class taken by a Mrs Monks but I can't for the life of me remember what she took. Also on duty was a Mr Jones who never seemed to do much apart from drop in on classes and do a talk on sex education (what do you need to know sir ! ) but I remember he had a vicious temper and used to chuck things at you – book , ruler , chair etc..
When you got to the end of this row you turned left and found a duplicate of the other end of the school with cloaks and offices and a small shop. I think one of the classrooms down her was for music , possibly taken by a Miss Bennett and a nature study class ran by Mr Nichols.
When you went down either of the staircases you came to the playground and on the other side was the gym - also ran by Howsie who was as fit as anything. Next door was the science lab - Beaky Mellor and further along woodwork which was another Robinson and metalwork which was taken by Hawkins or Attree. 
Lastly , on the far side you had tech drawing taken by Mr Wainwright who was the hardest caner ever , I think he even scared the other teachers !! Also in this small building was art which was a Mr Howard.
The other school sports area was at Walker Lane which we used to walk about a mile to , for eleven-a-side football and cricket and school sports days. The changing rooms were a bit primitive even then.
All in all I thought Greeny was a good school with a well balanced curriculum and fair preparation for adulthood. There were some really clever lads in my year and a couple of superb footballers (no names !! ). I hope the guys I knew felt as sorry as I did when the place was finally demolished a few years ago ..........






Ref the info I sent you a couple of weeks ago re Greenfield Street - I've come this photo which I think is the 4th year, and must be from about 1968/1969 - the teacher is Evans , don’t know if you recognise anyone else.
Steve

Brilliant Steve, alas I can't put a name to anyone only Mr Even's...  here's hoping others will be able to add name by commenting here.


Update



Can anyone fit these names to the lads in the picture:
Pete Howles, Richard Shepley, Nigel Boak, Mark Sutcliffe, Ian Fyffe, Rob Dixon, Paul Harrop and Stan Fox

Names given to me by Steve Daniels

8 comments:

  1. Can anyone fit these names to the lads in the picture:
    Pete Howles, Richard Shepley, Nigel Boak, Mark Sutcliffe, Ian Fyffe, Rob Dixon, Paul Harrop and Stan Fox

    Names given to me by Steve Daniels

    ReplyDelete
  2. I attended Greenfield Street Secondary School between 1973 and 1978, I recognise the names of some of those teachers, but quite a few of them had changed by the time I arrived.
    The headmaster was the same, but by this time Mr Evans had become deputy head, he had the nickname "grass head".
    Howsie was still geography teacher, but the PE teachers were Mr Grabner and Mr Partridge, history was still taught by the cockney Mr Jenner, who I also thought was a bit odd, he was later replaced by an American teacher, Mr Host. Mr Robinson was still the woodwork teacher, he had the nickname "bandy".
    I remember Jonesy, I think he was everybody's favourite teacher as his lessons consisted of him telling stories or going for a walk along the canal.
    Other teachers I can remember are:

    Miss Casey - English, I had my first ever lesson at the school with her.
    Mr Peace - Art
    Mr Baksheesh - Music, he was Iranian and very strict.
    Mr Grimes - Science, later Mr Holmes and a Scottish woman who's name I can't remember.
    Mrs Arnold - French, a young attractive French woman who was lusted over by most of the boys in the school.
    I remember Mr Wainright, but I can't remember who the maths teacher was.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I forgot to mention the metalwork teacher, Mr Blonden, well known for his drink problems, either turning up drunk or taking time off because of being hungover.

    ReplyDelete
  4. looking for any school photos from 1972-77 from leigh street juniors & leigh street secondary school,, if any one has any wouldbe much appreciated
    Regards Jen Ellis (nee-Weston/Louth)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Metal work was mr blondon, the science teacher was mrs scorer who now lives in France with mr grimes, mr keates was woodwork, mr Beasley English , mr Holmes was art, mrs Casey was English also ,mr thornley was design technology.. pe was mr bates, and Jim Dolan , mr grabner was also a pe teacher, hope this helps ..

    ReplyDelete
  6. I attended 1966 to 1971

    Mrs Monks taught Social/general Studies.

    Dennis Goodwin

    ReplyDelete
  7. I attended 1966 to 1971

    Mrs Monks taught Social/general Studies.

    Dennis Goodwin

    ReplyDelete

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