Birley Spa Junior School - 7o's. anyone used to go there?

[Longy67]

Anyone used to go to Birley Spa in the 70's, i went from about 74-78, was looking to get in touch with anyone who went there,( I'm Richard (Longy) Long) and catch up. Only teachers i can remember are Mr Duckenfield and Mrs Markham, anyone else got any memories???

[driver]

i went in the late 70s was a great litle school fond memories miss staley mr jepson mrs roe mr green lol

[L Jackson]

I went to birley spa in the 70's was in the infants 1970 i was 5 years old, then went up to the Juniors, i also remember Mr Jepson he had ginger hair (not much though) Mr Green, Mrs Blamford , and Mrs Roe wish i was back there LOL

[handsomedave]

I went to Birley Spa infants and juniors in the seventies. I enjoyed my time there and made some great friends. There were some great and not so great teachers who made real impressions on you at that age. Ones I remember in the infants were Miss Horrocks (used to go around singing Falling Apart at the Seams by Marmalade, a terrible song but it's funny the things you remember), Mrs Daemett, Mrs Hodgkinson, Mrs Bicker was the headteacher, Miss Markham (not a nice person IMHO) and an older woman called Mrs Grey I think who played the piano. There must have been others but I can't remember anymore.

 

In the juniors I can remember Mr Mayson (head) Mr Auger (deputy) Mrs Wild - became ill and was replaced by Mr West (superb teacher) only stayed for a short time and then went to Roscoe Bank at Stannington I think. Miss Meegan, Mrs Roe, Mrs Cole, Mrs Bacon, Mr Duckett (great bloke), Mr Jepson, Mr Green, Mrs Blandford and the Brian Blessed of the classroom - the late Mr Jenkinson.

 

Some of the dinner ladies were not very nice - I remember one of them telling me to stop playing football and hand her the ball. I was quite a distance away, but lined up my shot beautifully, and did a perfect chip right into her ample bosom. She was not pleased.

[Longy67]

I went to Birley Spa infants and juniors in the seventies. I enjoyed my time there and made some great friends. There were some great and not so great teachers who made real impressions on you at that age. Ones I remember in the infants were Miss Horrocks (used to go around singing Falling Apart at the Seams by Marmalade, a terrible song but it's funny the things you remember), Mrs Daemett, Mrs Hodgkinson, Mrs Bicker was the headteacher, Miss Markham (not a nice person IMHO) and an older woman called Mrs Grey I think who played the piano. There must have been others but I can't remember anymore.

 

In the juniors I can remember Mr Mayson (head) Mr Auger (deputy) Mrs Wild - became ill and was replaced by Mr West (superb teacher) only stayed for a short time and then went to Roscoe Bank at Stannington I think. Miss Meegan, Mrs Roe, Mrs Cole, Mrs Bacon, Mr Duckett (great bloke), Mr Jepson, Mr Green, Mrs Blandford and the Brian Blessed of the classroom - the late Mr Jenkinson.

 

Some of the dinner ladies were not very nice - I remember one of them telling me to stop playing football and hand her the ball. I was quite a distance away, but lined up my shot beautifully, and did a perfect chip right into her ample bosom. She was not pleased.

 

Mr Duckett, thats him, not Duckenfield, doh... I remember Mrs Roe too, "AND WOE BE TIED ANYONE WHO...blah, blah, blah", she always said that and nobody had a clue what she was going on about, lol, Mrs Bicker was head too, lovely lady, but Miss Markham, she was my class teacher and was horrible, was glad to get out of her class, and Mr Jenkinson, P E teacher if i remember rightly, gave me the slipper in infants, flippin hurt it did, lol...

[zakes]

Birley Spa Junior School – 70’s Did anyone used to go there?

 

Hello Longy67,

 

I came across this thread whilst surfing about and am quite dismayed with the lack of response. As I am a social person I have decided to lengthen it with this post. I was a t Birley Spa School in the early 60’s.

1. Teachers.

Mr Rawlings. He was the headmaster. Seemed to be a decent man. He slippered me on two occasions deservedly. My first punishments during my education.

Mr. Auger. Mild mannered. Seemed trustworthy. Quietly spoken.

Mr. Wilson. Bearded. Was black belted in Judo. Was quiet spoken also. When he got angry with a pupil he would run to that child’s desk like a raging bull, then raise his hand as if to give you a chop on the neck. At the point of connection he would just gently ta you on the neck. As a 7-11 year old skinny it was seriously frightening to have a 14-15 stone adult approaching you like that. Looked like Quilp. Wore specs.

Mr. Williams. Apart from physical and psychological terror to three of us, he also stopped us from going on the charabanc with the other children to learn how to swim at Creswell(?) baths. Worst person I’ve ever met.

Miss North. Easy going person. Nice hand manicure.

Miss Morton. Somewhat harsh. Skin on her face looked like a shriveled apple. Wore specs.

Miss Noakes. Friendly enough type.

 

2. Hutton comes to mind. Maybe a teacher or house team name?

3. I think the school was demolished then rebuilt. It seems to be set back further from Birley Spa Lane than before.

4. Dinner money was 4 shillings, later 5 shillings. 2x half crown instead of 2x florins.

5. I used to enjoy those nature walks to the Julius Caesar bath tub place down the lane. We pressed leaves and plants in exercise books.

6. I didn’t enjoy the walk to school from Carter Lodge Drive in winter, because I wore short trousers as did the other lads in school.

7. I once swapped football boots with a pigeon toed lad called Paul Allison. The boots were too tight but a deal is a deal. Me mum near killed me for swapping the boots as they were newly bought.

8. Before school started in the mornings and at playtime a load of us lads played football in the yard with a tennis ball but sometimes with a marble.

9. Our best player was Andrew Morton, a kid with a strange looking U.S. marine crew cut. He lived on 39 Occupation Lane.

10. Other stuff about my Birley Spa days can be found on other threads,

(A) Anyone from Hackenthorpe?

(B) Nah then folks, during the 60’s.

11. The original school was built in 1953 by Vic Hallam.

 

[zakes]

Mr. Matthews. Part 1 of 2. Ray Revealed!

 

I notice Mr. Matthews (Ray43), Stanley to his friends, has joined in on this award winning thread. This I find quite unfortunate because I can’t find anything negative to say about him. Lol. He posted a post directly directed at me, appreciating that I didn’t trash him in my recollections of those days in the mid 60’s. The post (nr. 9) can be found strangely on the, ‘Old Harrow, White Lane, Early 70’s’. thread started by Zakes. I don’t have any reason to trash him, but he found reason(s) all those years ago to t(h)rash me on 2 remembered occasions. More about this later.

 

It was all those years ago, alleged through intricate intrigueous school children talk, that Mr. Matthews and Miss. Moor had something going on between them. I knew this not to be true, because she would have never ever have let me down in such a way. Private open air biology lessons on the Heath (Cowie Hill) with Miss. Moor was my big dream in those days. Lol. Miss Ellis (ex Hinde House School?) was also mentioned in connection with Mr. Matthews, but I couldn’t visualise it really. All Miss. Ellis had going for her were her pair of beautiful, bounteous bazookas, by that I don’t mean 2 packs of chewing gum! Yes, many of us young ‘virile’ lads had crushes on some of the female teachers, who unfortunately were out of our reach. We had to make do with getting a ‘bit of top’ on odd occasions in the cloakroom instead. No more about this later.

 

Mr. Matthews was our P.E. teacher, who also took us for Physical Training. If I remember rightly (or leftly), he was tall (we were small), lean and strong. When he smiled it was wide, and he was unafraid to show his big white teeth that looked able to smash walnuts. He was often to e seen wearing a white polo shirt (or T-shirt) and black shiny track suit bottoms with a thingamabob strip of cloth that hooked under each foot to prevent the trouser bottoms riding up his legs, and white trainers. When he was angered his soft eyes hardened, his complexion reddened more than slightly, then he avidly, but gently nibbled the right corner of his bottom lip. He was very much into basketball, and I think he played football with Norton Woodseats. Mr. Matthews was well liked by us boys as opposed to some of the other trunting trussle faced teachers at Birley County Sec. Mod. School. He and Mr. Dickerson (woodwork) were my two favourite teachers. Oh I forgot, Mr. Matthews was seldom seen without a whistle dangling from a cord around his neck, and a stop-watch. The cloth band attached to the stop watch, was usually seen to be hanging out from the left hand pocket of his tracksuit bottoms.

 

More.

 

(A) Mr. Matthews once arranged for lads in our year to watch a film of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. I can’t remember if we saw the fillum in a classroom, gym, or assembly hall. The film was shown by projector, the reel thing. Unfortunately the school didn’t provide us children with ice cream nor popcorn before, during or after the film. Tight sods!

 

(B) Mr. Matthews always gave compliments and words of encouragement if any of the boys did well. He rarely called me by my Christian name, but by the name of a famous artist. This was a type of pet name, nickname, meant in a good way. The letters of my Christian name are in the artist’s name along with others (letters). Please remember that in most cases when someone has a nickname, that person is usually well liked. Rightly so, I was a guddun. Lol.

 

© I remember when Mr. Matthews introduced us lads on 2 separate occasions to firstly Mr. Ron Reid, ex Chesterfield player, and then to Mr. Denis Shiels, an Irishman who had played for Sheffield United, Peterborough and Notts County. These two also took us for P.T, mainly football. I was later to become one of Mr. Reid’s favourites. It was my cheeky way that sealed it I think. I always made him laugh apart from the time when I nearly broke his left ankle during a knockabout.

 

(D) Recalled are the times when I played for the school togger team. It has to be said that I wasn’t a busy or good player, but I seemed to have the knack (luck) to be in the right place at the right time to score goals. Why dash about like a madman, when your team mates can do it for you? Lol. I remember before the boundary changes during 1967 we had played against Derbyshire schools like Creswell and Markland. After the changes we played in Yorkshire against schools like Brook and Hinde house. We once won away at Markland and I scored the winner in a 2-1 win. It was the first time Birley had beaten Markland at football in the whole history of the school. That pleased Mr. Matthews no end. On the charabanc on the way back Mr. Matthews thanked the team in a most passionate way. He was so proud of us. Very moving indeed.

 

(E) During a house team football match on the Heath we Trojans played the Spartans. In attack for us was Paul Overhand who was expected to score goals with his battering ram style of play. Nothing against Paul, but after 10 minutes he became our goalie. Lol. We won the game, but the Spartans had the best two players on the day, Martin Hatfield who was fleet of foot, followed by midfield general David Jackson. Ref was Mr. Matthews. Result was 3 – 0.

 

(F) We didn’t play cricket that often, because we thought it was a sport for puffs. I think that was the main reason why Thornbitch Grammar School played it a lot. Lol. Anyroad, we played it now and again, making us into part time puffs. Lol. After one game I approached Mr. Matthews with a complaint which left him in stitches laughing his head off. I had gone up to him with the nollock pad (groin guard) for batsmen in my hand. I told him that we needed a new one because the one we had had changed colour. It was covered all over on the inside with deep ingrained yellow stains. Nervous batsmen, or what!

 

To be continued.

[zakes]

House teams

 

Can anybody confirm or put me right on the house teams at Birley Spa Junior school.

 

Duke – red

Hilary – blue

Hutton – yellow

Nuffield – green

 

I was in Hutton.

[okismoki]

I remember a Hilary Page and her friend Karen,both went to this school,Hilary lived on Birley Spa Lane....we used to meet up with them Saturday mornings at Sheaf Valley baths....I often wonder what became of them.

[lizbiz]

Hi, my grandmother taught at the school during the 60s and 70s. Her name was mrs Tuke, does anyone have a memory of her?