philmayfield
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Posts posted by philmayfield
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Garry
He was always an avid photographer and does a photography blog which is regularly updated. Contact him - he'll be delighted to delve into his archives. Tell him we met on this site (he'll probably say "that old reprobate" or something worse). The only problem is that he regularly goes on safari to distant parts of the globe, shooting, by camera, the wildlife. He lives in Ayrshire as his position before retirement was director of the Hannah Research Institute. I also rember Neil Cossons, former head of English Heritage. He was a few years ahead of me. You probably saw him at the closing ceremony. All my contemporaries became pretty successful in their respective fields. It was a great school. I loved every minute of it. So sad to see how it declined.
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Hi Garry. I'm the one who couldn't remember the name of the lab steward - Horace Lovatt. A friend of mine, now Professor Malcolm Peaker was a keen zoologist and stayed an extra year in the sixth form to do scholarship level, working with Horace as his assistant when not in class. Malcolm had an impressive mini zoo in his back garden at home. Horace told him that he was also interested an animals and had just acquired a water otter. Would he like to see it? Malcolm eagerly went to Horaces's house one Saturday morning to see the creature. Horace put on a stout pair of gloves and reached into a tank and produced a kettle! Malcolm, with whom I am still in touch, went on to greater things and became an FRS of both London and Edinburgh. At one time he was the director of London Zoo. He instigated the visit of the television animal man, George Cansale, to the school where he gave a slide illustrated lecture. He also brought a bush baby which ran round the hall and a large snake which relieved itself down David Lovibond's jacket! I also went to the closing ceremony and was saddened to see what a dump the place had become. In conversation with the headmaster I discovered that he was the successor to Fred Sutherland who was i/c pt in our day. A a pt master in charge of what was once a fine school I came away disheartened.
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I can still reel off passages from Shakespeare as I can from the Bible. Nowadays they call it "radicalised" !
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You're right. Shakespeare, like religion, was one of those things we were indoctrinated with at school back in the 50's. You had to accept him as being the greatest playwrite. On stage he was pretty dull but at the cinema where more "poetic license" was excercised it was good entertainment. He's not someone I've picked up again in later life. There's not much of his output staged at the local theatres these days so I guess he's not "box office". I do have his complete works - perhaps something fo the long winter evenings to see what I've missed.
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Yes, but Shaw had on overly high opinion of himself - thought he was better than Shakespeare! Must admit I was never especially fond of Shakespeare.
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It's good to have a fellow cynic on this site!
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This is perfectly true. How do we go about achieving this though? We live in an overpopulated country in overpopulated world and still they keep coming.
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Well I'm all for safer and higher standards in driving but some of the speed limits now being imposed are becoming ridiculous. It's almost impossible to drive anywhere in Derbyshire at over 50 and some A roads in Notts are strangely restricted. The A617 towards Newark at 50, north of Oxton roundabout on a dual carriageway at 50, Lowdham roundabout to over Gunthorpe Bridge At 40. I think the man with a red flag walking in front will soon be here.
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I thought the same - never heard of this one!
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I was once being driven in Italy by an Italian citizen in a car with Swiss plates and when stopped for speeding he showed the police his New Jersey driver's licence. This caused such confusion that he was waved on. Not so the poor woman in the Fiat 500 who was stopped at the same time!
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It's true. People will admit that they're an average golfer, a poor swimmer, a bad singer, not very academic - but has anyone heard someone say they are a bad driver?
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Most modern cars and vans are capable of substantially exceeding 100mph. Would most people buy any models that were restricted to, say', 90mph? I think not. When I'm cruising along a motorway at the legal maximum it's amazing how many cars and vans fly past me at high speed. I drive a sportscar which is bright red and has a personalised plate. This makes me a prime target for the police. I get my driving fun on the twisting roads far from the madding crowd or, in the past, on tracks such as Donnington or Cadwell. I'm also a magnet for white vans who want to drive up my backside and race me away from the lights. I'm really of an age when I should be driving a Nissan Micra!
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A woman's voice in my car (no - not my wife) tells me if I'm exceeding the speed limit. It's a bit irritating but a possible points saver. You can get the warnings from your smartphone as well if you download the appropriate app. No fun in driving anymore!
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They seemed happy enough. His registration was B16 RAY!
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I met a lady last year who had the plate AR51 COW. It was a gift from her husband!
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........and some people round here still leave them a tip at Christmas!
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Just proves there is no God!
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No, it's a good thing that we are not being brainwashed and "radicalised" into religion as we were in the post-war years. Let those who want to follow the religious route do so when they have experience of life and can make their own decisions. I was seventeen and attending confirmation class when I had my "anti Damascus moment" and realised what a load of rubbish it all was.
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Hearing of the Shakespeare Street Synagogue reminds me of back in the sixties, when I was in the accountancy profession, the Hebrew Congregation were clients of my firm. One of the audit assistants went shopping at lunchtime and returned with her purchases in a Pork Farms bag. The rabbi was non too pleased to see this on the premises and he asked her to take it outside. There the bag sat, on the side steps of the synagogue, in full view of Shakespeare Street for the rest of the afternoon!
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Nottinghamshire countryside. My hay ready to be baled
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s324.photobucket.com/user/philmayfield/embed/slideshow/"></iframe>
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Fascinating - a very professional presentation!
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Looks like most of us would be inside!
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Although I'm not an admirer of tattoos, I rather liked the one that was allegedly drawn on the back of a master of foxhounds which showed the hunt in full cry with the fox going to earth I know not where!
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.... and probably overarm!
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Henry Mellish
in All other Nottingham Schools Discussions
Posted
Well, his full name was David Beecher Sparrow. He was my form master in 1a and he taught physics. At the the time he was upgrading fro BSc to MSc externally and studying particle physics which, with CERN, is the flavour of the month at the moment. He lived in the Wilford Hill area, his wife was Scottish and was a nurse. As Gary said, he had an extremely wide mouth and was said to be able to eat a banana sideways. He moved on to become senior science master at Apsley Grammar School. He ran the school tuck shop and was an all round nice bloke. You may be able to do some delving from this info.