Rob J
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Posts posted by Rob J
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Just had a good look at the new website which is really informative. It includes the panoramic photos of staff and pupils over the years and it made me think - what sort of structural arrangement was constructed to enable the photos to be taken? As a retired civil engineer I am intrigued. Can anyone remember?
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Good to see the thread come alive again!!
Just for clarification, the Houses were McEwen(red), Barber(green), Balk(yellow) and Bulkeley(blue) which was my house. Great for competition in sports - big rivalries.
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Oh yes, well remembered and respected by many at the school. Thank you, Loppy.
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I note that the year was 1963. Was your appearance influenced later on by the Beatles/Stones ie long hair, pancho moustache,etc? Or did you keep the Clooney look?
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Exactly Phil. It was a fine school which, at the time when I left in 1963, ranked second only to Nottingham High School. It had an excellent reputation both from a scholastic and sporting point of view as well as providing a CCF which very few schools in the area had.
By the way, Loppy I saw by chance the photo of you and your wife to be (Bob McC's daughter?) posted a couple of years ago who I do remember on the Rome Olympics trip. Great experience for a 14 year old lad!!
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I thought that I would catch up with the latest threads on the forum as I haven't posted for a while and am fascinated by the intensity of the recent posts regarding our old school. As I have said previously life at the school was tough at times with a mix of talent both in scholars and teaching staff but all I know is that it gave me a well grounded education that held me in good stead during my working life and now retirement. The other point to bear in mind is that also in adult life there is the same mix in every walk of life including the workplace. Life's too short to dwell on the negatives!
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Good to hear from you, Cliff. I started at Mellish in 1957 and so must have been two years above yourself but we would have been there at the same time. My name is Rob Johnson and I do remember Finbar but think that he was the year ahead of me and not our year. One vivid memory I have that was a bit scary was the BC Fisher incident! Do you remember it when Geoff Whale told Fisher to go to his study during morning assembly in front of the whole school. He was sent there for a caning after he had posted a poem about Pig Hutchinson and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife! Those were the days when corporal punishment was the norm even from prefects. I feel that the school at that time was based on a public school regime with fags (first years!,) used by the prefects! Madness compared with today in schools. I also remember masters using cardboard rolls in their gowns to clout pupils on the head!! In fact, I have now talked about some of the scary bad times when you think about it but, to be fair, I feel that we got a good education that held us in good stead post school.
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Went on the Magical Mystery Tour in Liverpool last week visiting the Beatles haunts which brought back great memories of the 60s. I was at the Mersey Beat Showcase that night in the Elizabethan Rooms and was amazed at the meagre attendance as the lads at my school, Henry Mellish were going crazy over this new group with Love me do and Please Please Me having just been released and gone to no 1. What amazed me even more was the fact that we were dancing to the support acts (the likes of Billy J, Gerry Marsden and the Big 3!!) and the Beatles just strolled right past us on the dance floor carrying their equipment!! It seem ironic that I couldn't get a ticket for the subsequent gigs at the Odeon,etc for love nor money!! Unfortunately I lost the ticket but I recall that it cost 6/6 or 33p in today's money - pretty good value for money.
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Thank you for all the welcoming posts. Loppylugs - I seem to recall Bob with his wife and family in Italy. Was Janet a little bit younger than myself at that time? - I was 14 in 1960. She was probably a little bit overwhelmed by all those lads. I am sure that she told you what a fantastic experience it was to go to the Olympics. We even saw a British bronze winner with Peter Radford in the 100 yards. I can only say that Bob was a great teacher and person and I am sorry to hear about Janet.
I don't if anyone else has mentioned it but we had a glider on the school playing field near to the rifle hut and over the hockey pitches. It sounds impressive but the max height we got it to was about 10 feet!! Does anyone remember "Luke" Wareham the teacher whose bubble car we put in the biology pond!! He was so called because he used to pronounce look as "Luke" - from up north I think!!
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Hi there. I have just found this forum which has been really interesting as I was at Mellish from 1957 to 1964. All the names of the staff have brought back memories, both good and bad. There were some who were pretty good such as Clarke (Maths), Dutton who loved his cricket, Bob McCandless, Froggy Marshall but some who were completely off the wall such as Arthur Boddy who went around shouting things like "2 chisels, 1 try square and 1 tenon saw" and "oogy boogy and argy bargy"!! It's a wonder it didn't affect us in later life! Did anyone else in the forum go to the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 on the school trip? That was an incredible experience for a 14 year old plus a week in Finale Ligure on the Italian coast. I remember Bob McC and Morris the history teacher being on that trip. Also had good times in the RAF section of the CCF going to RAF Aldergrove, Wattisham and Kinloss.
When I was there the head was the much feared Houston nicknamed The Whale and Froggy was the deputy. By the way, we called Sutherland Sooty during that period. Look forward to more chat on the forum.
Henry Mellish
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I thought it had to be something like a temporary stand at a sports event taking a lot of weight from virtually the whole school except those on the ground!! I saw the photo of the Biology Library crew and do remember Malcolm and yourself although I was probably a couple of years younger (1957-64). Malcolm is doing a great job. The information on the staff over the years is very comprehensive.