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I heard part of Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols on the radio the other day and it took me straight back to the festering season at the dreaded Manning.   Manning held a service of Less

Re maths teaching, earlier post; The only use for higher mathematics is to be able to teach somebody else higher mathematics.  (Bertrand Russell).

I don't know Jill well enough to be able to recognise her by any leg features.

At Manning, we had a girl who could open any door in the school...with a hairpin!  At lunchtimes, all the classroom doors were locked as we were supposed to be outside in the grounds,unless fourth form or above, when we were allowed to leave the site. If it was cold, we sometimes sneaked back inside. Side doors had to be left open for access to toilets.

 

Susan, bless her, would unlock our classroom door with a hairpin and we'd silently sneak in and sit on the floor at the back of the room, with our backs against the pipes which were never more than tepid but it was better than the school field.  A staff member patrolling the quads wouldn't have been able to see us.

 

Sadly for us but happily for her, Susan left Manning in the second year. Her father was transferred to a different place of work. He was a prison officer!

 

Though we asked her to teach us the hairpin trick, Susan would not oblige. Lunchtimes were colder from then on!

 

Edited to add... it's a shame Susan wouldn't impart her knowledge of lock picking. Had she done so, I would honestly be able to say that I learned something useful at Manning!

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Welcome Ann Allen.  A fellow alumnus, I see.  I didn't start until 1969 but a friend who would have been there during those years was Christine Greensmith who stayed through the sixth form.

 

Miss Leighton, I gather, was a hard number as was the aptly named Miss Harding who preceded her.

 

Do you remember Mrs Christie, who taught French? She had been there since 1957, I'm told. You may also remember Miss Long and Miss Lamin.

 

I'd be interested to hear of your experiences of the place.

 

 

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I don’t remember a Christine Greensmith but it’s scary how long ago it all was!  Miss Leighton was formidable and if you were sent to stand under the dome you just prayed she didn’t come out of her office as it meant an interrogation as to how you had sinned! 
The name Mrs Christie doesn’t ring a bell but it’s probable she was still single in my time.   I think my French teacher was Miss Edwards but can’t swear to it.  The only male teacher I remember was Mr Dent, a Science teacher,  but he didn’t teach me as I chose Arts subjects for GCEs.  I recall Miss Allot, a German teacher, who seemed very old and wore a highly built-up boot which caused her to have a heavy limp.  My maths teacher and house mistress was Miss Wallis who was a bit of a tartar. I was interested to read that the house system was changed after I left.  In my time there were 8 houses named after Cathedral cities:  Chester, Durham, Ely, Lincoln, Salisbury, Winchester, Worcester and York.  

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On 2/2/2022 at 12:24 PM, Ann Allen said:

In my time there were 8 houses named after Cathedral cities:  Chester, Durham, Ely, Lincoln, Salisbury, Winchester, Worcester and York.  

I remember seeing those names on boards around the school hall.  By my time, we had only four houses: Armagh (green), Canterbury (red) Edinburgh (blue) and St David's (yellow). My house was St David's. I never did find out why the change occurred. No one seemed to know.

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What a criminal shame that house was destroyed! It looks beautiful. A far cry from life on Grundy Street, eh, Engineer?

 

I had a Manning friend who lived on Wallis Street, number 72, I think. Right at the end. I was a fairly frequent visitor to that area when at school.

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Same here jill i hated every minute of every day at the place, its teacher & their teaching seemed so out dated compared to friends i had at other schools, i started there in 1R miss ramsden was she there when you were there? also had this irish maths teacher mrs davy who was barking mad & used to launch books or blackboard rubbers if she thought you were not listening.

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1 hour ago, RadFordee said:

also had this irish maths teacher mrs davy who was barking mad & used to launch books or blackboard rubbers if she thought you were not listening.

You see, you lot? You thought I made up Barmy Colleen, didn't you?

 

Yes, Judith Ramsden was there during my day and for many years prior to it. She was a soft touch compared to Miss Greig, whom we dubbed Pickleface due to her constant facial expression of having been weaned on a pickle. It would not be putting it too strongly to say that we detested each other.

 

You may also recall Ada Barnes, the dotty art mistress and La Christie, the French teacher with more front than St Moritz.  Her ego would have given Donald Trump pretty stiff competition! I think she owned the place, or thought she did!

 

There is a Manning thread on here with lots of other former victims recalling their years of misery there.

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Barmy colleen great name for her jill:rotfl:in the winter she used to take her shoes off & put her feet in the bottom drawer of her desk, i'm sure she had a hot water bottle in there whilst we sat freezing our butts off in that cold draughty classroom, i remember mrs christie she taught me french & was my form tutor in the 4th year, cant recall ada barnes maybe didn't have her, i do remember miss greig, others i also remember are 

mrs hall : head 

miss colclough?: deputy head

miss long: biology 

mr edgely: chemistry

miss newlyn : history 

mrs darroch : needlework 

miss bibby : cookery(i think)

mrs maddison: r e she was probably the nicest teacher there.

Thanks for telling me about the manning thread i'll be sure to take a look at that.

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Yes, I remember all of those, RadFordee, with the exception of Mrs Madison. I think she was there during my latter years but she didn't teach me. She was the lady who had either lost an arm or lost the use of an arm, I believe.  I know someone who knew her and I understand she was a very decent sort of person.

Miss Colthorpe was the deputy head. Never taught me. She died fairly recently.

 

Miss Burnham was a good teacher , if a tad strange.  Mr Abbey could be a bit of a prima donna but he was a very talented musician and did at least have a sense of humour.

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RadFordee's posts about Manning are interesting in that she was there immediately after I left.

 

At some point during my incarceration, I recall the outrage among the teaching staff at the news that Manning, among other city schools, was to lose its grammar status. Hands were thrown up in horror as many staff members vowed they would not continue to teach at a school where there was no selection process.  Almost all of those named by RadFordee were among them, yet they were still there years after Manning became a comprehensive school. I suspect no other educational institution would employ them!

 

The head, Brenda Hall, was a refugee from Mundella Grammar and took over at Manning in September of 1972. Chatting at a recent Berridge Reunion, a lad I knew at primary school and who went to Mundella asked me whether I remembered Mrs Hall. I surely did. We had a couple of run ins, mainly over my refusal to stay into the sixth form. He recalled her leaving Mundella to a huge cheer!  She didn't reign long at Manning. Comprehensive wasn't her cup of tea. Put on this earth for grander things, was Brenda.

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Yes jill mrs maddison was a lovely lady unlike most of the other teachers there & she did have a prosthetic hand/arm which she always wore a black glove on, mrs hall left as head as i went into 3rd year or may have been 4th & a mrs margaret clark or clarke came in as head then, remember mr abbey music teacher now you have mentioned him, miss colthorpe(not colclough) you say she died recently she must have been quite an age as i would have swore she was at least 80 when i was there.

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Edna Colthorpe was born in 1915, one of three spinster sisters who lived in Lady Bay Road, West Bridgford. She would have been 54 when I arrived at Manning in 1969 but she seemed far older. She died, aged 87, in 2002 and, believe it or not, the lady who organised her sister Marian's  funeral, aged 97 in 2016, posted her first and only message on this site to tell me of her death! She had obviously googled the name and Nottstalgia came up!  Colthorpe never taught me but she was always lurking behind the doors in the morning in the admin block with the late book. Caught me a couple of times!

 

Miss Burnham did teach English. As to her age, very difficult to tell. She had short, gingerish, curly hair. Quite petite in build with tiny hands and spindly legs but very large and masculine shoulders. Also wore heavy, dark framed spectacles. Judging from the overpowering aroma of nicotine if she stood near to you, I'd say she was a very heavy smoker. She was an excellent teacher.

 

Returning to age. I discovered recently that Miss Greig eventually became deputy head of Manning. Something that would never have transpired in its days as a grammar school. I was astounded when I discovered how old she was. Though she seemed ancient to me in 1969, she was only 29.

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Wow would never have thought miss greig would have only been in her thirties when i was there like you say always seemed much older, i was never taught by miss colthorpe either i'm glad to say she was despite her small size 1 scary lady!

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