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I loved my 5 years at Carlton-le-Willows too Margie.  So sad that some folk have such horrible memories of their schooldays.   I was no high-flyer academically but enjoyed my sport and am pleased that I am remembered by a few of my contemporaries (and not for the bad things I did at school!)  Not that I was a goody-goody, I reckon I was in detention 3 times over 5 years.  The staff were, in the main good, facilities were still fairly new by the time I started there in 1961 and I was sad to leave after 'O' Levels. Would have elected to do 'A' Levels had I not wanted some money in my pocket.  All in all my experiences and friendships made at C-le-W have helped me be the person I am and I still meet up with 9 of the 45 girls in my year.   

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Sorry TBI. I really don’t understand why the system was junked - unless it was to bring “ equality”, meaning mediocrity, to every kid. We are NOT equally academically gifted, and thank God. I went to

I think the difference between Grammar and secondary education was vast,,, Qualifications GCEs etc were hardly in our vocabulary at Padstow............i soon realised after a visit from the ''Youth Em

I for one loved school.  Grew up on a Council Estate, passed the 11+ and went to Grammar School.  Not a perfect school but always grateful for a good education.  Both my Mum and Dad passed to go to Gr

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#274...I can understand your view, Martin P. I've no knowledge of taking an 11 plus yet ended up at Mundella Grammar. During seven years I was never challenged or motivated by any teacher. I actually thought I was a bit dense and shouldn't really be there. I worked quite hard but never did especially well in any subject. I managed to scrape enough to stay on to do A levels but still left without sufficient to go to university. I loved every minute from a social perspective though, I had a great time.

 

I have to say though, there were only a few I would have described as pretentious or snobby, certainly the culture wasn't. But Grammar school did nothing academically for me. Much later I took some Mensa supervised tests and was really surprised at my IQ level, so it turned out I wasn't as thick as I thought. I went on to complete a BSc at the OU in my 40's. I didn't need it for my job, although it helped. I did it for no other reason than to show myself that I could. The Grammar system didn't work in setting me up for a better career path, but that's just me. I'm sure there are plenty who would say it worked for them.  

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Well as I've stated elsewhere, FFGS did little for me academically, although I loved English Language, History, Geography and Art.

It did however instil in me good manners, loyalty, respect for others and laid the foundations for my forthcoming work ethics.

I wouldn't have missed it for the world though.

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  • 10 months later...

Hi Woody, Blackie here ( Colin ). Sitting here looking at past postings for Mellish. Don`t come to the site very often but you and a few others stirred up a few ghosts from the past. I remember well my years at Mellish. Not being very bright and very unhappy at being separated from all my mates from primary and junior school ( most of whom went to Carton-le-Willows ) I did not apply myself to any-thing other than sports. Looking back at that first year I think most of us came from humble beginings and all areas of Nottingham. Personally I think we quickly realized that we were all in it for the long haul and so became good mates ( most staying in C form through-out our stay ) I remember most of the teachers. We were looked upon as the worst of the rest ( so to speak ) and it showed in their attitude toward us. ( my opinion ) I did have an encounter with Jim Spolton and his family in Sherwood Forest of all places long after I left. I was surprised he remembered my christian name. We had a congenial chat then went our separate ways. I had a good laugh reading about getting your own back on the rugby field. I remember playing against you in a house match. I only had  you to beat for a try. I ran head-long into you thinking I would bounce off. Boy, was I wrong. It was like running into a brick wall. All I remember was you standing over me with a look of deep concern on your face, then having a good laugh when you realized I was O.K. After that I concentrated more on cross-country. Fond memories of playing "pill-ball " and football in the play-ground and having a lunch-time smoke in the air-raid shelters ( `til some-body snitched ) Happy days. And to quote a line from one of my favourite Kinks song " Days " by Ray Davies  " Days  I`ll remember all my life "

After school I went to Notts. County Council to serve my apprenticeship as a mechanic. Left to join Nottm. City Transport driving bus ( more money plus lots of overtime ) Emigrated to Canada in 1976. 

Here are a few more names to add to your list. John Teece, Mick Eyley, Chris Clifford ( Gordon Flowers Mate ) Mick Daff ( Daffy ) Tony Vincent ( Nubber, on account he always had a nub-end in his pocket ) Roger Snodin ( Noddy ) Andy Parry ( had a brother 1 year ahead of us ) Roger Marshall,  Paskowski (Pasco ) Johny Kilpatrick ( fancied himself as a drummer ) Michael Broughton ( Nick-named Sex. He came back from summer holidays with a full beard one year ) There were probably a few more to add to your list, but they are the ones I remember most. Too bad I didn`t stay in touch with any-one, but then I was pretty much a loner and as you said, as bad as it was, it did stand us in good stead for the coming years.

I could go on, but I don`t want to bore every-one with " my " memories.

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You were not on your own Colin to come off second best when I got in the way on the rugby pitch. Being a fair bit bigger than most made my job easy and as I could run as fast as most nobody was safe. Mind you I got a surprise one afternoon when I thought I was going to stop Vic Gladwin, a teacher known as mini man due to being quite small. He put me about six feet up in the air! The first teacher I had for rugby was Dave Impey, a great bloke who most got on with. One weekend we played a match at Lincoln and got thrashed at a time when we usually won. Dave wasn't too happy with us so the next games afternoon was dedicated to tackling. To start with we just paired off and I got Stan Leivers, we thought we were doing fine until Dave decided we couldn't tackle a paper bag and got involved himself. I was singled out to tackle him, but he was not happy with my first attempt so I was told to do it again. Ok I thought so the second time I really hit him hard, the result was that his jaw slammed shut so hard his dentures broke in half. I wasn't asked to tackle him again.

I don't think  you would bore anybody Colin, you had to be there to know what an experience it was. Some liked it, some hated it but the fact is that it moulded us all for what life would throw at us in years to come.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ah, Northern Baths. Walked down there many times from Mellish with a towel rolled under the arm. As I recollect the pool was rather small and we had the swimming galas at Noel St. That was Basford North station on the right. That was where our very short journey from Daybrook Station dropped us off. We used to walk through the estate to school and popped out on Kersall Drive.

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  • 11 months later...

Just found this.

 

My God. Blasts from the past.

 

I was at Mellish from 1963 to 1970. I hated the place. Glad it has been bulldozed.

 

When I arrived Huston was the Headmaster who seemed a good guy and was well respected. As was the Deputy Head Froggy Marshall.

 

Then Jed Strutt arrived. He was evil. If you werent into the classics, violin, cricket or rugby you were worthless. What were the Board Of Governors thinking?

 

As were most of the so called "teachers" - the established brigade - Piggy Hutchison, Arsy Bottoms, Labby Hurst. Some were just incompetent - Spud Morrow springs to mind.

 

Froggy was a nice old chap who actually seemed to care about kids. And an English teacher Robinson. I liked him. Geography teacher called Pryce too.

 

I never forgave my mother for sending me there instead of West Bridgford Grammar. It took me a long time to recover from that nightmare in Highbury Vale. But I did - I qualified as a Chartered Accountant, moved to Hong Kong and have lived in Asia ever since (34 years) and now retired in Thailand.

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Welcome Billy.  Like me at The Manning, you clearly had a very unpleasant time at Mellish. There seem to be quite a lot of former Mellish pupils on this site. Far more than Manning. Perhaps that's because institutions across the land don't consider our old girls fit to release back into society as yet.  I escaped years ago while they were whitewashing my cell...:wacko:

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I also went to Mellish but left around 1961. I loved my seven years there. I had been accepted at Bristol to study dentistry, changed my mind and decided I wanted to be an airline pilot. I failed my medical on my eyesight so like you I became a chartered accountant! That prepared me for my ultimate career as a director of a plastics company where I was on the technical side dealing with mechanical and electronic engineering - I did do sciences at A level. At the time we sold the company I was the Chairman. I've had a very varied and interesting career but I still look back to my school days with nothing but happy memories. I did visit the school for the closing ceremony and was saddened to see the fine building ultimately demolished.

 

 

 

 

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Nice to hear of someone else who enjoyed school............seems the majority on here didn't,,,,have fond memories of most of my old teachers at Henry Whipple and Padstow,,,,moved away from Nottingham and Bulwell/Bestwood for a good few years,,lived in some nice enough places and only circumstances brought me back.

                       However the pleasure i get nowadays bumping into old work and school pals from way back is beyond compare,,seems every week i meet someone from my past.

                       Having said all that i'd still be up for a new venture in foreign parts,,always wondered '''Whats around the corner''' we don't live forever...............

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I think the difference between Grammar and secondary education was vast,,, Qualifications GCEs etc were hardly in our vocabulary at Padstow............i soon realised after a visit from the ''Youth Employment Officer'' Mr Berry    even remember his name )) that at 15 i was on the scrapheap........and it peed me off.......wasn't the ''Brain of Britain'''' but came top in my ''A'' stream in many subjects,,, and Mr Berry asked me ''''which Pit i wanted to work down,''''',,i was gutted and that day decided to plough my own Furrow,,,

                           Had some great years and some bummers,, but always climbed back from life's knocks,,mistakes iv'e made a plenty...........but mostly its been good fun........just need a few more goes..............lol

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Working class kids got the crap.Still do. Middle class kids get it better. Posh kids get the best & still do.

What would you expect from a corrupt society where money talks ?

Make the well off contribute more !

Roll on the revolution !!!!

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20 minutes ago, catfan said:

Working class kids got the crap.Still do. Middle class kids get it better. Posh kids get the best & still do.

What would you expect from a corrupt society where money talks ?

Make the well off contribute more !

Roll on the revolution !!!!

Most of us came from working class families back at Mellish in the 50's. Our fathers had not long been back from war service and had only just started on their career paths. My own father came from a working class family and worked hard to end up as chairman of a multimillion pound company  but that was not when I was at Mellish. It's all about hard graft and attitude of mind.

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It's been the same since day one of civilisation. Some have had more, some less. 

You could distribute every penny in this country evenly, and by the end of the week, some will have squandered it, and others will have doubled it. That's life, like it or not ! 

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Never intended.........Digging owt,,Mending owt,,Making owt,,Screwing owt,, or anything Physical really,,      So along with having no Educational Qualifications things didn't look too promising..............but making full use of me ''Gob'' and volunteering to travel anywhere,,managed to ''Carve out'' an interesting life.

                                          Mixed with all sorts of people,,lived in all sorts of places,,but most importantly enjoyed it all,,apart from my own company only worked for 5 or 6 others,,but always managed to get to a reasonable position,,we are all different in our aspirations,,some are happy spending years in the same place with the same company/people,,and good luck to em.......just never was for me........

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12 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

Having said all that i'd still be up for a new venture in foreign parts,,always wondered '''Whats around the corner''' we don't live forever...............

After all, there may still be a few deserving females in some obscure, deprived corner of this planet who aren't acquainted with our Ben!

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2 hours ago, philmayfield said:

Most of us came from working class families back at Mellish in the 50's. Our fathers had not long been back from war service and had only just started on their career paths. My own father came from a working class family and worked hard to end up as chairman of a multimillion pound company  but that was not when I was at Mellish. It's all about hard graft and attitude of mind.

Agree, but then there are born in the right bed.

String pulling helps too.

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I absolutely agree with you. In my career I've come into contact with a lot of people in top management who were only there because of their family backgrounds and their public school education. I don't think it happens so much nowadays. Opportunities are far more equal and there's no room at the top solely through family connections. I have schoolfriends from Mellish who came from working class homes but went on to be university professors, medics, lawyers, accountants and top managers. What they did have was a glimmer of intelligence and a work ethic. Most of all they had parental encouragement. I'm not a churchgoer but my Methodist work ethic, indoctrinated into me, has helped me throughout my life.

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Catfan is perfectly correct. It's another self-fulfilling prophesy. People usually rise to expectation, those from poor backgrounds in lower jobs, the privileged will do far better. Yes, folk can achieve with drive and determination but the odds are stacked against many from the outset.

 

 

 

 

 

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Eleven plus.........one of my biggest regrets.......never took it..........might not have Passed but should have took it..........

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