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I was at Fairham from 65 to 73. Fleming house. If you do the maths and notice I was there 8 years. When my fifth year spectacularly failed en masse to achieve the five O levels required to go on to ta

Attended Fairham Comp'  September 1960 to July 1964.  Managed to keep my head down for the 4 years. Escaped the floggings though.  Made my first and last theatrical appearance having a two word bit pa

This is the photo I mentioned. I think I grabbed it from Friends Reunited. I had no involvement with the Penny Farthing; it was a few years before my time.   The location is still reco

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4 hours ago, plantfit said:

did you have to put a quarter inch chamfer around the edge of the square key hook

Never got as far as that PF. All I has was a flat piece of mild steel. Didn't even get as far as making the hook. I really did spend the whole term filing just that one piece of metal'

The lathes were as you say for decoration only, never saw one running all the time I was there.

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I used one of the lathes,made a signet ring out of aluminium bar stock, had to shape it by filing, my finger turned black when I wore it,

 

Rog

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I think they were afraid, quite rightly I would say, that some would start it with the chuck key still in it. Never seen it done but led to believe it can be a bit spectacular and quite damaging, specially to people.

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Cheers Plantfit,

How about memories of the Careers Master?  No idea who he was at the time, only his mini lecture which started along the lines of..."If you want to be a Typewriter mechanic (For those thinking access to the typing pool), Television repair man or Train driver please leave now. If not walk round the room and pick up some leaflets; the addresses to write to are on the leaflets."  That was it, one career meeting.  Picked up a leaflet to become a Junior Fireman, seemed a lively occupation, wrote off got a quick interview, had a medical, bounced out because I'm colourblind. 

That was it. Finished up staying on for another term. Should have left at Easter stayed on till the end of July.   That entailed another careers lecture, same guy, same speech.  Finished up with a job at Boots that my Dad sorted for me.

 

Made a fire rake in metal work, had to use the forge for this task which was great at the time. Think it was a chap called Smedley who took the class. Kept on about raking out your clinker from the coke in the forge.   Woodwork, made a coffee table, (as did the rest of the class) it lasted for a few years, pride of place in our front room.  Used for standing the bird cage on. Never saw a coffee pot.  Probably because the legs were loose.

 

1960, anyone go on the flight in a Derby Airways Dakota from Burnaston Airfield?   Think it was organised as a House trip (no idea which one) but thrown open to all to make the numbers up.

 

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Our careers master at Mellish was a French teacher called Freddie White. He was a real countryman who lived on a  smallholding at Hickling Pastures. He spoke with a strong west country accent and this followed through into his French pronunciation. That probably explained the reason why the French had difficulty in understanding me! He had a rack full of leaflets on different careers. Sadly none of them were particularly useful in real life. If you wanted to be a yack groomer or a potato inspector he would have a leaflet for it. If you opted for medicine or law there was nothing. He didn't get many visitors in the lunch hour!

 

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My careers advice - "Have you considered knitting?" The mental image that conjures up with a 14 yr old needs little explanation. Had he mentioned big machines...

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2 hours ago, philmayfield said:

Our careers master at Mellish was a French teacher called Freddie White. He was a real countryman who lived on a  smallholding at Hickling Pastures. He spoke with a strong west country accent and this followed through into his French pronunciation. That probably explained the reason why the French had difficulty in understanding me! He had a rack full of leaflets on different careers. Sadly none of them were particularly useful in real life. If you wanted to be a yack groomer or a potato inspector he would have a leaflet for it. If you opted for medicine or law there was nothing. He didn't get many visitors in the lunch hour!

 

 

Sounds like your 'Careers Master' was as useless as mine at High Pavement.  Sadly, there is a long tradition of useless Careers Masters who simply took on the role in exchange for an extra point or so on their salary.  They can be forgiven a bit, because they rarely had any training or even much time to do the job properly.  Even more sadly this situation continued throughout my 30 years as a proper Careers Adviser. I'd say about 80% of the 'Careers Masters' I encountered were pretty hopeless.  The best,  including one who sadly left us far too young, worked to facilitiate and support the activities of the properly qualified Adviser who was assigned to each school by the local Careers Service. I had two years Post Grad training followed by 30 years 'in post' and retired still not knowing it all. 

Not 'knowing it all', is , in my view, the mark of a true professional.

 

Even even more sadly, a certain M. Gove, decided that schools could do all of this stuff without the aid of an independent, impartial outside agency, so that now, school leavers are left floundering.

Never mind.. there's always the workhouse........

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I don’t think a school careers master (or mistress) has many qualifications for such a post.  Most Senior school teachers have been in ‘education’ all their lives, well from the age of 5 anyway.  They don’t have enough experience of life outside of education and in my opinion they are only qualified to persuade suitable children to go into the teaching profession,  like themselves.  

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1 hour ago, Brew said:

My careers advice - "Have you considered knitting?" The mental image that conjures up with a 14 yr old needs little explanation. Had he mentioned big machines...

 

I did a bit of that at a place intrigueingly called 'United Rubber' down near the top of Drury Hill somewhere. (Fletchergate?)  Hand operated industrial knitting machines making surgical stockings.  No proper training and the whole business defeated me. I didn't last long...

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41 minutes ago, LizzieM said:

I don’t think a school careers master (or mistress) has many qualifications for such a post.  Most Senior school teachers have been in ‘education’ all their lives, well from the age of 5 anyway.  They don’t have enough experience of life outside of education and in my opinion they are only qualified to persuade suitable children to go into the teaching profession,  like themselves.  

 

You're right of course Lizzie.. but it goes deeper... much deeper.  I spent months just learning how to interview young people.. to assess their ideas, ambitions, motivations, capabilities etc. ,and to put these into some sort of context against the current employment and educational scene. Then.. to agree some sort of plan with them.. Their plan.. not mine. My role was really only to get them to consider all the issues, understand their capabilities and match them to available educational routes.. opportunities etc.  Of course.. everything kept changing. Qualifications, employment opportunities, . governments....

 

It was hard work, but it was also fun and very satisfying. 

 

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Mr Meeseeks, the careers master when I was there was a little fella called Sturtivant or similar, the careers "room" was a vacant room at the bottom of the "M" block we attended a "careers morning" in there to discuss which type of job/career we would be best suited to,my turn came and the careers master said "Ah C---------,you sir are a cabbage and that is what you will always be" real confidence booster that was, anyway towards the end of the class I went to the front and said to him " Sir with respect I couldn't find any leaflets for cabbages do you have any behind the desk?" at this he had a duck fit and all the boys in the room went crazy, got my own job after trawling through the evening post each night

 

Rog

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Albert, I think you are so wrong about Mr. Mullaney.  He was one of the kindest teachers I knew there.

I once told him I didn't understand the point he was making in maths and he got the lad next to me

to stand up and Mr. Mullaney sat down at the side of me and worked it through with me until I

understood.  Few teachers would do that.

He was as bald then as I am now 60 years later, and one Christmas our class bought him a joke

giant comb and a dispenser of brilliantine.  You wouldn't do that for a bad teacher.  And he took it

in good stead.

 

Now Fred Riddell..................

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Stan Bullard was an inspiration to those who had a mechanical interest,same as Mr Britten, mentioned earlier, he gave guidance when we were building the Penny Farthing bike back in about 1966, gave praise and encouragement when it was due, not so much strict but firm, great teacher,great person,pleased to have known him in my younger years

 

Rog

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/17/2019 at 7:46 AM, plantfit said:

Mr Meeseeks, the careers master when I was there was a little fella called Sturtivant or similar, the careers "room" was a vacant room at the bottom of the "M" block we attended a "careers morning" in there to discuss which type of job/career we would be best suited to,my turn came and the careers master said "Ah C---------,you sir are a cabbage and that is what you will always be" real confidence booster that was, anyway towards the end of the class I went to the front and said to him " Sir with respect I couldn't find any leaflets for cabbages do you have any behind the desk?" at this he had a duck fit and all the boys in the room went crazy, got my own job after trawling through the evening post each night

 

Rog

Wasn't Sturtivant the Lovell House master, or is this another one.   Did anyone manage to get a worthwhile career or a job even, as a direct result of the Careers Master in the early 60's?

Cheer, Meeseeks.   

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Mike Burns unfortunately died a few years ago while on holiday in America, good teacher,also Fairham scout troop leader,did a lot of work getting the old scout hut set up in those woods off Summerwood lane back in the mid sixties

 

Rog

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His nickname in our class was 'six foot of misery'... Don't know why, didn't know the bloke and he never took our class. He did once set a mathematical puzzle for the whole school which supposedly took him several hours with a slide rule. How the hell he expected us to solve it I've no idea but it was something to do with the magazine 'Mathematical Pi'.

 

I did once see him use his size to good advantage. A lad called Brett had a short length of scaffold pipe and seemed determined to change the shape of someone's skull. Burnsy came steaming across the playground scattering onlookers like so much chaff before grabbing the pipe and frog marching one very surprised playground bully off to see Thom.

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  • 2 months later...

I was at Fairham 1966 to 1970 Was in Kenyon house And Forms 1f and 2f and 3r and 4r Was at Brooskby school before that Remember lots of the teachers at Fairham 

 

Burns took us for Maths Naylor (tack) took us for RE Fred Riddell for History And Penny housemaster Smith also took us for Maths in our first year Stan Bullard for metalwork Perry for PE to name just a few 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/31/2008 at 10:26 AM, 2mortar1 said:

2mortar 1 jan 31 2008 10:18 pm Hi plantfit, yes I was there from 63 - 65 ish, hunt house, mr douglas, great days , gettin 5 park drive 10 if you were well off on the day. remember the ice cream van outside, big malc servin. !englandflag!

I was there 1960-1965 also in hunt house great school remember deputy head mullaney had cane off him a few times.

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