Were you at Berridge?

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

That's news to me, MD.  Miss Barks taught letsavagoo, so she must have been there some time. I came into her class after spending a year with Mrs Pryce. Six of us were sent up a year due to high numbers. The problem was, the following year, we had to do the same work again with Miss Barks. She made it plain that she regarded us as a nuisance and there was much friction because we were bored. After the delightful Mrs Pryce, Barks was an utter misery.  She married just before I left in 1969. Another feature I recall of Barks was her skin. She had scars on her face, pitted, almost as though she'd had a bad case of chicken pox.

 

Do you mean Miss Stockill taught you in the infants?  I don't recall her being an infant teacher.  Was Mrs Platt still there in your day?

[mercurydancer 1,104]

Jill, Yes Miss Stockhill certainly taught in the infants. 

 

I do recall the teacher with the bad skin, and it is not the one I am talking about who spoke Russian, who was a very young teacher and very pretty. Dont recall a Mrs Platt at all. 

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

I don't think the teacher could have been Barks/Massey. Margaret Barks was born in 1940.  Perhaps the teacher you recall arrived after I left.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

The only other dark haired female teacher I recall was Kathleen MacDonald, born 1947. She married Alan Parr sometime around the end of summer term 1969 and became Mrs Parr. I know they had 3 children but I couldn't say whether she continued to teach at Berridge. Her hair was short, as I recall her, but she would have been quite young.

[letsavagoo 963]

What about Miss Rogers or Rodgers. She was Dark haired and attractive or so my dad thought. I was too young to realise. She’s on one of my class photos you have Jill.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

I don't remember her. Was she infant or junior?

 

Kathleen Parr had her first child in 1974 so she may have been at Berridge well into the 70s when MD was in the juniors.  Never heard her speak Russian though. She was from the ilkeston area!

 

Can only see misses Barks, Bull, Smith and Rainger/Grainger on your photos letsavagoo.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

Having checked again, I see that the Parrs had their first child in 1971, not 1974. It didn't show up previously as the mother's maiden name was misspelled in the records. Miss MacDonald/Mrs Parr would have left around 1970ish. Her husband also moved on, as did Chandler and Williams. Therefore, a number of new staff would have replaced them. Possibly, MD, your pretty, young, Russian speaking teacher was one of them.

[letsavagoo 963]

Here is another Berridge class photo from about 1964. The teacher is Miss Rodgers and taught my wife who says she was one of the best teachers she had. We can name virtually everyone on here.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

I'm struggling with most of the boys and a couple of the girls.  This wasn't my year but some, such as Phyllis, Jennifer, Jill, Jane, Shirley, Denise, Robert, Elaine, Susan, Andrew, etc, I recognise.

 

I thought the teacher looked familiar but I certainly don't recall the name. She looks slightly masculine in a way and I think she reminds me of someone who taught at Manning.

[letsavagoo 963]

Does she remind you of the one I charge of torture or slopping out Jill.

[Baznotinnotts 25]

On 11/7/2016 at 8:27 PM, Jill Sparrow said:

I'm the good looking, allegedly highly intelligent but sad, child!  

 

Seriously, grateful thanks once again to my good friend Catfan!

 

Picture 1. 1967/8.

 

Back row from left: Kevin Burgin, Martyn Jewers, Roger Lowe, ?, Stephen Binns, Neville Eccles, Dennis MacDonald, Rennival Carruthers, Christopher Holbrook.

 

Next row: Mr G O Chandler, Trevor Huddlestone, Philip Walker, Winsome Eccles, Yvonne Cutts, Linda Fletcher, Doreth Campbell,Marion Hitchin, Lorraine Seymour, Ann Green, Wendy Matthews.

 

Next row: Jane Handfield, Jane Humphries, ME!, Deborah Noon, Jennifer Harrison, Susan Parr, Georgina Roebuck, Diana Bradley, Pamela Clayton.

 

Front row:  Noel James, Michael Brennan, Colin Hudson, Christopher Fox, Steven Tunnicliffe, Adrian Bell, Jeffrey Whyley.

 

The chap on the right was Barry Watchorn, a student teacher on placement.

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

I have to ask. Are you Barry Watchorn, the student teacher?

[Baznotinnotts 25]

Hi Jill!

           Chap on the right here. Can't find the photo, but there I was 19 years old and Berridge was my first taste of teaching in the real world. It was in at the deep end! I DO remember you, a very clever girl called Marion who wanted to be a hairdresser and Doreth Campbell's brother who I took to the eye hospital. And yes I pressed the button too soon.

Regards, Barry, aged 106.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

You are Barry Watchorn? Good grief!

 

The photo seems to be a casualty of Photobucket which caused some problems a while ago.  I will ask one of the mods to put it back.

 

I'm amazed you remember me. I remember you, mainly because my best friend had a terrible crush on you.

 

You may have read in this thread that I'm researching the history of Berridge staff.  I would love to hear your memories of your time at the school as a student. I'm well aware of the terrors of teaching practice. I became a teacher myself but I was older than 19.  Gerald Chandler, our class teacher on that photo was only in his early 20s. Astounding really.

 

Did you stay in teaching? Many don't. Please do give us some more details about you.

 

As an aside, I'm not and never was much use at maths but if you were 19 there...how come you're 106 now?

[Baznotinnotts 25]

9 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I have to ask. Are you Barry Watchorn, the student teacher?

I really enjoyed the short time at the school, and it convinced me I was probably in the right career area. It was Christmas and I picked up some art ideas I used for the next 40 years.  I finally worked out that the foil decorations hanging across the ceiling were what was left after milk bottle tops were punched out. I remember very little about my next practice in a nice little school in Wollaton, but Berridge was very friendly and genuine. 

I stayed near Nottingham, spending ten years at Greasley Beauvale Juniors, where I met and married the lady with long blonde hair and a mini skirt who was teaching in the classroom next door.

In 1980 we moved to Gloucestershire and I ended up as acting Head at a small village school, and now aged 71 I'm probably long retired.

Well done you!

Cheers, B.

 

 

[katyjay 5,091]

Baz, did you have a relation called Ron Watchorn? When we lived In Langar, and next door to a farm, the farmer Tom (and Alice) Page had another farmer Ron Watchorn visit them. 

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

It's amazing how the staff at Berridge love the place. I revisited last year with several members of this forum and it's still staffed by people who love it.

 

Those rolls of tinfoil were absolutely lethal and would never be permitted today. We sliced our little fingers on those every Christmas.

 

What are your memories of Gerald Chandler? He was a tough nut but he and I got on famously. I have a contact who is still in touch with him and I met him again at the 1984 centenary as he was still teaching there.

 

Could you tell us a little about where you went to college and how you came to be placed at Berridge?

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

For the benefit of Mr Watchorn, these are my memories of that year at Berridge, drawn from a different thread:

 

Major alterations were ongoing in the Berridge main building for most of 1967, with the upshot that come September, my peers and I started the third junior year camped out in the wooden hut nearest the railings, sited in the playground facing Oakland Street. These edificies dated from 1929 and were dark, clattery and not very warm in winter. Our new teacher sat on a dais at the front (shades of the Manning School yet to come) and for the first time in my formal educational experience, I was taught by a male, name of Mr G O Chandler.

We got off to a rocky start, Mr C and I. I'd missed the first week of the Autumn term because we'd been on holiday to Scarborough where my mother had been rushed to hospital, victim of an ectopic pregnancy. Seriously ill, she almost died and we were detained a further week before she could travel home.

Mr peers had already spent a week with Mr C and the consensus appeared to be that every man-jack of 'em was frightened of him. He began by ticking me off for going on holiday in term time. Obviously, he didn't know what had befallen my mother and, because it was plain as the nose on your face that he wasn't amenable to backchat, remonstrations, explanations or excuses, I didn't enlighten him.

However, it was merely the old teachers' ruse of establishing authority. Once we knew who was boss, he turned out to be a thoroughly good egg. Effective teacher, wicked sense of humour, appreciative of effort but couldn't abide shirkers. He suited me.

Mr C genuinely wanted his pupils to do well but he was keen on discipline (now there's a dirty word these days). If you disrupted his lesson, you'd "reap the whirlwind" which would strike with pin-point accuracy around the backsides of a select band of truculent boys (mainly).

Come to think of it, Mr C was not unlike a much younger version of Bomber Harris: short, brusque, not easily impressed and a much more powerful version of Miss Smith (top infants), who didn't need to resort to roller-towels.

Discipline was the aim. The dictionary defines it as "training in orderliness and self-control". Self-control was Mr C's mantra: without it no one learns or achieves anything. I could see that but for the unenlightened, the whirlwind (in the guise of a multiplicity of wooden rulers) continued to howl about their nether regions, with the full approbation of their parents.

Horizons began to widen around this time. The excellent Mr C gave generously of his own time in taking us to local churches, discovering history, brass-rubbing and a sense of the past. He also taught those who wanted to learn the basics of photography, setting up an enlarger,developing and printing facilities in a makeshift darkroom at one end of our wooden hut. All in his own time. Fascinating stuff. He also loved poetry, as did I.

Miss Stockhill taught us Scottish Country Dancing after school, even taking a group to an inter-schools' competition. Us girls, kitted out in white dresses with tartan sashes, crammed like excited sardines into her tiny Hillman Imp for the journey. No seatbelts and it didn't occur to us to ask whether she was insured to carry pupils. Who cared? We all had tremendous fun and a sense of achievement.

Half way through the year, we were decanted back into a newly refurbished classroom in the main building, a whole section of which had been transmogrified to include modern, indoor toilets (manual flush, thankfully), flourescent lights, new wash basins, soft toilet paper and a gloriously- stocked library on the first floor, filled with the intoxicating aroma of new books by the vanload, well designed tables and chairs, offering a peaceful haven in which to immerse yourself in the printed page.

How much better could it get? For the first time in six years, school was enjoyable!

[Baznotinnotts 25]

1 minute ago, katyjay said:

Baz, did you have a relation called Ron Watchorn? When we lived In Langar, and next door to a farm, the farmer Tom (and Alice) Page had another farmer Ron Watchorn visit them. 

Hi K,

I do not have a direct relation to the Notts Watchorns, but the name seems to have spread from the Leics/Lincs area. I was born in Melton. Perhaps the most famous W. was one Robert who emigrated from Alfreton and after becoming immensely rich through oil endowed his birthplace with a chapel which still stands.

One of my Flickr sites if interested

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126488420@N03/

Regards B.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

I reside not far from Alfreton and the Watchorn Library still stands, although it has never been used as such.  I had often wondered if the two of you were related in some way but it isn't an uncommon name.

 

The Watchorn Methodist church has undergone a revamp in recent years and now boasts a day nursery.

[Baznotinnotts 25]

14 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

It's amazing how the staff at Berridge love the place. I revisited last year with several members of this forum and it's still staffed by people who love it.

 

Those rolls of tinfoil were absolutely lethal and would never be permitted today. We sliced our little fingers on those every Christmas.

 

What are your memories of Gerald Chandler? He was a tough nut but he and I got on famously. I have a contact who is still in touch with him and I met him again at the 1984 centenary as he was still teaching there.

 

Could you tell us a little about where you went to college and how you came to be placed at Berridge?

Fascinating stuff this. I spent my teenage years in Skelmanthorpe in the West Riding, and for no apparent reason decided to teach, so I applied to Clifton as my first choice of college, and in late September 1967, head full of D.H.L. and Alan Sillitoe arrived at Huntingdon Street bus station, for three years of growing up, attending lectures on dead poets and authors, which did not relate to being in a room with forty kids,  watching Forest and generally having a pleasurable time away from reality at a place seen by locals on Clifton estate as a bit of a holiday camp ... until interrupted by teaching practices, which required some genuine hard work.Which school we were sent to was random, but I got up early, caught the South Notts bus, walked across the city,  and boarded one of those lovely green and cream buses on Maid Marion Way to reach my assigned school ...

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

D H Lawrence, eh?  I believe he once taught at Greasley Beauvale School.

 

I lived for almost 14 years in the village of Brinsley, when it was still full of indigenous residents, many of whom detested D H Lawrence without ever having read a single word he penned.  To be honest, I doubt some of them could read but that's another matter. I discovered Lawrence's poetry whilst at Berridge and I'm still a devotee.

 

Teaching practice can be a lottery. Did all mine in North Yorkshire via Leeds University.

 

I remember you as having a Yorkshire accent.

[Baznotinnotts 25]

Lawrence was a pupil at Beauvale, but won a scholarship to N. High School, as in 'In Nottingham that dismal town, where I went to school and college' etc.

b***ered off to warmer climes as son as possible. Anyway good to meet you again after over 50 years!

B.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

You too!

 

I have asked Cliff Ton to post the missing photo, so keep looking. I'm sure it will bring back memories!

[katyjay 5,091]

Baz, this Ron Watchorn I do believe lived Harby way, not a million miles from Melton. Incidently my eldest son was born in Melton, St Mary's Hospital.