Were you at Berridge?


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I am sure this is in the wrong place but when I message Mick2me but I get a message saying he is not taking new messages. Basically I wondered if we could have a new forum in the school section for Berridge. At on time an infant, junior and senior school. Sue Pollard, Peter Bowles and best of all me were all ex pupils. One of Radford/Hyson Greens finest schools.

Pretty please

Thanks

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Through this door...and it's the original, although painted black in my day...I walked with my mum one cold morning early in 1962. I was just 4 years old. The door led to Miss Smith's office and my mu

How many Berridge children have secreted themselves inside this niche situated in the playground which fronts the old infant building, hoping to be left behind when the bell rang at playtime's close?

Sitting on this exact spot, facing the stationery cupboard in Mr Parr's classroom, in spring 1969, I sat my 11+ exam.

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Well I asked for it (thanks Mick) so here it is. I was born in Radford in 1955 so started at Berridge when I was 5 in 1960 (see how they taught me maths).

From the infants I went on to the junior school. At this time there was a senior school but this was being phased out so every year, new children didn't join so eventually the eldest boys left and that was that. I am pretty sure that the senior school was boys only but perhaps someone out there can perhaps help on this. I will post some class photos when I get time. Lets here from some ex Berridge guys and gals

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Went there in about 1959, can't remember much about it though, what I do remember is being in the playground which I think was on a bit of a slope,some buildings on one side of the playground that housed some outside activity equipment such as balls, bean bags, and some type of stool to either sit on or step on, also remember having to stand in classroom lines at the end of breaktimes(playtime) usually sounded by a hand bell, when everyone was in line the bell would be sounded a second time and we would make our way to the classroom. Remember the "clay bins"? where at certain lessons (probably art) selected children would be allowed to make clay models with the stuff while others could paint using water colours,at the end of the lesson all the surplus clay would be put back in the bin and covered over with a damp cloth to keep it usable, if anything else comes to mind I will post

Rog

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Hi Planfit. I started at the infants in 1960. There was a bit of a cock up as I had been there for a few months when I was pulled out of class and moved up a year. I think I should have started before I actually did. Can,t say I remember clay bins but the hand bell for sure. In fact in a fit of nostalgia the wife (also ex Berridge) and I went to Berridge the other week and introduced ourselfs to the Head who was a really nice man. He took us all round. I was pleasantly suprised as it is a very nice school. The green huts at the edge of the playground are now all gone. Some of these huts were actually used as classrooms and not just for storing stuff. Only 10% white british with a diverse population now. Perhaps not suprisingly the actual buildings have not changed a deal and it was all very familiar after almost 50 years. I was by coincidence clearing out some stuff this weekend and found all my school photos plus the program for the 1964 Christmas play 'Aladdin' where I played a street beggar and my wife, who I didn't know then was a 'jewel dancer. Nothing changed there then!!

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Berridge Road School...it brings back memories: many of them not very happy ones.

I started here at 4 years old: my parents had had enough of me at home I think!

Miss Smith top infants and Miss Smith the headteacher were there when I began (1962).

Best two years were Mr Gerald Chandler (brilliant teacher and fearsome disciplinarian) and Trevor Williams- lovely man, wonderful teacher. I owe them both a great debt.

I, too, have lots of school photos and other snaps, so will look them out.

Worst thing about my education at Berridge was being sent to Manning Girls' Grammar as a result. Now...there is something I am NEVER going to forgive!

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hi old berridge onians, i was at berridge from erm a long time ago till about 69 i think, hi jill sparrow, we spoke the other day, i will add a few bits on when have more time

many a great time spent in those wooden shacks, or were they classrooms, lol, chandler,parr,kempy { could give you a good rap on the knuckles with his cellotaped double ruler} anyone here ever get that treatment ? mr baugh, headmaster, mr tt williams, brill teacher and great games master, noel james, colin hudson,trev huddlestone, jane topham, susan mcdermott, bernice bond, sabhjit gill, mickey brennan, me best mate, jane humphries,jill sparrow, loads and loads of good times there, rennie carruthers, brill athlete, chris riley, kevin burgin, kev green, kenneth williams, colin simpson, etc etc, i joined berridge when i was 4 back in 62 i think till 69, great years

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Well done, Pidge Pie. All these names bring back warm memories.

I once punched Noel James on the nose (look out, it's confession time) because he was irritating me in the playground. His nose poured with blood which was a slightly different colour from what was usually escaping from his nose! (Do you mind, I've not had my breakfast yet!) He ran off to Mrs Platts who was on duty (and we were all terrified of her) to report what I'd done and she refused to believe him. You see, I had the reputation of being so well behaved that I couldn't possibly punch a little boy on the nose...see what you can get away with when you look angelic?

I am still in touch with Jane Humphries who was my best friend through Berridge. Also spoke to Mr Williams a few years ago when he retired from teaching. I was amazed that he remembered me!

So come on, Pidge Pie, let's have some more memories out of you. What about Miss Smith (top infants), I remember you and she had the odd run in but by no means as regularly (or as painfully) as some.

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i saw old TT Williams a good few years back ,i think he went on to Seely school, he remembered me and micky brennan, i must have a memory lapse as cant remember many of the teachers,i remember jane humphries, janice clark, dean bradley,little eric {cant remember his surname,doh}my best 2 experiences whilst at berridge was taking the footy team to a tournament somewhere in the meadows,we were a right bunch of scallies, me, mickey brennan, rennie carruthers chris riley{i think} to name a few, we were not given much of a chance but got beat in the final,i think, old tt williams was impressed, and going on a trip to ireland with the berridge lot, mr parr came along with the then,miss mcdonald, who i believe he later married, i was mates with her brother, and one particular night we went to their cabin, where without knocking,her brother opened the door, and there was miss mcdonald in a black basque, stockings and suspenders, WOW, what a sight for a 10 year old to witness, it will never leave me, but i wasnt traumatised by it at all, lol

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Thought Pidge Pie would have a few interesting memories!

Yes, Miss MacDonald did marry Mr Alan Parr.

Don't remember anyone going to Ireland but if it was sport related it wouldn't have involved me.

Was little Eric called Eric Taylor? He's the only Berridge Eric I can remember. He's on my very earliest Berridge photo but Pidge Pie isn't and if he started at 4 then he should have been.

I've heard horror stories about Mr Kemp and those rulers. He never taught me but he seemed absolutely ancient: he retired in 1967 at 65, so to us children he would have appeared very superannuated. I'm told he rulered those who were left handed in a bid to make them write with their right hand...very very traumatic and certainly wouldn't happen today. As we now know, it can cause all kinds of problems, including terrible stammering (George VI was a prime example of this kind of treatment). TT Williams rose to be a headteacher at Claremont I believe and also taught in a school at Clifton after he left Berridge...Whitegates, I think.

He was a good teacher with a wonderful sense of humour and my older sister thought he was gorgeous. He was never short of girlfriends either. Whenever we went on a school trip there was always some young female in tow. He used to tell me they were his cousins and even then I didn't believe a word of it!

Good to know that Pidge Pie wasn't traumatised by the sight in the cabin. Children can withstand a lot...including some of Pidge Pie's antics in Miss Smith's class but I'm not going into that...and I bet he can't remember!

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hi jill, no wasnt a sports thing, a trip was set up to go to a holiday camp in ireland,cant remember the name of the camp, but it was in a place called Balbriggan, Skerries,in ireland, beautiful place on the coast,first time id actually seen real seals,and will always remember it till i pass by, hundreds of jellyfish on the beach in the mornings, we were allowed to go to the village and actually allowed to go to the pubs there,i think chandler went as well, yes it was eric taylor btw, thanks for letting me know, we went to dublin zoo, dublin airport,which was not far from balbriggan, gary walker i think went as well as i have a vague memory of him getting a fish hook caught in his hand on the ferry going over there from holyhead,the mrs smith theme, i dont recall at all jill so if you could throw some light on the subject i dont mind,as long as its not too revealing though, lol

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hi jill, no wasnt a sport thing, a trip was set up to go to a holiday camp in a place called Balbrigga,Skerries, in ireland,a beautiful place on the coast,first time i had actually seen real seals,hundreds of them,and will remember that time till the day i pass and will hopefully go back there one day,we were actually allowed by ourselves to go to the local village,and in the pubs, tho accompanied though,chandler i believe was also there, and yes it was eric taylor, ty for letting me know, we went to dublin zoo,dublin airport,do you remember Gary Walker he was there too, he caught his finger on a fishing hook on the crossing on the ferry from holyhead, the mrs smith thing, i dont remember much about at all, so if you want to shed some light on the matter as long as its not too revealing , a few names have cropped up since i last posted, kevin green, ian munro,sharon gayle ,who now lives in usa and has spoken to my sister now,peter withey,john passam,alex smulkowski,but cant remember too many teachers names, semolina and strawberry jam, and caramel tart, with toad in the hole were 2 fav meals in the old wooden shacks they called the dinner room, oh and that yucky fish and parsley sauce i think we had on fridays, happy days

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Pidge Pie...thanks for some more memories of Berridge. Yes, I remember Gary Walker. He used to tell my mother he was going to marry me when he grew up. Even then I could have told him he wasn't!! Prefer my chaps without the green candles under the nose! He lived near The Wheatsheaf pub...houses have gone now as has the pub I'm told, though I haven't been in that area for years.

I remember Kevin Green and Ian Munro- someone was asking me what happened to him only recently. I thought he went to Mundella but realise now that he didn't. I think he went to High Pavement.

I always went home for lunch so never had school meals. The smell was enough! We had a long lunch hour, didn't we, compared to these days?

Mrs Smith? Hmm well...it has to do with what you kept putting on the desk in front of the other three girls who shared a table with you (including me). Mrs Smith saw you on one occasion and brought down her ruler with some considerable force next to it. Could have given you a complex- and I often wondered if it had - but you've obviously blocked it out!!

Don't want to go into too much detail about that.

You lot had a fair amount of freedom on your trip to Ireland. You wouldn't get that these days either. Everyone's paranoid now. We had the best days to be children, Pidge Pie. Wouldn't want to be born now.

Do you remember Richard Sewell? Dirty knees and little short trousers. Curly hair and always looked as though he was suffering from constipation? Perhaps he was. Obviously didn't get dosed with syrup of figs like I did!!

So come on Pidge Pie...have a trawl through your memories and let's be hearing them.

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i think ian munro did go to high pavement,i was at mundella and dont remember him there, there was trevor huddlestone ken smith,col hudson from berridge, yes gary walker lived not far from the wheatsheaf, near to the old gran shan pop place, nr our old nuthall road playing fields we used to go football training on and play our home matches there, i saw him on tv many years ago on banged up abroad, where he got into a problem for being drunk and disorderly in either lanzarote or tenerife, i often used to see him down at the forest home games as well, i kept putting something on a desk eh, well that intrigues me,lol, i can only guess what it was as i honestly cant remember,you would of gone home and missed the school dinners yes as i think you only lived across the road from the school, and you wudda missed the lukewarm bottles of milk we had to drink in the summer then, with the cream on top ? any idea if chandler, williams are still alive and well ? no i dont remember richard sewell, but colin simpson i remember, who sounds like richard sewells twin,the way you descrbed him

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Gary Walker in trouble with the law? His Mum wouldn't like that. I think she was a music teacher. The playing fields (which I think was the Police training ground) opposite the Whitemoor Pub (not called that the last time I drove by) and the fizzy drinks depot are all gone now. I rarely go into Nottingham but when I do I don't even recognise most of it!

Eeee, we're getting old!

I did have milk at school but only in winter when it was covered in snow and therefore nice and cold...I couldn't drink it warm, especially when you've got to look at various dirty-kneed little lads with green candles (sorry about that Mick2Me!) sitting across the table. Made my stomach heave.

Yes, both Mr Chandler and Mr Williams are still alive but retired now for which I wouldn't mind betting they are very grateful.

Yes, Pidge-Pie, you did put "things" on the desk- I remember distinctly. I lived in Bobbers Mill Road which ran parallel with Berridge Road, so not far to go home for lunchtime. Where did you live then? No one lived very far away did they?

Do you remember Martin Juers? Some years ago I'm sure I read that he'd opened a restaurant somewhere on the Notts Leicestershire border.

Interesting to find out where we've all ended up, isn't it?

Keep posting, Pidge-Pie.

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yes i remember martin jeuers, bit of a strange one if i recall,i lived kirkstead street, birkin avenue area, off hazelwood road, the playing fields were near the train lines nr to the footbridge leading to bobbers mill,a lad by the name of peter woods lived there,in what i can only remember as like an old station house, he had a sis who was younger who i believe also went to berridge,the playing fields were nuthall road playing fields, we played all our home football matches there then when we finished, we popped into the pop factory yard over a fence and enjoyed the odd bottle of gran shan {shandy} lemonade,limeade, or whatever we could reach from the parked up lorries b4 getting caught !!, do you remember charles askey ? he lived not far from berridge, and kim wilde think they were both there, charles was a year above, he went on to mundella,i hope my erm exhibitionism,lol, from my younger days doesnt come back to haunt me, ive been CRB checked lol

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Kirkstead Street? I think Jayne Topham lived on Kirkstead Street. All gone now. Jane Humphries lived in Hazelwood Road...now lives in Bulwell.

I think the lad you mentioned who lived in the Station House by the footbridge was called Peter Marshall and yes he did have a younger sister. Peter Marshall was another boy who sported the most outrageous green 'candles' under his nose! Sorry- Mick2Me will be complaining!!! Not that I'm prejudiced against people with green candles Mick2Me (in case you've got some- although I hope you haven't!)

Do you remember an older boy at Berridge and I think his name was Terry something or other. Bit of a tearaway who used to play 'chicken' on the rails near the Bobbers Mill footbridge? Mr Baugh gave him the cane one Friday morning in assembly, with a real roasting for risking his life and told him- and the rest of us- what a stupid and dangerous idea it was.

Obviously, it didn't stop Terry because some weeks later he did it again and was hit by a train and killed. We all sat there, horrified, when Mr Baugh told us in assembly.

I don't remember Charles Askey but then the only older children I do remember were those we both spent a year with in Mrs Price's class when we were sent up a year due to high numbers in our age group.

I doubt your youthful desk-displays will cause you any trouble. The girls on the table were really only interested in whether Miss Smith was going to wrap your head in the roller towel and give you a hiding with the slipper. Cracking entertainment that was and a diversion from times' tables.

I remember having times tables tests in Mr Chandler's year (7-12 times tables) and if you got any wrong in the test, he'd tap out the whole times table- painfully- on your ear. I always made sure I knew mine...and I still do in case anyone's lurking with a ruler in the vicinity of my lug-hole!

I do remember a Christmas party at Berridge when you had picked up all the iced buns on our table's plate and left finger marks on them. No one else would eat them because we weren't sure what else you might have been handling!! Bet you don't remember that, do you?

I'm rapidly turning into one of those people whose memories of years ago are razor sharp but who can't recall what she did last week! Scary...!

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I was looking at the old black and white school photos last night. Peter Marshall isn't on any of them. The name Jacqueline springs to mind for his little sister but I can't be certain. His mother used to walk about with a stout wooden barrow- often wheeling her daughter in it and she usually wore what looked like an army greatcoat and boots. Presumably, Peter's father had a job connected with the railways, hence living in the house which was virtually on the rail lines.

Pidge-Pie, do you remember Winsome Eccles and her cousin Neville? I think they were two of the best dressed children in the school. Winsome had a stunning array of party dresses. They both lived in flats in one of the large houses on Gregory Boulevard. When I look at the photos now, I can still see the colours of the clothes everyone was wearing at the time. Strange?

Whose else taught at Berridge during our time there?...Miss Bartlett (she is now deceased), Mr Parsons and Mr and Mrs Anderson, both Scots, who didn't seem to have any class to teach but 'floated' taking groups. I didn't like either of them- they made me uneasy for some reason.

We had several student teachers, including one who smelled absolutely awful: the kind of smell infant teachers usually detect among five year olds who've waited too long to put their hand up!!! We avoided him like the plague. This was during the final Berridge year and I think he's actually on the form photo for that year.

I remember teaching a class of 6 year olds years ago and I detected a similar smell coming from one of them. I marched him off to the loo and - well, without being too graphic- it was everywhere...trousers, shoes, socks. I've never been very good at dealing with that kind of thing and was about to throw up when he looked at me, smiled and chirped: "I didn't do it!"

Yes, well...enough of that...think I'd rather talk about green candles...no Calpol in the early 60s, you see. It's wonderful stuff...almost eradicated green candles. Mind you, that old favourite 'gripe water' isn't what it once was since they took the alcohol out. Some swine always has to spoil things!

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Pidge Pie...yes, Terry Hill. I've been trying to remember the name and it wouldn't surface. Poor Neville Eccles, that's horrible. He was a quiet lad, like Winsome. Yes, it makes you think when you see your peers shuffling off and realise that you're probably well over half way through your time here. It's not morbid...it's all part of life's rich tapestry and hopefully it won't put Stephen Ford off his lunch!

Terry Hill was a small lad- quite wiry- but not wiry enough to avoid the train.

I've been looking at the photo of Mrs Price's class and there is Charles Haskey on the back row. I didn't remember the name until I looked.

I went to the Berridge Centenary in 1984. The old place looked very much the same as it did when we were there. My Mum went as well because she was educated at Berridge Road Schools. I hoped to see Mr Baugh but was told he had passed away a few years earlier. Pity, I'd have liked to meet him again.

I did a bit of research re Mr Baugh and discovered that he'd been put on a ship to Canada (on his own) at the age of nine, to go and live with his grandmother. Presumably, he lost his mother when he was a child. I never really knew much about him but he probably didn't have a very easy life either. When you are children and you (probably) don't like your teachers very much, you don't stop to think that they are human too and have experienced their share of highs and lows. That realisation only comes with age and life itself teaches those lessons.

Well...that's enough philosophising for one day.

Keep the memories coming, Pidge Pie.

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Enjoyed my lunch, thanks Jill - before reading your post!

Interesting that you mention how little we realised of the ups and downs that our teachers endured. Pip Wright, our French teacher at Long Eaton Grammar, had been a prisoner on the Burma Railway during WW2, and the experience had taken its toll. I seem to remember someone saying that he often suffered blinding headaches, and possibly recurrent nightmares. He looked careworn, old before his time (I guess he was in his 40s at the time) thin and emaciated. But he was a good teacher, and although he was one of the most gentle souls, there seemed to be virtually unanimous agreement that no-one "played up" Mr Wright.

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Yes, Stephen, I too came across several former POWs of the Japanese- not at school because they were mainly female teachers but I once worked with a chap named Walter Riley (lovely man) a former policeman in Nottingham who had been in a Japanese camp. He was tall and very very thin. I remember him on one occasion- very uncharacteristically- going for the jugular of some colleague who remarked they wished they could catch beri-beri so they didn't have to come to the office. He, of course, had seen the consequences of that awful disease at first hand and, boy, did he give them a rocket for making light of it. It was heaven help you, too, if you owned a Nissan or Datsun. He'd tear you off a strip for it.

Easy to say that the war was over and we should put it behind us...those of us who weren't there...but for people like Mr Riley it would always be there, every time he closed his eyes in sleep and we can't imagine (and wouldn't wish to imagine) what that was like.

Don't wish to sound sanctimonious, but we really don't appreciate how lucky we are, do we?

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Jill, my dad served in Burma and India, against the Japs, and he never till his dying day, forgave them for the atrocities they did to their prisoners. He too would pay any amount to buy something British as opposed to Japanese.

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The sad fact is that, as the late and wonderful Harry Patch said so often, wars are brought about by a few crazy men (and, yes, I'm sorry but they always ARE men) who are eventually constrained to end up sitting round a table and making peace but only after the needless death of millions of innocent people. And for what? Just a waste.

There is the point of view which says war is necessary for controlling the population and I sometimes look at 18 year old inebriates in the street, shouting their mouths off or vandalising property and I think of those 18 year old lads climbing into Spitfires with a few hours' flying experience under their belts and with a life expectancy of perhaps 20 minutes. And it ain't fair, is it?

My own grandfather often told his son (my Dad): "Never put on a uniform for this country...all you'll get is a kick in the teeth!" This was based upon his own experience of how injured servicemen were treated after The Great War.

It is always the innocent, no-axe-to-grind person who suffers as a result of war- be they British, German or any other nationality. They're all human, someone's son or brother or father and they're all mortal. 'Fight or we'll kill you'. Life has always been cheap, said she being cynical, but it appears to be true.

What I'm really trying to say is that until women are in total charge of things, this bomb-em, shoot-em, knock-em-over-the-head attitude will prevail. It's what (some) men do best.

I shall now place the steel colander over my head and take cover under the kitchen table- which used to be known as a Morrison shelter- absolutely nothing to do with a trip to the supermarket - and await Nottstalgic missiles!

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Anderson shelters were constructed outside. Morrison shelters were for those who had no cellar, no garden and no access to a nearby public shelter- named after Herbert Morrison.

Thatcher? Er....who?

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