Were you at Berridge?


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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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I remember this lady. She wore a blue overall, had dark hair and a swarthy complexion. A lady of very few words, rather serious looking. She always told me what beautiful curly hair I had (well you can see from the photo what it was like). I hated my hair (even more so when my mother stuck a large silky bow in it) but she thought it was something to be proud of. Wonder if she'd have been so proud the day I stuck my head in a box of sawdust...no, don't ask why! I must have thought it was a good idea at the time.

My poor mother went bananas and gave me a lot of misery with a fine-toothed comb trying to remove the wood shavings from my tight curls. Actually, I think most of it is probably still in there!

I do recall the smell of the disinfectant in her little dish. Fortunately, I never had headlice. Even when I was teaching and my pupils had them, they never bothered me. This may have something to do with the fact that my paternal grandfather was the only soldier in his unit during WW1 who was never bitten by lice or fleas, even though there were as many in his uniform as everyone else's. We don't taste nice, us Sparrows!

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Hi all. Just found this site when looking up Pipewood camp where I spent 4 summers 1949/53. I was at Berridge during that period. I lived on Peverel St., where there were assorted shops and hosiery companies in those days.

I loved Pipewood. It was a wonderful escape from our house which was shared with an off license and with my bedroom overlooking the fire escape of a hosiery factory. Sounds like a glum place to live but the neighbours were respectable people in those days and life was OK.

The teachers I remember at Berridge were Mt Kendrick (woodwork), Mr (Buffalo) Cheeseman (science), Mr Jewitt (maths), Mr Roblin (all sorts), Mr Smith (head). Mr Wheatman (Tech drg) and Mr Pearce my form master who became the permanent head at Pipewood. The houses (billets) I remember at Pipewood were Hartsmere, Chetwynd, Brackenhurst and ? what was the other one?

I now live in Staffs and cycle past Pipewood occasionally. It looks so forlorn these days but the happy memories remain.

Terry Coging

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Thanks Lizie and Michael. My first memories about Berridge was the new boys initiation ceremony. I started in 1949 straight from Windley School (Forest Rd). Us newbies were told to 'run the gauntlet' or face a harsh penalty. the 'gauntlet' was the space between the woodwork shop and the iron railings on Berridge Rd. We were told to run through a double row of senior boys who thumped us on the head and shoulders. If you refused to do it they would stuff you in a dustbin and roll you down the sloping playground; a very painful experience when the dustbin handles crashed onto the tarmac. I only saw this happen once.

I often reflect on how the different teachers did their job. Mr Roblin put the fear of God into everyone and gave the strap daily. His strap was a custom jobbie with the two outer thongs removed. I remember 'Snake' Anderton being strapped so hard that both hands bled and swelled up. I can see him now sitting on the playground crying, on a cold Winters day, nursing his injured hands under his armpits. Roblin was a cruel man. Then there was 'Buffalo' Cheeseman the science master who was a kind man but the pupils wound him up so much to the point where he started charging up and down the science lab bellowing at everyone. The best teacher of all was Mr Pearce. He was a quiet man but had the gift of making lessons interesting and had no discipline issues. He was a step ahead of the wiseguys and didn't need to use the strap.

Classmates that I remember were Tony Dawkins, Paul Kreager, Trevor Davies, Albert Hurry, Bernard Lewis....a few more when I think about it.

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PeverilPeril,

I enjoyed reading your post.You mention some of your classmates, including a Trevor Davies. Would that be Trevor Davys who lived in Grundy Street? He would be around your age and I knew the various members of his large family quite well. He also attended St Stephen's Church and sang in the choir. I played the organ there in the early 1980s and am still occasionally in touch with Trevor.

I must try to persuade him to contribute to Nottstalgia as I know he'd have some good memories to share. Not sure whether Trevor went to Peveril but I think he did.

Keep posting!

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LizzieM - It probably was Paul Kreagers shop. i know that he did well in business and lived in a large, walled house near Keyworth when we lived there.

Jill Sparrow - It would be the same Trevor Davys. He was my fishing pal. Be nice to talk to him again. I am still a keen fisherman.

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PeverilPeril

Certainly sounds like the same chap. I will contact him and ask him to have a look at Nottstalgia. Trevor came from a large family, brothers, John, Barry and younger brother Andrew. Sisters Christine and Marilyn. His mother, Doris, was a lovely lady who I knew from childhood and a great friend of my mother. Trevor lived for a while in Franklin Gardens and now at Bramcote. Writes to me every Christmas. He became a teacher himself. I am sure he would love to renew his acquaintance with you.

Watch this space!!

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I left Berridge Xmas 53 which was the first year that the 15+ was offered where pupils could stay on for a year to take 'O' levels. It was a joke really and only 2 lads took the offer up. The rest of us had to start work and earn some housekeeping. I never took the 11+ due to illness but when I was 13 I was offered a place at Tech College because of my good exam marks. Like an idiot I ripped up the offer letter that I should have given to my parents. Realising my stupidity, at 14 I signed on for nightschool at the school on Carlton Hill, saying that I was 15 years old. True to type I continued to do stupid things with my education....

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  • 8 months later...

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.

Jack Baugh was the head when I was at Berridge...a lovely gent..I think he lived on Ribblesdale Road in Sherwood..he used to be my Grandad Harry Cranes best friend and golfing partner...Some of the names I remember were Mrs Parrott and Mr Anderson..I was at the school from 69 to 73..then went on to Peveril..we lived on Birkin Avenue on the corner of Randle Street..

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Nice to read your post, ceeaych.

Mr Baugh, as you say, was a true gentleman. I was very fond of him and, along with Messrs Chandler and Williams, owe him a great debt. I believe he did indeed live in Ribblesdale Road and I recall he drove a white Mini in the days when teachers generally couldn't afford to run cars.

I do recall that he was unpopular with some parents for showing favouritism toward pupils and I confess I was one of them but what teacher, if they are honest, doesn't have favourites?

I remember him as a person who was fond of history, poetry and great literature and these were all subjects which fascinated me.

He was a disciplinarian, of that there is no doubt, but as he always said, there can be no self discipline without discipline first being imposed on a child, by which he meant discipline of thought and behaviour. He knew that without this it was not possible to learn, nor to achieve.

I didn't know he was a golfer but I often think of him with fondness and it is a lasting regret that I was not able to thank him in person at the Berridge centenary for his encouragement and influence on my education.

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I have been thinking about the other names mentioned by ceeaych. The name Mrs Parrott rings a bell...with a surname like mine, it should! However, I can't put a face to the name. She never taught me and may have arrived toward the end of my time at Berridge.

Mr Anderson I do recall. He first appeared with his wife around 1968. They seemed to drift around the school, working with groups. Mrs Anderson disappeared after a while but he remained. He was Scottish, small in stature, bespectacled and only seemed to possess one suit. For some reason I couldn't define, I didn't like him because he made me feel uncomfortable. It seems that he became a class teacher after I left in July 1969.

Going back to Mr Baugh,he didn't have much of a retirement as he died in 1980 in his 67th year. Seems rather unfair after a lifetime of hard work. He sometimes spoke about his son who, I presume, was his only child.

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  • 1 month later...

Welcome to Nottstalgia David, glad you took the plunge. There are lots of posts from Nottstalgians who attended Berridge School, I hope you enjoy reading them and also adding your memories for us to share. :)

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Thank you for the welcome. I'm glad I stumbled on this site. It happene because I booked to come up and look at the old place and bring my wife and granddaughter to show them where I went to school etc.

As I said I started at Berridge infants in 1945. That was in the days when you still had to take your gas mask with you!

I remember some of the teachers that have been mentioned on here. I remember Mr. Reid being a kind but strict teacher. There was also a Mr. Dougan who taught French but he strangely disappeared suddenly.

Remember too "running the gauntlet" I think I got it,ore than most for the simple reason of my fathers job. He worked for the Education Department and was what called a "School Board Man" if anyone missed school in Berridge and they had a visit from a board officer I got the blame because it was thought I had reported them. In fact he had nothing to do with our school. Not complaining, just passing on memories.

Truth is my father was a very cruel person and anyone who knew me back in those days would agree. Beat me regularly but back in those days no one believed you if you reported it, especially the police. Moan over.

When I left school I went to work at Boots until 1958 when I signed up to join the navy which I did in February 1959. Did ten and a half years in the Fleet Air Arm. I settled here in Weymouth and went to work at RNAS Yeovilton doing the same job as I did in the Navy.

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Thanks for the welcome Michael.

Pity I didn't know about this site years ago, but never mind I've found it now. i will very much enjoy reading all the posts and subjects. Who knows, I may even find someone who remembers me.

I was brought up on Churchfield Lane. i did Google the post code a couple of years ago and the house where I lived has been extended. I intend to drive round there when i come up in a few weeks time just to have a look.

I also intend to drive down Knighton Avenue and round the bottom part and up Radford Grove Lane. The reason is that on V.E. day night there was a huge bonfire in the middle of the road. I remember we stayed up all night. I don't know if we went to school the next day or not. Anyway, the bonfire burnt a big hole in the tarmac as you can imagine. It was left unprepared for ages but when they did repair the road they used a different coloured tarmac where the fire had been. I suppose in memory of the fire that had been there and the reason it had been there.

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  • 1 month later...

I was at Berridge both as an infant and a junior, in the late 60s. I recall Mr Baugh well. He was a kindly and gifted teacher. Omnipresent smell of cigars! I recall Mrs Green, who terrified me, and also Mr Anderson, who I knew well as I was friends with his son. Mr Anderson would not have got on in teaching nowadays as he made a lot of children uncomfortable and may have been a little too fond of children, if you get what I mean.

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I spent about 18 months at Berridge in the 50s- - I remember the English teacher was Mr Merrick - Art Mr MacFarkand I think

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Interesting to read MercuryDancer's comments about Mr Anderson because, as a 10 year old, that's exactly what I sensed, without really understanding what it meant. I have often wondered about him since and am slightly relieved to learn that it wasn't just me who noticed it!

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  • 3 months later...

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

Is that Mick Brennan lived on birkin avenue

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  • 4 weeks later...

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