Were you at Berridge?

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

Noted the obituary for Mr Euan Gibby who has died, aged 92. He was a former teacher at Berridge Juniors in the 1950s, well liked and respected. He was before my time but taught my older sister and many others.

[letsavagoo 963]

Posting for Jill who will add some detail.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

Here is a list of those shown in the photo with Mr Gibby:

 

Back row L to R: Sydney Chandler, unknown, Richard Jones, ? Eccles, Tony Goodwin, Elizabeth Hallam, Roger Green, Josephine Jordan, Malcolm ?, Derek Lloyd, Tommy Smedley, unknown.

 

Next row: Brenda Barnes, Kenneth Merritt, Kathleen Sheeran, Tony Grainger, Susan Hannigan, unknown, Brenda Cooksley, Stephen Cockram. Elizabeth Heason, unknown, Sheila Bond-Lindsay, Tony Spencer, Robert Taylor.

 

Next row: ? Freeman, unknown, unknown, Susan Wyer, Derek Winstanley, Carolyn Pike, ? Goodwin, Valerie ?, unknown, Glenys Williams, John Sutton, Marilyn Towle, Neil York, Susan Smith, David Sentance, Caroline Lee.

 

Front row: unknown, Janet Stamper, ? Gough*, Janice Rodway, Michael Allport, unknown, unknown, Sybil Applebaum, unknown, ? Gough*.

 

* Gough twins were David and John.

 

Thanks to Kathleen and Carole Sheeran for providing the photo, plus names, and to the computer wizardry of Letsavagoo for tidying it up. Photo thought to be around 1958/9

 

[katyjay 5,091]

Do you know what year the photo is Jill? One of these days I will see my cousins, the Whitlam boys.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

Thought to be c. 1958/9. These children were born in 1948.  Whitlam is not a name I've seen on any photos of Berridge ...yet!

[katyjay 5,091]

William (Billy) Whitlam was born 1946. I think his brother James (Jim) was 1954. 

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

@katyjay bit confused about the Whitlams. James L born 1946, James born 1948, William born 1954. Mother's maiden name Hoole. Is this them?

[katyjay 5,091]

Just realised Jim was the eldest, b 1946. He passed away aged 63. Billy was 66 I do believe. Their half brother Les was also in his 60's when he passed away. 

[Cliff Ton 10,468]

Kids from Berridge, with an explanation from Jill S.

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

1953 and the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. The cobbles of Grundy Street. All these children were Berridge pupils.

 

Back row L to R: Paul Burridge, Kenny Monks, Trevor Davys and John Kirton.

 

Front row L to R: Kathleen Sheeran, Maureen Taylor, Janet Kirton, Stephanie Corbett and Carole Sheeran.

 

Coronation Day 1953 was extremely wet, I've been told. It was before my time. These children were on their way to a celebration at Carrington Lido where perhaps they got even wetter?

 

I'm struck by the little girls' footwear. Beautifully whitened sandals and ankle socks. Paper hats for everyone. The coach was waiting to take them...and others... for a trip they would never forget.

 

Thanks to Carole and Kathleen Sheeran for the photo and Letsavagoo for giving it a wash and

brush up!

[Cliff Ton 10,468]

13 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

The cobbles of Grundy Street. 

 

The name Grundy Street didn't ring a bell, but in fact I knew it without realising it; just off Alfreton Road opposite the shops.

 

And it's still there today.  https://maps.app.goo.gl/vm8oSaqvgAsVC66k8

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

Stone's throw from Grimston Road, CT.  I've just been looking at the very area where that photo was taken. The houses on the left have been demolished and the cobbles are long gone.

[letsavagoo 963]

As usual Jill will follow with some details of this photo.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

Thanks to Letsavagoo for posting this interesting photo from around 1954.  An old classmate of mine had two much older brothers at Berridge and the younger of the two sent her a couple of his old photos. This photo shows the penultimate year for those born in 1944/5. My friend's brother Markham (Mark) Handfield is on the front row, third from the left.  We are still compiling a list of names and I'll post these shortly.  This photo is taken at a strange angle in what looks like a corner of the hall. 

[Cliff Ton 10,468]

12 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

 My friend's brother Markham (Mark) Handfield is on the front row, third from the left.  

 

It's an unusual name, and I'm pretty certain I know him. Is/was he a graphic designer ?  He was my boss at a place I worked in the late 1970s.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

I don't know, CT, but I will ask his sister and advise you of the answer. It is a pretty unusual name.

 

Having checked the birth records, I can't find anyone else with that name, so you're almost certainly correct.

[letsavagoo 963]

Another from Berridge sourced by Jill who I’m posting it for. It shows the stage in the upper hall. This is the only picture showing the stage I’ve ever seen. I remember playing a ‘street beggar’ in the Christmas pantomime Aladdin in 1964 I beleive. My future and still wife Jane Flint was in the same production as a ‘jewel dancer’. I remember watching her from the wings. I wonder when the stage was removed.

Jill will comment.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

This dates from 1956. It is, supposedly, Berridge Senior Boys' School. I've asked PP to look at it as I'm not sure about the blazer badges. Some look like the Berridge badges whilst others look different. It's a concert of some kind, clearly.  The stage may be the one Letsavagoo remembers from the upper hall. I do remember it vaguely, as I cavorted about on it in the first year juniors wearing my pink party frock, pink satin ballet shoes and performing my Sugar Plum Fairy dance at Christmas. I also recall the headmaster, Jack Baugh, speaking to us in assembly from an elevated position at that end of the hall.  However, so many alterations were taking place at Berridge in those years that we were constantly being shuffled around classrooms and halls to enable the builders to do their work. They obviously removed the stage as part of those alterations.

 

Markham (Mark) Handfield also appears on this photo. Second row back,  second from the right, sporting a Berridge blazer and singing heartily.

 

Yes. CT, his sister confirms that he was in graphic design.  He turned 79 at the beginning of this week.

[philmayfield 6,144]

I thought everyone went to Berridge except me. 

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

We did have standards!! 

[MargieH 7,600]

@Jill Sparrow we (almost) have something in common even though I didn’t go to Berridge….

When  I was about 13 I was the Fairy Godmother in the French production of Cendrillon’ (Cinderella) at C le W.  I danced in a white tutu and block toe ballet shoes to the Sugar Plum Fairy.

(I’ve still got the ballet shoes!)

[philmayfield 6,144]

It’s sad to see that Carlton le Willows, which once was a fine grammar school, was rated ‘inadequate’ at its last inspection. The same thing happened to Mellish when it became a comprehensive. The fine buildings of Henry Mellish have since been demolished. 

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

12 minutes ago, MargieH said:

danced in a white tutu and block toe ballet shoes to the Sugar Plum Fairy.

(I’ve still got the ballet shoes!)

Don't try dancing in them now! I still have some blocks but no longer have the strength in my legs to do Pointe work. Old age!

[MargieH 7,600]

You are right, Jill but my main problem would be my toes cramping up!

[Beekay 5,153]

21 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Don't try dancing in them now! I still have some blocks but no longer have the strength in my legs to do Pointe work. Old age!

Your'e not old, your'e only playing at it. You have at least another 16 years to go.