Bilborough Grammar School

[Moobug 3]

Anyone?

[annswabey 599]

Yes! 1968-1975

[firbeck 859]

I was there from 1962 until 1969, my time coincided with the era of The Beatles if you think about it. Fantastic school, very traditional, in my day the teachers wore gowns to every lesson, the regime was strict but fair. I think it deteriorated when Harry Peake the headmaster left and that bumbling, idiot Williams took over. He was an awful man, quite happy to stab anyone in the back, not to be trusted at all, I don't know how he got the job of being in charge of what at the time was a pretty prestigious school. He was the only member of staff that I seriously hated during my time at the school, even my mother had a go at him a few times. Anyone remember him and if so what did you think.

[annswabey 599]

Williams was the Headmaster during most of my time there. Can't say I ever had much to do with him but don't remember anyone saying he was so awful!

[firbeck 859]

Williams was the Headmaster during most of my time there. Can't say I ever had much to do with him but don't remember anyone saying he was so awful!

He was a really wierd man, he hadn't got a clue how to deal with 1960's teenagers. We persuaded him to have an Xmas disco when we were in the 6th form, when the evening came, he turned up in a dinner suit, ordered us about, and sat and played classical music on the grand piano,we couldn't believe it. My mate had painted a fantastic large portrait of Jimi Hendrix that we hung behind the stage, Williams said he thought it was a really decent portrait of an African warrior, then proceeded to carry on playing Rachmaninoff. We tried to arrange another do the year after, but only on his terms, we were allowed a band, but it was a Jazz band, yeah that's what we wanted to hear in 1969, the man should not have been allowed to be in charge of kids that he clearly didn't have any empathy for or understanding of, I know that members of the teaching staff despised him.

[annswabey 599]

There are 2 things I remember him for - he appeared on the front page of the Evening Post when he made some of the boys have their fashionably long hair cut short. The other one was something that he recited to us in a Music lesson which I remember to this day

quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.

Googling it leads to this explanation

By the age of Augustus, poets like Virgil closely adhered to the rules of the meter and approached it in a highly rhetorical way, looking for effects that can be exploited in skilled recitation. For example, the following line from the Aeneid (VIII.596) describes the movement of rushing horses and how "a hoof shakes the crumbling field with a galloping sound": quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum

This line is made up of five dactyls and a closing spondee, an unusual rhythmic arrangement that imitates the described action

Slightly above our heads, I think, at around 12 years of age!

[Cliff Ton 10,007]

a closing spondee,

Posh name for someone who lives in Spondon?

Name me another website where you can find a smiley after a quote about a Roman classical poet

[Paddy Wheatfields 4]

Hello all.

Does ANYONE know anything about some Mundella stuff being moved up to Bilborough yonks ago when they thought the whole of Mundella was going to form the new Bilborough School?

We are particularly interested in the whereabouts of the WW2 memorial plaques which were last remembered at Bilborough by a dinner lady!

Any clues gratefully received, thank you.

[firbeck 859]

Williams came from Mundella, perhaps he brought the memorial plaques with him, though, as Mundella was still going when I was at BGS, I think it unlikely that he would have been allowed to. I seem to remember that Williams had been in a Japanese POW camp during the war, which may have explained his erratic behaviour.

The dining hall at BGS was a bit odd, it was actually in the main entrance hall, covered in nobbly vinyl flooring, all the tables were put out by the dinner staff at lunchtime, then put away again afterwards, the dinner ladies worked behind two vertically sliding timber doors that were only opened up at lunchtime, I'm sure that the food was brought in by vans and simply kept warm. It wasn't until 1967 when the 6th form block was built and a proper dining room with cooking equipment installed that food was prepared on the premises.

The only plaque I recall in there was in honour of Hugh Gaitskill who opened the school in 1958, ironic really, as it was the Labour Party that, rightly or wrongly, got rid of the Grammar School system. I don't ever recall seeing any WW2 memorial plaques to Mundella people, and that's the sort of thing I would have been interested in.

I went to a school reunion in 1997 and toured areas with old teachers that I'd never been in before, I don't recall seeing anything like that.

My brother went to Mundella, I'll no doubt be in touch with him shortly and I'll ask if he can throw some light on the subject.

[firbeck 859]

What an amazing coincidence, the minute I posted this, my brother rang.!! Unfortunately he has no memories of a WW2 plaque at Mundella GS or what might have happened to one if it existed. I gather that Mundella has been flattened, along with BGS and even William Sharp school, sad really, the erasure of our past.

[annswabey 599]

Don't suppose you mean the WW1 plaque from Mundella? There's information about it here - it was recovered from Portland School, Bilborough

http://www.mundella.org.uk/miscellany/79-service-of-rededication

[Moobug 3]

Ann - just out of interest, does the name Karin Thut ring any bells?

[annswabey 599]

Sorry, no, don't recognise the name. Why?!

[Moobug 3]

She's my Mum - she would have attended at the same time as you.

[annswabey 599]

Don't remember the name at all Moobug

[Moobug 3]

No worries - I think you would have been a year-group or two out.

[Mess 540]

Great read if you haven't seen it

http://bilboroughgrammar.tripod.com/1957-2000/part_i.htm

[annswabey 599]

Agreed, that site about the old place is really good and I still remember most of the teachers!

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Hello. Bilbraborn here. I went to Bilborough borstal sorry I mean Bilborough Grammar School. I was there from 1962 until 1967. I was off sick with pneumonia for most of the first term and never really caught up. I used to think it was all my fault. I was given loads of other pupils exercise books and told to copy up and learn it. It did not work. I loved history but Mr M Clarke in the first year had no patience with anyone who had got left behind and he terrified the hell out of me. Then the following year Mr Downing made history about as interesting as watching paint dry. So I dropped History when my options came up. Pity because history is my passion. If only I had a very patient teacher like Miss Cherry. Our first year form teacher also maths teacher was Miss Louden. What a madam!!! All the other first years had lovely teachers like Miss McFarlane and Miss Cherry but we had her. I dreaded registration. All this set the stage for a very rebellious pupil. Poor old Mr Pither the music teacher. I wish now that I had learnt music. Good teachers with bags of patience like the English teachers - Mr Robshaw, Miss Skedge and Mr Jacobs gave me an incentive to learn and drew out talents I did not know I had.

Anyway, enough of my wingeing. Firbeck was right. Williams was a total waste of space.

On the subject of Mundella, My brother was in at the beginning of BGS but started at Forest Fields until the new school was completed. The new school was supposed to be the new Mundella but at the (seemingly) last minute was changed to BGS. After most of the parents had bought their children a Mundella uniform. These things were not cheap and I think my brother had, through the years, a Forest Fields uniform, a Mundella Uniform and a BGS uniform.

In conclusion, I am still glad that I was part of an education that was probably the best in the world with exams that really stretched the knowledge of the children with qualifications that were at least worth something. We could add up, speak Queen's English and use our manners. The English teachers at BGS developed in me a real love and pride in the English Language which is still with me to this day. Shame about the history department.

Mike (Mr Chemistry) Robinson wrote a kind of book about the history of BGS and Bilborough College. I don't know how to obtain a copy.

[annswabey 599]

Mr Robinson's book is online here

http://bilboroughgrammar.tripod.com/1957-2000/index.html#0

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Great. I have my own copy. When he was compiling it he asked about for contribution so I put my bit in.

Mr Robinson was great with outings. He used to take us on hikes in the Peak District along with Mr Sullivan and Miss Skedge. He was also one of the main organisers of the Autumn half term youth hostelling trip around the Lake District.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Can anyone remember Miss Trail (RE) and her little Austin seven with the old fashioned running boards, and Miss Scott 6foot tall driving a mini.

[annswabey 599]

I don't remember any trips, apart from Geography Field Trips, although I didn't go on any.

Once, in DS, we had to invite a teacher to eat our specially prepared meal. My friend and I invited "Fruit" as he was known and he was very polite about it even though I'd missed out a vital ingredient! A great teacher - I had him for "O" Level Chemistry.

I did "A" Level History so I remember Mr Downing well - liked him, too, and didn't find him boring.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Mr Robinson was called Fruit but the name started as Fruitgum. Mr Rogers (History) was called Hamerabi then Hammers.

I liked Mr Downing but he bored the hell out of me.

Remember John Sillito (chemistry) he hated me.

[Commo 1,291]

Visited the School one evening in 1961 as part of the Bramcote Hills Grammar chess team for a match against Biborough. Can't remember the outcome but we probably lost, it was the first match we had ever played, and was also next to the last !!