Recommended Posts

Hi Mick, yes there are,but like me they don't visit to often,not such a good site.

hippo girl,I was there from 1960-64,read your posts about an old teacher we had called Stuart,used to slobber and spray,when he got exited,tried to be the tough guy.But when you have a class of 15 year old boys,hey! It aint gonna happen.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Mudgie49,

Yes I will admit to being at Beeston Fields Secondary Modern school. My years of learning started in 1947 and lasted until 1952, it was a tough school with a reputation for doling out the cane (of which I had my share). Teachers of that era I remember included:- Mr Roberts (headmaster), Mr Cottam, Mr Connop, Mr Houghton, Mr Hill (metalwork), Mr Wilcox (may have been Wilcoxon in woodwork) Mr Long, Miss Gresham, Mr Appleton and many more who's names elude me at the moment.

When you were there did they still have the annual staff versus pupils football and cricket matches?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi rilanda,

recognise all the names but two,no we never had the chance to kick the crap out of staff members,obviously got wise to it Yes old 'Pop' Roberts enjoyed dishing out the cane,and his staff slapping and punching pupils.Imagine that today,assault,grievious bodily harm, they would all be up before the bench. Not been back to Beeston for 25 years or more,I see the changes from the internet web sites.Alot of the old pubs seem to have survived.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hippo Girl.

I went to Beeston Fields Junior School.

68 I think it was. The teachers I remember were 'Ma' Taylor and the very unpleasant 'Pop' Hall. The Secondary School was only seperated from us by a railing in the playground, and I think they used our playing field too (such as it was).

What's the story now with that Beeston Fields site, has it all gone ?

There was a primary school there too.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 6 months later...

I was alerted to the fact that there is a picture of the class I was in at Beeston Fields Junior:

http://www.friendsreunited.com/beeston-fields-junior-school-notts/Memory/6d986c44-4c9b-4da5-a536-09a97c473224

What shocked me about this is that I'm actually in the picture. I had no knowledge of it at all.

Was able to name about half of the kids there, then found that there was a very useful caption feature giving a lot of the names.

Someone must have known me because I was correctly captioned!

Link to post
Share on other sites

37 kids in a class...ridiculous.How can you give students individual tuition when the class is that size? None of them will be able to read write or count will they? and there will be a total lack of discipline.

At least that's what the so called experts tell us today...funny how wrong they are 'aint it?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Barclaycon, for some reason I can't return your PM....Mick what is going on ?..........my bro was at Beeston fields at that time but think he was in pop Halls class, but some of the faces look familiar from bramcote hills days !!!!!!

Poohbear, you are so right, when I started teaching in inner city Manchester, some classes had 50 pupils but they all could read and write when they left .....

Link to post
Share on other sites

40-50 in a class was common in the 50's, probably due to teacher shortages or just too many women having kids?? I don't think class sizes held me up, it's not the size of the class, it's the quality of teaching.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, and that too Mick, but also remember, we had discipline at home too, so complaining about getting the cane or strap at school to Dad, usually ended up with a slap from him too...LOL

Oddly enough, an interesting teacher rarely had to discipline his pupils!! I don't think Old Joe used his strap very often, nor did our headmaster Mr Jewel when he was taking classes during the annual flu season..

Link to post
Share on other sites

One of the issues about large classes was the decision to raise school-leaving age to 15 shortly after the war, which also gave rise to a nationwide shortage of classroom accommodation. This was relieved by the introduction of HORSA class rooms - Hut Operation for Raising School-leaving Age. I suppose you could say it was a typical government lash-up - make a bold heroic far-reaching decision, and not think about the implications until afterwards. I remember reading that at my junior school - Brooklands in Long Eaton - the fearsome Miss Grace Thompson had a class of 72 one year. And she didn't have classroom assistants either.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 5 months later...

Billy Winters was my good buddy, out of the three,although I did hang out with the other two guys.

Now I am intrigued as to who you are in the real world.PM me if it's all 'hush hush'' or if your'e on a 'wanted' poster some where. :biggrin:

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...