Old Boys, Girls and Teachers Guestbook

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Welcome to the Guestbook
Feel free to add messages relating to the site and the school. The only rules are: real names only, no personal attacks and no unrelated messages (inappropriate messages may be edited/withdrawn without warning).

It would be appreciated if you gave an email address, where you now live and said when you were at the school, but you don't have to.

Plase note that if you click on an email address below you will need to replace ~DOT~ with . and ~AT~ with @ in your email program. The Guestbook presents these this way to avoid email address harvesters collecting your email addresses from the page. I know it's a pain, but it's very much better than the alternative.

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There are 500 messages in the guestbook
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Viewing messages 371 to 380

Dennis Maccoy | dennismaccoytyne~AT~aol~DOT~com

During my time at the school (1959-64) the dining room moved to a new building to the north-east of the main building, adjecent to Lisle Road. I think that the site of the previous dining room became the sixth form centre. Google Earth currently shows a building on the site of the "new" dining room, but I don't think it's the same building.

Sat 22-Mar-2014 21:11 - South Shields

Bruce Graham | bsgraham~AT~btinternet~DOT~com

When I joined in 1950 the "Dining Room" was a prefab building opposite the front of the school, towards the Lisle Road entrance. The food could be best described as "average" but this was in the era of severe rationing.

I think that Mike has previously queried the location of the dining hall??

Looking at today's facilities it is a completely different world. I bet they even have a vegetarian option!!

Wed 19-Mar-2014 19:57 - Ruskington, Lincolnshire

Ed. Forster | r2edforster~AT~live~DOT~ca

Re memories, I was at the school '37 to '42 & do not recall a dining room. Perhaps it's because I lived at Lisle Road & always ate at home. I do not recall any female teachers or girls at the school. I do recall getting whacked after being caught smoking out in the play ground. Always had a rotten memory, It seems to me that home work, classwork & exams were just memory tests, only learned anything after going to night school off & on for eight years.

Wed 19-Mar-2014 15:57 - Sunny but cold PEI

Eric Moyse | eric~DOT~moyse~AT~sky~DOT~com

Thanks Alex
Hope you are well by the way.
Within that trip down memory lane you mentioned grace. We did say grace and it was of the accelerating type. It went "Bless us O Lord and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen".
The acceleration began round about the word "receive" so that grace ended in a gabble as all the behinds hit the seats(or were they benches?)and the wolfing began.

Wed 19-Mar-2014 09:48 - Reading, England

Alex Patterson, '46-'51, VUA | alexpatterson~AT~videotron~DOT~ca

Hello Mike,
We don’t seem to have had a topic for a while...so here goes.
The Dining Room.
Does anyone remember anything in detail about it? Did we have to pay and was it available to all pupils or, like the scouts and form photos, only open to the A Form pupils. Was it cafeteria style, or were we served at the table by the dinner ladies. Were there long tables or tables for four, did we have tablecloths and napkins?
I get my ‘dining rooms’ mixed up, confusing the RAF mess hall, with the Outward Bound School (OBS)and the High School. Details elude me. School life to me was like an impressionist painting, whereas to people like Michael and Neale, their school days must be like ultra-realistic paintings with all the details finely portrayed so that they can draw upon their memories at the drop of a hat.
I’m frequently surprised at the things former pupils remember and how often their memories trigger off something in the inner reaches of my grey matter.
I remember one of the dining rooms, maybe the OBS, where the meat was pre-served on the plates at each seat and the old hands at the game would run in, pick up a fork and spear as many pieces of meat as possible when running to their seat. Or was it the High School?
I think there was always a teacher on duty and I think we said Grace before each meal. Were the meals good? My Mum was not a good cook and I tended to look on any meal outside as being delicious. People in the RAF couldn’t believe it when I wolfed down anything that was served out.
I vaguely remember one of the dinner ladies, who was like a shorter and plumper version of Ma Goudie, She was always very pleasant and tolerant of the boys who ate there and would often offer a second portion. I used to call her Mrs. Cannybody; that was a term my Grandma used for any kindly lady and it certainly applied to her. Perhaps someone out there with a photographic memory would remember her and could answer some of these questions.
It’s --17C right now, with 15-20 cm of snow on the way tomorrow but spring is on the way.
Regards from a cool and dry Montreal,
Alex

Wed 19-Mar-2014 02:59 - Montreal, Canada

Ivan Collinson | iccollinson~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Thanks for all the info gathered here. I remember all of the people in the photographs and it is a great trip down memory lane. Would love to know where any of them are now.

Mon 24-Feb-2014 15:55 - Isle of Wight

Bob Snelgrove | rob~DOT~sidmth~AT~virgin~DOT~net

I attended the school from 1933 to 1942.

Does anyone remember my name?

We now live in Devon.

Sat 8-Feb-2014 13:04 - United Kingdom

Alex Patterson, '46-'51, VUA | alexpatterson~AT~videotron~DOT~ca

Hello Katherin,
I didn't know your family, but I see that there are some twenty 'Fletts' shown in the school photos. If you click on "photos" in the menu, then on to "name index to formal school photos" you will come across the names which then lead to Flett photos through the years.
Good Luck,

Mon 20-Jan-2014 15:17 - Montreal, Canada

Katherin Flett | muddypaws04~AT~hotmail~DOT~com

Hello everyone, I just wondered if any of you knew/know anything about the Fletts who attended school here in the 1960's? Thank you, Katherin

Sat 18-Jan-2014 20:38 - Suffolk

From Mike T: Hi Katherin - not quite sure what information you want, but there were (as Alex has pointed out) several Fletts through the 60s as listed in the names index. As far as I can see, all the 50s and 60s Fletts are listed there.

Neale Backhouse '46 to '51 | nealebackh~AT~gmail~DOT~com

I have some sad news to start the New Year I'm afraid. I have heard from my daughter in law that Lance Bedlington (SSHS 1946-1951) passed away around the turn of the year.
Lance and I began our apprenticeships together in the drawing office at John Readhead, Shipbuilders, in South Shields in August 1951. Lance's eventual career path took him to Hong Kong,Fiji and finally to Ontario, Canada, where he was employed as an Inspector with the Transportation Safety Board. Lance's immediate family live in Ontario and in one of those incredible coincidences that can occur in a lifetime, my daughter in law, who hails from Ottawa, took horse riding lessons as a young girl, with Lance's daughter (many years before she met my son Eric, here in Victoria). Thus the contact has been maintained through Nicole's parents, living in Ottawa.
I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to Lance's wife, Marjorie and her immediate family at this sad time.

Tue 14-Jan-2014 03:07 - Victoria BC Canada

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