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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only rules are: real names only, no personal attacks and no unrelated messages (inappropriate messages may be edited/withdrawn without warning).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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Viewing messages 231 to 240

Eric Moyse 1947 to 1953 | eric~DOT~moyse~AT~sky~DOT~com

Happy New Year to Mike and all contributors, especially Neale and Alex. Doreen and I are alive and well and living by the Thames. I have just caught up with emails back to this time last year when we were discussing the possiblity of a reunion . Let's hope it is possible this year.
Stay safe
Eric

Sat 16-Jan-2021 10:52 - Reading Berkshire

Robin Leslie | robin~DOT~leslie~AT~yahoo~DOT~com

Hello Bruce and a belated HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and all OBs of the High School for Boys. Thank you for the information about Billy Edgar, my parents knew his parents though I did not know that his father was Headmaster of Stanhope Road School. I know that you were in St. Peters Church Harton choir. Do you remember Ronnie Kemp, Wentworth Driver and Geoffrey Hilcoat? St. Peters was a very lively church in the 1940-50s with a lot of marriages between young people involved in the various activities there. The vicar was Henry Robertson who had a son Peter who went on to Durham School and Sybil. A curate arrived at St. Peters just before I left the choir in 1953, Rev Cole or Holy Coley as we called him, he married Joan White another choir member.
The choirmaster was a Mr. Davidson who started choir practice with a tuning fork.Keep in touch Bruce it would be good to hear from you, keep safe and well.

Fri 15-Jan-2021 12:02 - Surrey

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

Robin

Your wishes for the festive season and New Year are reciprocated.

Ian McDougall and Billy Edgar were both in my form throughout my time at the school. Ian's father was at the time head of the Chemistry Department; Ian went on to Liverpool University and had a career in the nuclear fuels industry. I don't know what happened to Billy Edgar but I do recall that his father was Headmaster at Stanhope Road school.

Sat 19-Dec-2020 15:20 - ruskington lincolnshie

Robin Leslie | robin~DOT~leslie~AT~yahoo~DOT~com

I knew both Ian McDougal and Billie Edgar at the High School between 1952-54
I also knew Ian Murray the criketer whose father taught at the High School and Ronnie Kemp the amateur operatic singer. Living in Surrey now but there are so many false values down here it's a very different world. I hope you all have a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A BRIGHT AND HOPEFUL NEW YEAR.

Tue 15-Dec-2020 21:01 - Cobham Surrey

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

Mike

I'm fascinated to know that There is a South Shields Boulevard in Oklahoma.

Some time ago I suggested that it would be good to know that today's students were being taught something of the heritage of their town.

On reflection, I don't remember my generation in the 1950s being taught much about our local history.

Plus ca change.

Sun 18-Oct-2020 15:48 - ruskington lincolnshie

Mike Todd | old~DOT~boys~AT~boyshighschool~DOT~co~DOT~uk

Thanks, Alex – I appreciate the concern, although I’m puzzled why the various emails didn’t get through. I don’t have any filtering at all on my various (actually 20!!) email addresses. But sometimes I do miss emails I’m afraid (although I check them many times a day).

I’ve never knew whether “John Rex” was a real name, a stage name or a nickname, or someone just drew that page and signed it “John Rex”, knowing that my Grandfather knew who it was.

But “John Rex” wasn’t unknown as a proper name [a curious aside: there is a John Rex school in Oklahoma, and it is on South Shields Boulevard]. Access to online archives is now a lot better than when I put that together (some 15+ years ago), but I still haven’t managed to identify him.

According to family lore, there is a second autograph album which ended up with my dad’s older brother. Supposedly it had the more well-known names, including Chaplin, Houdini, and Wilson Kepple and Betty. I wish I knew where it was today.

As you say, S Tyneside is something of a hotspot – in fact the whole of the NE is in a bad way. I really don’t think people understand the serious potential of this virus.

In that autograph album is a cutting from a newspaper c1968, and it has a highlighted paragraph: Someone has said that evil entered the world when the first man began to talk about 'my' and 'mine'. It seems to be true that selfishness is at the root of most of our troubles, national as well as personal.

I hope everyone stays safe through these difficult times.

Sun 11-Oct-2020 11:42 - Rothbury

Alex Patterson VUA 1946-1951 | ad1935ap~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hello Mike,
It’s Sunday, 11 October and I, like everyone else, was delighted and relieved to read your recent response to Alan Whitaker. I too had sent messages to any of your various email addresses I found on the internet. None of which proved to be successful. We were worried about you, Mike, hoping you hadn’t “popped your clogs”, however it is nice to hear that all is well with you despite COVID-19.
I must say I spent an interesting time looking at all the entries you have on the net trying to find an email address that worked. I spent some time looking at the photos you’ve taken around Rothbury in the different seasons. One of the items that really interested me was the Queens Theatre article and its attachments, particularly your grandfather’s autograph book. I found it really fascinating to read about his background as Musical Director for the theatre for the whole time the Queens was in existence. I was intrigued by the illustration in the book on page 67 by one of the performers “John Rex”. I think it’s meant to be the signature of King John at Runnymede, but a most unusual addition to an autograph book. Your grandfather must have been a “people person” judging by the warmth of the comments and effort the performers in contributing to the book.
I subscribe to the Shields Gazette and see that South Tyneside is one of the Covid ‘hotspots’ and people are complaining about pubs closing for safety concerns. When the curve started to flatten out some people in Toronto went berserk and crowded the beaches here with more people than normally go...and of course we had a spike a couple of weeks later...with some claiming “It’s my right not to wear a mask.”
Anyhow we’re hunkering down like everyone else and trying to take care of ourselves; we trust that all the other old geezers all over the world are doing the same. We are blessed with having family around us and one of our sons-in-law is a fabulous cook and has been providing us with cooked suppers at least twice a week since March. He provides enough food for two meals each time..thinks we’re gannets.
Take care everyone and as is said here frequently, “Have a good one.”
Alex Patterson,
North York,
Ontario,
Canada.

Sun 11-Oct-2020 05:34 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Mike Todd

Alan - that's the only one I can remember.

Tue 29-Sep-2020 22:22

Alan Whittaker(53-59) | alan~DOT~diwhittaker~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Does anyone remember what the kids from other schools called us?

"High School bloaters
Rusty motors
Cannot swim without a floater"

Sun 27-Sep-2020 12:16 - Langford Budville

Alan Whittaker(53-59) | alan~DOT~diwhittaker~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Great start Bruce! The Sutton Estate was well represented at the High School. A near neighbour of yours on Quarry Lane was George Robinson, he registered on the contacts list but hasn't kept in touch.Moving to Watson Ave,in addition to Neale, I remember Billy Wheel,Alan Smith, Donald Ward, George Lowery and Malcolm Cottenham to name but a few!
With regard to the buses I seem to remember that ,initially, the trolley buses couldn't get up to Marsden and would turn round in Carden Ave (at the bottom of Fremantle Rd) to back into town.The Trolley Bus was the no.11 and the 20 min motor bus from the top of Watson Ave was the no.33 I think.

Fri 17-Jul-2020 16:28 - Langford Budville

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