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Loxton School and Bloomsbury St

I didn't go to Loxton Street as a kid, but my dad taught there, from 1933 until about 1956 (less 4 years in the RAF), and I remember many of the other teachers. Sam Hartshorne was the headmaster after Len Griffiths retired in about 1942. He was quiter a character, and used to write grown-up plays for the old BBC steam radio, as well as doing stuff for Children's Hour. He lived in Sutton, and I remember his hospitality very well.
Harold Martin, mainly the craft teacher, specialised in woodwork and metalwork, but he was a good fiddle player (not to mention the greenhouse he built to encourage the lads to develop their green fingers) , and trained as a teacher with my dad at Saltley College in the very early 30s. I was brought up to call him Uncle Birdie, and his kids called my dad Uncle Felix.
There are quite a few recollections of Loxton Street on other threads I believe - you should try the search engine. I have come in contact with quite a few people here who remember the school, my dad, and in one case even me.
Peter
 
Bazzm: Thanks for the sentiment. In spite of your youth(!) please consider yourself a MATE of this other Loxtonian...

Cheers,

Jim
 
GER22VAV: Hello again. I well remember popular "Daddy" Walker, the art teacher and talented pianist, whose renderings on the piano used to march us back to our classrooms after morning assembly.

I also remember Mr. Martin, who used to teach geometry and woodwork. He wasn't quite so popular. He lost his temper too easily, especially if you weren't very bright, and I recall a sharp clout across the head because I had made a wrong projection in a Geometry lesson...

I'm not sure about the other teachers you mention. One or two of them may have been at Lokko at the same time but - as I have just mentioned - I'm not very bright, and don't have any vivid recall of teachers I wasn't taught by.

My memory comes to life with names like George Grove ("Groggy") - another popular one... And can see some teachers' faces but not their names. Ah well! This aging business is a curse...!

Mind you, I did manage to finish as school captain and was the main runabout for "Dickie" Griffiths - who was headmaster at the time.

I have aleady mentioned in another post that Mr. Griffiths made out my school leaving certificate to "John" Pedley, instead of the correct christion name, James, because - at the time - there was a song came out called "Johnny Pedlar" and that's what he used to call me...

And that's why he slipped up and made out the certificate to "John".

Cheers,

Jim Pedley (pedlarman)
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Hi! Jim, When I went to Loxton there was a silver haired lady who was Head Mistress of the school. She used to play the Mandolin and once a week she would have one of the classes sitting on the floor in that large assembly hall just to hear her play. I only remember that the classrooms were around the assembly hall and there was a balconey upstairs with classrooms around it to. I can't recall any of the teachers names.

Have a nice day, Wally.
 
Jim. I remember all those names apart from one - the games teacher. A teacher I missed was Mr Bond the religious teacher ( Very Strict like Mr Martin.) I can remember most of their faces. There should be a couple of photographs somewhere on one of the threads.
 
Wally. I guess you may be talking about the junior school.
The senior school was also as you described with D and C first year followed by B second and third year. downstairs fourth year B and A as I remember them.
 
It's a pity I left home almost 50 years ago now, after my mum died and my dad remarried. We had a lot of photos of Loxton Street and other things, which I never saw again, as I didn't get on very well with my stepmother, and had no souvenirs, other than from my grandmother, who outlived my dad by three years. Among the pictures was a very good one of Mr Bond - I think they called him Wally, but I'm not sure. I seem to remember he was a big man, built like policemen used to be, and didn't he have a west country accent?
I got on well with Jimmy Rome who taught at the school (except for a spell of military service in the war) and a few years after. He was a very lively character, and must have been a good teacher. I remember he took me up to Ellesmere Port for the day, and we came with his girl friend back to Brum for the Easter week end in 1947.
Peter
 
Peter. Mr Bond as you say was a big man and although I said he was strict I believe he was most probably a kind man, I quite think he could put any man in his place but not violent of coarse. There should be a photograph of him posted from a newspaper clip by the name of " Goodby Locko ." somewhere on a thread. He came from Cornwall as chaps used to laugh about him ( not to his face I dare say ) quoting " When I was down in Cornwall ". I could never forget it.
 
wallyb71 said:
Hi! Jim, When I went to Loxton there was a silver haired lady who was Head Mistress of the school. She used to play the Mandolin and once a week she would have one of the classes sitting on the floor in that large assembly hall just to hear her play. I only remember that the classrooms were around the assembly hall and there was a balconey upstairs with classrooms around it to. I can't recall any of the teachers names.

Have a nice day, Wally.
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Hi, Wally,

Thanks for coming back to me. I guess you must have started Lokko at the Junior school, as we didn't have a female headm(aster!) when I was there.

But it's nice to know we have something in common - good old Loxton Street...!

Cheers,

Jim Pedley (pedlarman)
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Peter Walker said:
It's a pity I left home almost 50 years ago now, after my mum died and my dad remarried. We had a lot of photos of Loxton Street and other things, which I never saw again, as I didn't get on very well with my stepmother, and had no souvenirs, other than from my grandmother, who outlived my dad by three years. Among the pictures was a very good one of Mr Bond - I think they called him Wally, but I'm not sure. I seem to remember he was a big man, built like policemen used to be, and didn't he have a west country accent?
I got on well with Jimmy Rome who taught at the school (except for a spell of military service in the war) and a few years after. He was a very lively character, and must have been a good teacher. I remember he took me up to Ellesmere Port for the day, and we came with his girl friend back to Brum for the Easter week end in 1947.
Peter
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Peter,

I have sent you a post in the past - rather a long one, which ruminated for quite a length on Loxton Street Senior Boys. But I had only just become a member of Heartlands and was fumbling a bit with posting methods, so I think my post was lost in the maelstrom...!

But in my post I certainly didn't forget to sing the praises of your popular father - who was affectionately nicknamed "Daddie" by us wartime urchins...

And I shall never forget his talents on the piano, when his music used to march us back to our classrooms after Assembly. I know he was a talented artist, too, and I remember - long after I left school - that I came across a report that he had produced a book of drawings of Fuschias, a flower he was crazy about...

I also remember that Mr. Grove (nickname "Groggie") also had a craze - Roses - and this craze used to help us get out of Maths lessons; one of us would stand up and ask Mr. Grove a question about roses. By the time "Groggie" had finished answering the question and enlarging on the subject there was no time left for Maths!

Incidentally, I notice that in one of your posts you bracketed a query after headmaster, Mr Griffiths' first name, which you had (mistakenly) noted as Les. I was captain of the school at that time and spent a little time doing errands for Mr. Griffiths. As a result I had seen that he always signed his documents as: Leo Griffiths - short for Leonard, I suppose. And I believe you did pick this up in a later post.

But I could go on and on. It's nice to know I am in contact with the son of one of my old teachers...

Regards,

Jim Pedley (pedlarman)
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for anyone interested if you go to carl chinns birmingham lives site and type in loxton school in the search box there is a pic of a 1940 senior leaving certificate...

astoness
 
Re: loxton st boys ,bloomsbury st.school.

HI MY NAME IS bARBARA AND I REMEMBER ALL THOSE TEACHERS AT BLOOMSBURY SR GIRLS SCHOOL.
 
I was at Loxton Street from 1958 - 1964. I honestly can't remember too much about the junior school, apart from it was seperated from the seniors, by a wall and gate in the playground. When I went to the seniors the head was a nasty little oik called Parker (I think). He had a Hitler complex I'm sure, he wore a little moustache and really enjoyed using the stick. He had one with a steel tip that he used sometimes. I remember Mr Martin teaching woodwork and Mr. Wells, who had a big black beard and taught History I think. I remember three RE teachers, Mr.Evans, nasty little welsh man. Mr. Mulraney, who shared his love of classical music with me and others at lunchtimes. The third I cannot for the life of me remember his name but, he was fantastic. He was a big man with white hair and some facial hair sometimes, he would easily get sidetracked, or so we thought, into talking about his experiences in the trenches during the first world war. He always managed to relate what he had been talking about, to what would have been the bible lesson. Yes he was well over the age of retirement. He had one of those voices that could have been used to comment on the radio about the cricket.
I seem to remember that the initiation into seniors was to get thrown over the wall between seniors playground and the juniors.
 
Reading through these posts has brought back some memories and some names. Roy Vincent, Robert Snookes, Graham Hughes, Roy Clark?, unsure of first name for some reason, Roy James, Johnny Clanahan, Ivor Butler, Les Broadley, Chris Husbands and Mickey Gunn. There was a kid with us for awhile whose name was Royston, a sickly kid as I remember.

When we moved to Duddeston Manor Bi-Lateral, we were joined by the girls from Bloomsbury St. June Ravenscroft, Linda Baker, Linda Taylor, Janet Green and Janet Marsden are the ones I recall.
We were also joined by Barry Ibadullah. Man could he cook. I do believe his family owned a butchers shop towards the top of Great Lister Street.

Just had a brainwave. For Roy James it should read Paul James.
 
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My Mum who lived in Cato St. went to Loxton St, probably in 1923 and always had bad memories of her time there as a little child. As a sensitive, artistic, musical, dancer she needed something different and eventually found it through a private education and a career in Classical Ballet. My grand parents must have made enormous sacrifices for her eventually buying a house in Washwood Heath for her to open her own Dancing school in 1940. 'Ragleth' is still there.
 
Good morning, sorry for the ridiculous hour communication, but I was on line to family abroad! I just came across your post about the Ragleth dancing school in Washwood Heath. I recall it was run by Miss Lennon and her mom Mrs Lennon was our resident costume make and her sewing room was in the attic of the house from what I recall. We would be measured up and kitted out in there for our annual shows etc. The ground floor dance studio had proper sprung wooden floors, with a tray of resin gravel in the corner which we would step in to make our dance shoes less slippery! We had a pianist (her name slips me) who also worked in/owned the corner shop on Warren Road/Leigh Road. Our changing room was based on the first floor then up a flight or two to the attic room. I started there in around 1965 and left in around 1970. I started a grammar school and my father couldnt see how it was possible for to have dance lessons twice a week and study!?! Great times though, i loved it and it was a confidence booster. I look back at my years with miss Lennon with much fondness. As you rightly state, the house is still there with the original wall and Ragleth engraved stone. It is now a private house.
 
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