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Golden Hillock Road School

tali

tali

master brummie
Any ex pupils about -please spread the word

Golden Hillock School in Sparkhill, Birmingham was opened on 14th November 1910.
to kick start the celebration we will be holding a "School Reunion" community event for ex pupils.

WEDNESDAY 9TH DECEMBER 7-8:30PM

Entrance will be £1- refreshments will also be available
please reserve your pla...ce via contacts details.

As part of the evening and in readiness for our century year we are looking in to the history of the school. We know that when the school opened it was divided in to three: Boys, Girls and infants. Then in 1930 it became Junior & Infant and Boys. So what happened to the girls?

If anyone has any information on the history of the school, or bits of memorabilla (photos or old school uniform) we would be grateful if you could contact the school or attend the event.

Telephone: 0121 773 8156

Email: community@goldenhillock.bham.sch.uk
 
Only found this website in the new year. Myself and 1 of my 2 brothers attended Golden Hillock primary school,it would have been 1960 -69 ish.We had a headmistress called Miss Brookes
and some of the other teachers I remember are ;Mr Lang,Mr Price,Mrs Hall,Miss Jay and not forgetting Mrs harrison who unsuccessfully taught me how to knit!
 
You could have counted me in if I didn't live so far away. I was there in the early 60's and I particularly remember Miss Brookes and Mr. Price.
KP
 
Nope bit before my, ahem, youthful time.Anyone recall Mr Tompkison art Teacher as he was longest serving?
The BBC did a docu in mid 80s on the school(it was only shown the one time).Sadly can't find any records/listings for the documentary.
 
The school was built by Worcester County Counci, Sparkhill and other districts like Yardley only became part of Birmingham in 1911. Len. GOLDEN HILLOCK COUNTY PRIMARY SCHOOL, Sparkhill.(27) Golden Hillock Rd. Council Sch. opened 1910 by Worcs. C.C. Accom. 1,260 B, G, I. Science room provided 1920. Reorganized 1930 for SB, JI. Nursery class held 1942–9. SB dept. became a separate sch. 1945 (21) (see next sch.). Name changed 1954. Accom. 1961: 13 classrooms, 2 halls.(28) (For a full history of the school see B. M. Bowker, Golden Hillock Boys, 1910 to 1960).
 
When I attended Golden Hillock primary school,early to late 1960's,in my class were some of the names of ''a kingdom''=King,Bishop,Castle,Page(think there were 2 of these
,I was a Wright.This would have been when in Mr Lang's class.I can picture both him and Mr Price.Both wore specs but Mr Lang was tall and Mr Price shorter.
Wasn't Mr price the one who organised the school plays?remember being in a production of Ali baba.We sang ''String him up from the nearest lamp post''- wouldn't be allowed to be said let alone sung, nowadays!
Miss Jacob and Miss Jay sisters who taught there and to distinguish between them(otherwise there would have been 2 Miss Jacobs' at the school),the last name was changed?
Was there a Miss Bellamy who accidently cut her finger off with a paper cutting Guillotine?Or was that just an urban myth?
And I remember losing sleep after being told a ghost story in class ,by what would have been a student teacher!
Ahh,those were the days!
 
I was a pupil at Golden Hillock Primary School from about 1951/2 until 1958. The headmistress was Miss Burwood who had been there for years. My other teachers included Miss Joshua, Miss Pargeter, Mrs Bayliss, Mr Barnett; there was also a Miss Tomlinson who has spent a year in Australia; when she came back we had Australia morning, noon and night. Also in Coronation year we did little else but draw pictures of the impending coronation and all its paraphernalia. I lived on Osborn Road at that time. I remember Jean Lawday, Marilyn Stammers, Peter Maskell, Robert Baker.
 
I wished I had known of this reunion. Would have loved to have visited the old school taking with me such lovely memories of the 1950s/early 1960s when Mr Bloxham was Head Teacher. Such a lovely man. Still have my school photo and Leaving Certificate.
Robert Barker, formerly Bertha Road, Greet.
 
Me and my brother John both went to Golden Hillock School till we were bombed out ( Roderick Road ) in 1941, We then moved to Hollywood but both returned to the area to work down the road at the BSA.
 
Robert Barker said:
I wished I had known of this reunion. Would have loved to have visited the old school taking with me such lovely memories of the 1950s/early 1960s when Mr Bloxham was Head Teacher. Such a lovely man. Still have my school photo and Leaving Certificate.
Robert Barker, formerly Bertha Road, Greet.
Click to expand...

There is a major one planned this year - will let you know asap when i have more details
 
i went to gh first in the infants 1958 right through to seniors 1969 and then the girls came and it became a comprehensie , left in 1970' i remember mr tomkinson he ran a great school club every wednesday night, mr scott football teacher, mr timms -metalwork -mr oddy-woodwork, mr travers his false teeth fell out during a rant and because we all laughed he caned the whole class, mr mathews- music, mr minton -get him talking about the war and no science lesson. would love, details please of a school reunion, was at last assembly when boys school shut down and mr bloxham collapsed on the stage, through emotion , mr flowers was \80 years old in 1965 and would read his diary to us, great people at the time melvin colley ,geof humpage, steve hancocks , peter satterthwaite, gerald bird, paul grindrod charlie worrall, remember miss hadley school seceraty football training before school started on the bsa fields,
 
All the recent publicity about Golden Hillock Road School has reminded me that, during the worst of the Birmingham Blitz, my later elder brother, Frank Shaw, saved the school from what might have been a very serious fire.

He was about 17 at the time and used to wander around near where we lived at 21 Ansell Road when the air raids were on (most nights for a time!!!) helping ARP wardens to fight incendiary bomb fires or any such incidents. He saw an incendiary bomb drop onto the school and so, armed with some sort of long-handled scoop, he climbed a drainpipe and scooped the bomb onto the concrete playground below where it burned out safely, helped by shovel loads of sand.

We pupils thought he should have let it burn but instead he saved it for future generations to have a good and BALANCED education. It must have been a pretty decent school then because another brother, Tony, and I managed to pass the entrance exam for King Edward V1 Grammar School, Camp Hill, despite being evacuated twice (to first Worcester and then Hartpury, Glos, and all the terrible disruption of the bombing.)

Of course in those days our education up to the age of 10/11 was very basic and 'old fashioned', namely the three Rs....Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic...then the educational wiseacres came along and 'modernised' the curriculum. All I will say is that I went on the earn a living as a journalist for about 64 years into my 79th year so I still believe that the 'old fashioned' method was best....good old Golden Hillock Road school. I do hope they sort out its current problems.
 
I well remember the incendiary incident. I was in the juniors at the time. Had no idea of your brother. Good or him. Although at the time, we as school kids were probably hoping that the school burned down! We lived in Anderton Road, and like you in Ansell Road, we were surrounded by Geman targets. B.S.A, Serck Radiators, Singer Motors, Bakelite Company, Tyseley Engine sheds, Small Heath goods yard. Quite a few bombed houses where the bombs were well off target.

Eddie
 
Shawcross said:
Of course in those days our education up to the age of 10/11 was very basic and 'old fashioned', namely the three Rs....Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic...then the educational wiseacres came along and 'modernised' the curriculum. All I will say is that I went on the earn a living as a journalist for about 64 years into my 79th year so I still believe that the 'old fashioned' method was best....good old Golden Hillock Road school. I do hope they sort out its current problems.
Click to expand...


Shawcross,

There must have been some value to the old system of the 3 R's, considering the numbers of school leavers today who reportedly cannot manage any of the three with competency.
 
...thanks for the response Eddie...I knew Anderton Road very well of course...I published a book called MA SHAWS WARS about wartime life in that area...do you remember the Fallows Road fire when the Queens Gravy Salts factory burned down...and the terrible night when the BSA
was hit?
 
Very well, Ken. If I recall it right, the bombing of the BSA on the corner of Armoury Road and Golden Hillock Road was so bad that they had to entomb about 22 of the people killed in the rebuild. Correct me if I am wrong. Also played in the ruins and the large water crater left by the bombing of the Queens Gravy Salt factory. May I also say congratulations in managing to leave Golden Hillock Road School for Camp Hill King Edwards. Quite an achievement in war time conditions. I recall another Golden Hillock Road boy that went to King Edwards in Camp Hill, who later became a journalist for either the Evening Despatch or Birmingham Mail and other media, and came from around Ansell Road/Osbourne Road area. I cannot remember his name, but are you any relation or former colleague? Hopefully I have got my facts right. Eddie.
 
. May I also say congratulations in managing to leave Golden Hillock Road School for Camp Hill King Edwards. Quite an achievement in war time conditions. I recall another Golden Hillock Road boy that went to King Edwards in Camp Hill, who later became a journalist for either the Evening Despatch or Birmingham Mail and other media, and came from around Ansell Road/Osbourne Road area. I cannot remember his name, but are you any relation or former colleague? Hopefully I have got my facts right. Eddie.[/QUOTE]

Eddie,

Have you not read the No 1 posting on this thread?

Old Boy
 
...it's one and the same person lads. Having gone to Camp Hill I had to leave because my dad was dying of cancer. I started work as a messenger boy on the old Evening Despatch two days before my 15th birthday on April 5 1948 and
remained in journalism in all.manner of different roles until September 2013. I've been very happily married for
58 years and have a very large family so I've been pretty darned lucky and was given a great start in life by Golden Hillock.And thanks very much for remembering....best wishes...Dennis Shaw
 
Dennis Shaw. That's the name, and you are the man! You are the journalist that I was thinking of. I recall you leaving Golden Hillock Road. Again, if I am correct,you would be slightly older than me. I am now 81. You covered sports etc, and I following your columns until I left "Brum". You also undertook TV media work I believe. Forgive me if not entirely correct, but the old brain works well sometimes. eddie
 
My initial reply to this doesn't seem to have landed, Eddie, so to repeat in case it got lost in cyber space, I'm the same age as you, 81, so we could have been in the same final class of the juniors. The teacher was named Mr Watson and he didn't like me very much because I wasn't always well behaved!!! I think he was a bit surprised when I passed for grammar school. Probably I was as well!!! Anyway your memory is very good...from 1966-1978 I wrote for the Birmingham Mail and did a bit of radio (the old Midland region before local radio) and TV (for ATV but I wasn't very good in front of a live camera so it didn't last. I then worked for Birmingham City (1978-1983) before getting the sack (by Ron Saunders) and became a freelance journalist doing all sorts of media work until I retired in my 79th year. I also commented in that previous reply (that seems to have got lost) that we were in Norfolk last week-end for a jazz festival in Mundesley. Hope your life has been pretty good as a Brummie in East Anglia. Best wishes....Dennis Shaw
 
Thank you Dennis. Everything has landed now!! We live close to Cromer & Sheringham, and having spent my whole life as a working musician, it was also our intention to be at the Mundesley Jazz Festival. Sadly my 94 year old mother in law died on the Tuesday, so we cancelled the trip. I vaguely remember Mr Watson at Golden Hilllock Road. names that I recall as Golden Hillock Road pupils were Alf Bevin (a great pianist), went on to be MD for ITT, and Basil Wainwright, who went on to be all sorts of things!! I played the Birmingham jazz clubs in the 50's with Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes etc, and I also worked with the Midland All Stars Big Band from 76/78. I would be interested in knowing about your book and wartime experiences. Regards, Eddie Haynes.
 
WOW! How interesting is that? I would have loved to be a 'working musician'. Paper and comb was about my limit but I would have loved to be a jazz/swing drummer. My dad called me Mr Tapperton because when my brother Tony(also ex-Golden Hillock Road and Camp Hill) listened to music on the old wireless I had to be tapping out the rhythm. Still the same now. We go to the Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club at Walmley Social Club every Wednesday and another on Sunday lunchtime in Coventry. Mundesley was our second jazz week-end and there will be more. John Petters does a great job at Mundesley assembling soloists rather than bands and then mixing them up into different combinations and styles. What instrument did you play? I could well have seen you in those bands you played in in those post-war years. We used to watch the likes of Freddie Randall, Humphrey Lyttelton, Ted Heath and so on at the Birmingham Town Hall. Also, just after the war, they started to have big band concerts at the Odeon Warley on a Sunday afternoon FREE. We used to go on the Quinton 9 bus along Hagley Road and see the likes of Vic Lewis, the Squadronaires, Billy Ternent and others.

I don't remember Alf Bevin but I knew Basil Wainwright. His family kept the electrical shop on the corner of Walford Road and Medlicott Road. He was one of the pioneers of cycle speedway on the fields in Golden Hillock Road, before a housing estate was built there, and became one of the sport's stars I believe.

My book: I started to put down an account of being kids brought up in the thick of the war and the Birmingham Blitz so that my growing tribe of grandchildren and great grandchildren could understand that it was a little bit different to THEIR upbringing. It was to be called The Blitz Kids but it developed more about my wonderful mum who had seen her menfolk killed in WW1 and then her sons serving in WW2 so it became Ma Shaw's Wars and I discovered that you could self-publish inexpensively so it came out about two years ago. It didn't sell a lot but it was featured by Carl Chinn in his Radio WM programme and in his Brummagem Magazine. It's still available on Amazon (that's not a sales pitch BTW...)

I'm rambling now aren't I?....Lovely to be in touch with you Eddie. let's exchange more chit-chat, eh? Best wishes....Dennis
 
Hello Dennis. The field behind Golden Hillock Road School we referred to as "The allotments". Don't ask me why. Although I often rode my bike over there, I never tangled with Basil. he had no second thoughts about getting passed you by any means. Off the track we were good friends. This also reminds me that another large industrial factory behind Golden Hillock Road School was the James Motorbike Company. They used the fields for testing purposes. Having left Birmingham nearly sixty years ago I had no idea the fields were now a housing estate. We lived in Leicestershire for 23 years, but I would travel back to "Brum" for "gigs". I play drums. There is much more to say about our past associations, interests, and lives, but perhaps this is not the spot for it. I will try and send you a personal message via the website. Regards, Eddie
 
OK Eddie. We're away from Thursday for about 10 days...so if I go quiet that's why. JAZZ drummer!!!! Can't believe it...Dennis
 
Basil Wainwright is he same one who duped Noel Edmonds ?
I recall the premises on Walford Road and Medlicott Road. Always a yellow Ferrari Dino parked there - which was a unique event back then.Those Dinos are now priced at 250 to 300k !
 
Can we keep this on course please as other members of the Wainwright family still live in or near to, Birmingham and were unconnected with Basil's businesses which he set up after leaving the family business.
 
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