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Erdington Grammar School

M

margaret

Guest
thorton rd

My school had air raid shelters we used to grow daffs in them, later i progressed to Erdington Grammer where we had tubbels in the building. I think we grew up in the detritus of ww2
 
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Hi Margaret,
I was at Erdington Grammar 1953-1958.
Headmistress Brenda Hill.Our sports teacher was Miss Bradford daughter of Joe Bradford who played for birmingham City in the 20s.
 
i never knew the dreaded miss bradford had a famous dad she used to frighten the life out of me she always sat in assembly in grey shorts uggg those hockey pitches an awful showersuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggg
 
Hi...Alberta I was a EGGS from 1962...Miss Hill was there then too...what news ..I think its a comprehensive now?
 
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The building itself is still there, but now called Kingsbury School and Sports College.


My two aunts were at the girls school in the 60/70's,surname of Lucas.
 
Thanks for reply...I can understand why cos it had lots of grounds....I was there in Miss Brown,Miss Gawley,Miss Dumbleton,Miss Worthington...times from early sixties to '68

What where their christian names?
 
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Eggs

Dont remember the names but I will ask my sister who was there after me...her name is Angela O'Regan and she still keeps in touch with Miss Birkett...more when I know more
 
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My wife taught Chemistry for a short period in 65/66.

She recalls all the teachers named by Susan. She recalls Brown and Gawley had their own chairs in the staff common room and pity help another member of staff who foolishly sat in them.

She recalls a conversation with Hill when she was appointed in about 1965 to the effect that she hoped my wife did not intend to start a family. This at a time before contraception, as we know it in the modern term.

Our eldest was born in 1966 and she never went back.
 
How interesting!... pity us poor girls then !!..they were dragons!
I wasnt a chemistry student but I remember Dr Brownbridge..seemed a lovely man ..handicapped with one arm?..what was your wifes' name?..my sister who went there after me is still in touch with Miss Birkett who taught history.
 
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...too right....I gave that up!!!...she tried to teach me maths...I had enough trouble with that!!!...I always remember standing in the queue to have my work marked and mimicking her...she spotted me!!!...she stared at me icily and said "Mind your P's and Q's"...I'm still quaking !!...wonder how old she was then?...she looked a hundred but obviously wasnt...any remember any one too nice....except was it Mr Law who I seem to remember was a bit of all right??...cant remember what he taught
 
Susan,
Mr. Law was head of Chemistry.

There was another man who was down to earth and a dry sense of humour, whose christian name was Norman. He taught physics. It is recalled that at a particular staff meeting, the female teachers were 'twittering away', and they finally brought him into the conversation by asking him what he thought of the subject. Quite drily, he appologised and would they repeat it as he had been asleep.

There was another teacher there, who is recalled solely by her christian name, Barbara. Her father had been on the last Polish cavalry, charge against the German tanks in World War 2.
 
It wasnt Dr Brownbridge/..wore tweeds?

My sister is still in touch with Miss Birkett...will ask her if she remembers any more...... thanks
 
I wish I had a better memory for names.

When I was at Erdington all the teachers looked 100 and all wore very matronly outfits,tweed skirts,grey hair in a bun at the nape of the neck,sensible shoes,that sort of thing.
The only exception were the 2 PE teachers Miss Bradford and Miss Burley who looked every day as if they were going to tackle the Duke of Edinburghs Award,scrubbed clean.

THEN, one day we had a new Geography teacher, she wore bright red lipstick,floral dresses,gaudy earrings a bright neckerchief at her throat.
What a breath of fresh air, she was wonderful but although she made such an impact I cannot for the life of me remember her name.
 
Hi Alberta...was it Miss Dumbleton.?..it certainlty wasnt Miss Worthington who I always thought had a very odd look in her eye ! That was in the days when I knew nothing about anything in THAT dept!

I will speak with my sis that has a far better memory than me
 
I was there from 1970-75
susan said:
I wasnt a chemistry student but I remember Dr Brownbridge..seemed a lovely man ..handicapped with one arm?.
Click to expand...
Dr. Brownbridge had his hand blown off by an exploding bunsen burner...so he was keen to drill into us safety about them...
I was still nervous and not very excited about chemistry
but he was a lovely man with a good sense of humour...he used to wear a grey glove over the false hand.
I was usually quiet but used to get bored in chemistry so ended up being one of the many who he used to send to stand outside the door

in English I once wrote an essay about this teacher called Dr. Bridgebrown, based on him, and I think it got back to him and he took it in good humour

he was one of only two male teachers - the other was Mr. Ingham, who took us for physics, which was even worse than Chemistry
except for the day we had the Van der Graff generator which made your hair stand on end
the lowest marks I ever got were for physics - about 17%...I remember just drawing on the wooden desk with my compass point

I'm glad we were able to give up both subjects at the end of the 3rd year for the 'exam options'
 
Alberta said:
Hi Margaret,
I was at Erdington Grammar 1953-1958.
Headmistress Brenda Hill.
Click to expand...
I really liked Miss Hill - many seem to on the Friends Reunited Group for the school [not very busy, sadly]
didn't know she was a 'Brenda' - didn't look like one somehow, with her sophisticated french pleat in her hair...
she used to read about interesting things in assembly - like about Helen Keller etc

Miss Knight was the deputy head when I was there, and she also took us for chemistry in the 1st form I think..and it's due to her that I can spell temperature
as she picked me up about wrong spelling of it, and said
"if you spell it wrong I will get in a ''temper at you''
 
the front of the main building

front.jpg


the Gym

gym.jpg


one of the hockey pitches and the 'banks' and the 3rd tennis courts

MVC-022S.jpg

 
Hi Ladies,
My wife was there from 1953-1958. Then she was Barbara Williams. She remembers other teachers, Miss Bittlestone snd Frauline Notmann (spelling!). Bring back any memories anyone?
 
some more pics
of the blazer and school emblem [or whatever it's called]

eggs-1.jpg

eggs1.jpg


I remember when I was 11 and we got my blazer [which cost a fortune then], how proud I was, and excited to wear it
by the 3rd form none of us wore them anymore, and adapted our uniform as best as we could to be fashionable :)
 
maz_beth said:
some more pics
of the blazer and school emblem [or whatever it's called]

eggs-1.jpg

eggs1.jpg


I remember when I was 11 and we got my blazer [which cost a fortune then], how proud I was, and excited to wear it
by the 3rd form none of us wore them anymore, and adapted our uniform as best as we could to be fashionable :)
Click to expand...

If you came out of the back of the school onto Erdington Hall road where I lived,Imay have threw snowballs at yer
 
Well hello to all those that went to Erdington girls, well what can i say i had good and bad times there, im now 41 and would love to be able to meet and get in contact with former students that was there at the same time as me
Please get intouch
 
OMG. I was 12. Testosterone in spades. Mavis Hancox, St Saviours Rd, Saltley, Erdington GS. Modern equivalent of Kylie. Will you go to pictures with Den? Yes. First EVER love. Deep joy. Ecstasy....Uh-oh. Gloom and despondency, what are you doing here? Stood up outside Beaufort. Waited 2 hours (as you did them days). Where are you Mavis..??? Still waiting 56 years later...

Den
 
Interestingly my memory tells me that Miss Hill was a Belinda not a Brenda . Initials were certainly B L Hill. She always took a first year class for French every year and apparently the second year when those unfortunates progressed to learn with another teacher there was a lot of catching up to do!
Male teachers were few and far between but I remember a few - obviously "Doc" Brownbridge who was hilarious and also Mr Ingham, Mr Rutter, and Mr Dryden were there in my day ( 1973-1980). Later on there was a Mr Whitlock who took the newly installed "remedial " class, so a new euphemism was born: "you're a Whitlock."

PE department were all terrifying without exception - especially Mrs Cropper who used to be Olympic 800m runner (1968?) Pat Lowe .

Sadly I think the lovely "Quadrangle" garden is no more - looking at an aerial photo it seems to have been converted into a sports block.
 
Re: Erdington as we know it.

Just read your thread on Erdington, Alberta,when were you at Erdington Grammar, I left in 1955. Wasn't it a wonderful school, Miss Hill was head when I was there, oh happy days!
 
Oh so you are slightly younger than me, I was there 1950 to 1955 was in Salamander, the green one. I think Phoenix always did a bit better than us at the time and Dolphin would appear to have been the best.
 
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