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George Dixons Grammar School

OK. I am on list, third column, third row. I will need to think a bit about the names but i do remember many of them. I wonder what was the origin of this list? LS is lower sixth and US is upper sixth but what do the other letters indicate? Maybe I am slow, I usually was and am!!
Right, A is Arts and S is Science?
 
OK. I am on list, third column, third row. I will need to think a bit about the names but i do remember many of them. I wonder what was the origin of this list? LS is lower sixth and US is upper sixth but what do the other letters indicate? Maybe I am slow, I usually was and am!!
Collin, Hi, As I sort of inferred in the initial post this is the highly organised Digby Emson writing out the whole of each 6th form year so we could keep track of who paid to go etc. - because we were hiring a coach and buying the tickets to get in. So the list stopped us from taking money if we had too many wanting to go. And the other letters were "Arts" and "Science" - So my name is in the upper sixth arts column and it seems you were in the upper sixth science column which fits in with you being a scientist type person.
 
Thanks, Nigel. I guess that because there are no marks by my name, I didn’t go to London. I don’t remember going. But, I do remember a coach trip to Blackpool which was funded by the profits from the sixth form tea swindle which was run in the new sixth form block. The thing I remembered from Blackpool was that several of us got thrown out of an amusement arcade. There was a mechanical horse race game with maybe 8 different coloured horses. The idea was to bet on a colour at about a penny (1d) a go. We soon realised that because it was mechanical and no electronics involved (too early) there must be a sequence to the winners. So, we got a piece of paper and noted the winners (the game ran continuously, even if no bets were placed). After about 10 or 15 minutes we identified the sequence and started betting and, winning every time. Maybe if we had kept quiet and played for a while and then left we might have got away with it but we were a bit excited at cracking the sequence and that gave us away to the stall holder and he took a dim view. We thought it was initiative!
 
Thanks, Nigel. I guess that because there are no marks by my name, I didn’t go to London. I don’t remember going. But, I do remember a coach trip to Blackpool which was funded by the profits from the sixth form tea swindle which was run in the new sixth form block. The thing I remembered from Blackpool was that several of us got thrown out of an amusement arcade. There was a mechanical horse race game with maybe 8 different coloured horses. The idea was to bet on a colour at about a penny (1d) a go. We soon realised that because it was mechanical and no electronics involved (too early) there must be a sequence to the winners. So, we got a piece of paper and noted the winners (the game ran continuously, even if no bets were placed). After about 10 or 15 minutes we identified the sequence and started betting and, winning every time. Maybe if we had kept quiet and played for a while and then left we might have got away with it but we were a bit excited at cracking the sequence and that gave us away to the stall holder and he took a dim view. We thought it was initiative!
Now you see I know nothing about a trip to Blackpool! But then in that gap between the exams and the last days of school I was working at Pontins Holiday Camp on the Isle of Wight. Largely so that I could go (with more than half a million kindred souls) to the completely superb Isle of Wight Pop Festival of 1970.
 
I have been in Australia for nearly 40 years and would love to hear from anyone from my school years in Birmingham.

I went to George Dixon Grammar School during 1955 - 1959

Would love to hear from anyone who was there around the same time or who could let me have photographs and/or history af what has happened to the buildings over the past 40 years

Thanks

Jeff Holloway
Just coming very late (by 12 years!) to your post. Is this you standing next to Mr Garden in the Rugby 1st XV? I think you will have been a contemporary of my brother, Richard Davies. Best wishes, DP (Peter) Davies.
 

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Some good and some bad memories of my time, 1964-1969 at GD. I'm afraid I wasn't a very good pupil and had a rather laissez-faire attitude towards my education. After the 1st year at City Road, years 2 and 3 were spent at Five Ways. I liked Five Ways and found my time there more enjoyable that City Road. I have couple of tales to recount that I remember quite vividly:

One of the memories is the end of them assembly in the hall at the old Five Ways Building. We must have been in the 3rd form then. I think it was old man Trout leading the hymns and prayer. As the pianist sat down on the piano stool a ghastly rotten egg smell pervaded to hall. Someone had carefully placed stink bombs under the legs of the stool crushing them with dreadful effect. Trout was incensed at the general laughter and I believe he said something like, “This is not funny, now let us sink Hymn Number…” The designated pianist then hit the keys with some gusto whereupon a dreadful twanging noise erupted. Someone had detuned the piano and much laughter erupted as did old man Trout. One of the perpetrators I have since found out is a retired school inspector.

Another memory is of the great gunpowder plot. There was a, some say, mad genius amongst us . Smith, we will call him had the distinction of being an amateur chemist. One day he brought in a sample of homemade gunpowder, which to the delight of many, worked very well. Buoyed up by the accolades that followed his initial experiment "Smith" produced a large quantity of the stuff. The boys toilets was decided upon as the venue for the upcoming test. The toilets were outside the main building, on the ground floor and comprised urinals on the right, sit downs on the left with a long walkway between, ending in the cleaners closet at the end furthest from the entrance. "Smith" laid a thin bead of his powder along the walkway followed by a small pile of the stuff just inside the cleaners closet. Unbelievably he then dumped out the rest of the powder and closed the closet door. There was a large gap under the closet door through which the burning fuse found its merry way to the main charge. As a spectator, I didn’t really believe "Smith" would light the fuse…but he did. I, amongst others were off like greyhounds putting as much distance as we could between ourselves and the impending explosion. Walking around aimlessly, hands in pockets, whistling tunelessly and acting terribly innocent, we were startled by a very loud bang followed by a cloud of sulfurous smoke.

I didn’t see for myself but witnesses had it that the expanding gas from inside the closet blew out from the gap under the normally inward opening door, caused a vacuum which then resulted in the door being pulled inward off its hinges. High jinx is one thing, but large explosions at school were another. The result was Trout having the whole school assembled in the hall and launching into a tirade along the lines of, “Today, a pyromaniac has tried to blow up the toilets and until the person responsible comes forward, the whole school will stay behind.” Minutes ticked by until "Smith" did a mea culpa and we were all allowed to go home. Happy Days...
The 'Lord Dismiss us with Thy Blessing', last day of the academic year in '65 was hilarious. I can't recall the name of the woman teacher playing the piano and who I think taught French, but the horrified look on her face was all to behold. I was in the Lower 6th. The guys in the Upper 6th had threaded wire across the grand piano--the honkey-tonk effect was side-splitting. Too right, Mr Trout was upset. The stink was another thing. When sat on, the benches compressed the several stink bombs they had placed. Oh well, it gives us something to chuckle about! When we moved up into the Upper 6th, we were all a bit too serious and less adventurous. The only thing I'll own up to was that I was responsible for arranging for an election poster of Mr Edward Heath for the Mock General Election to pinned centrally at the top of the stage curtain. Mr Heath genteely gazed down on morning assembly until Five Ways was demolished. Best wishes, DP (Peter) Davies.
 
Just coming very late (by 12 years!) to your post. Is this you standing next to Mr Garden in the Rugby 1st XV? I think you will have been a contemporary of my brother, Richard Davies. Best wishes, DP (Peter) Davies.


the doc is now only a guest on the forum so unless he re joins he will not be able to reply to you
 
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The 'Lord Dismiss us with Thy Blessing', last day of the academic year in '65 was hilarious. I can't recall the name of the woman teacher playing the piano and who I think taught French, but the horrified look on her face was all to behold. I was in the Lower 6th. The guys in the Upper 6th had threaded wire across the grand piano--the honkey-tonk effect was side-splitting. Too right, Mr Trout was upset. The stink was another thing. When sat on, the benches compressed the several stink bombs they had placed. Oh well, it gives us something to chuckle about! When we moved up into the Upper 6th, we were all a bit too serious and less adventurous. The only thing I'll own up to was that I was responsible for arranging for an election poster of Mr Edward Heath for the Mock General Election to pinned centrally at the top of the stage curtain. Mr Heath genteely gazed down on morning assembly until Five Ways was demolished. Best wishes, DP (Peter) Davies.

I happen to know that one of the protagonists of the honky-tonk/stink bomb event was Don G. He and others had similar thoughts about the repressive attitudes at GD. We have both agreed that education is not the learn 'like a parrot' system, but more the encouragement for a pupil to learn. He went on to become a teacher and school inspector in Wolverhampton.
 
Many thanks for the advice, appreciated; stay safe and well in these strange times.
I am new to this site having come across it yesterday for the first time. It is with sadness that in my first post I must tell you that Jeff passed away just over 12 months ago.
 
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Some pupils names from my year:-
Peter Cooley
Tony Burley
Hawkes twins
? Kornhauser
? Griffiths
Peter Barry Jackson
Bob Lench
Duncan Muffett
John Posnett
Raynor Bourton
Rod Watts
? Forbes
? Kanji
Ron Drury
Barry Smith
Alan Timmins
Chris Ball

I am sorry that I cannot remember some Christian names but everyone was referred to using their surnames, and it is around 50+ years ago!
Hi Colin. Others you may recall include Chris Ball, Stephen Brown, Bob Coley, Dave ? Green, Noel Wells, ? Turvey, ? Hatter, Dave Harris, Regan Mulligan, Julius? Lezgold, Mick Griffiths, John Paramore, Dave Sumptner, Tim Dawson. I think it was David Kornhauser and perhaps Colin Forbes (he also had a older brother who also went to GD). The Hawkes were Peter and Anthony.
 
Hi Colin. Others you may recall include Chris Ball, Stephen Brown, Bob Coley, Dave ? Green, Noel Wells, ? Turvey, ? Hatter, Dave Harris, Regan Mulligan, Julius? Lezgold, Mick Griffiths, John Paramore, Dave Sumptner, Tim Dawson. I think it was David Kornhauser and perhaps Colin Forbes (he also had a older brother who also went to GD). The Hawkes were Peter and Anthony.
Definitely Dave Green. Yes, Greg Turvey. Glen Hatter, I believe.
 
Welcome Unionville Man. Hope you have plenty of spare time over Christmas, as this’ll keep you hooked. Enjoy the Forum.

Viv.
 
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