George Dixons Grammar School

[DPD]

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.

Thank you for letting me know, telling me is very much appreciated. I will let my brother know.

 

[D W S]

6T 1968
A photo from Stephen Goult.

 

[Unionville Man]

6T 1968
A photo from Stephen Goult.View attachment 151078

Wow! That takes me back. I was in that same year. Dave Harris was Head Boy.

 

[Unionville Man]

Dave was Head Boy probably the following year 68-69?

 

[Bob Hughes]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Canada to Old Dixonians wherever they may be.

 

[Robert Coutts]

The recently posted silent film is excellent-but I only recognise Rumsby amongst the teachers-powers of recollection obviously failing. Any news of the GD cohort who left from the 6th form in 1967 welcome.
Best wishes and stay safe. Bob (Arn) Coutts

 

[DavidGrain]

I did not recognise the second master who was walking into church with Tom Rumsby. I presume Wally Walker had retired by then. I did recognise L.E.Olver (Leo) at the black board. He was my form master and maths master in 3B, his first year at GD.

 

[Minhas]

I was at the girls school from 1963/68 and in 1D Miss Dyer. Name then was Ann Hayes. Still in touch with Liz (Chancellor) and Denise (Hunt) and this week caught up with Christine (Palmer). I went back to the school a few years ago to discuss how they were dealing with mentoring and behaviour as we were amending our in-house practice. At this time my role was an Asst. Head of Year in another inner city school. It definitely had changed. The hall looked much smaller and all the boards with the names of past pupils had been removed.

 

[Minhas]

Ann, I was also in 1D Miss Dyer's class. I was friends with Christine Palmer before I moved to Canada. We lost touch would love to reconnect. Do you know how I can get in touch with her. Thank you.

Hi there
I've just found Brummy babby's reply from July - so sorry ! Yes - we must have been there at the same time - there were several girls in 1E that I remember : Penny Cleaver being one of them. Your surname must have been A to G, because 1D started at H.
We did have a reunion about 20 years ago in Birmingham - did you go to that ? It was organised by Sally Hyde.
I still have my straw boater - remember those ?!
I'll see if you reply to this before writing any more obscure memories !

Hi Christine, I can't believe i've found you as I have been trying to for many years! Merry Christmas 2020 and would love to reconnect. I have fond memories of Miss Dyer's class and the school before I left for Canada.

 

[Minhas]

I also remember (but from GD Primary School) the Pedazurs, Brian Adams, Roger Leese and Mark Goldberg.Very sorry to hear about Michael - I remember sitting the King Edward's Scholarship exam with him. Needless to say, I failed!
I was Cynthia Cottrell

 

[Minhas]

Cynthia, I remember you and your sister. I was in Primary from, 60-63. I clearly remember Margaret doing hall duty when we filed in from playtime(recess). We moved to Canada in 64 after I had finished one year at the GD girls grammar school. Do you remember being part of the group that used to go and buy delicious frozen milk lollipops in all sorts of colours? I can't remember the brand. Were we in the same class at some point? I remember Mr. Howard, a teacher in primary school. Also Pia Plowman, a fellow student. Did you know Christine Palmer or Christine Lilley. They were in my class at the grammar level. All the best wishes for you and your family for 2021!

 

[Minhas]

What was the purpose of the tower and what did it look like inside?
It’s been suggested that it is a water tower.

Hello are you by any chance Ian? he was from Quinton. Thank you.

 

[DavidGrain]

I have not read this yet but I thought it would be interesting

A Girls' Grammar School in the 1950s and 1960s - Historic UK

What was life like for girls at a grammar school in the 1950s and 1960s? How did their education prepare them for adult life? Unthinkable today, but pupils were also trained to become the wives of the middle classes... In Domestic Science girls were taught how to iron a man’s shirt (collar and...

www.historic-uk.com

 

[Robert Coutts]

Hi Arnie, I likewise came across this thread by chance when I was searching for a picture of Five Ways (before the school was demolished by the Council, aided by form 5B). If I remember correctly we both did A Level Physics with Les Somerton (an inspiring teacher whose metal corsets used to interfere with any sensitive experiments involving magnetism). Did you also do Chemistry with (Penguin) Siddle? I am still in touch with several ex inmates of GD.. Jonathan Wickens (I saw him last week), Bob Board (who now lives the the Loire), Ian Pulford (Glasgow Uni) and Richard Hemus (lives up north). Jonathan is in touch with several others (including George Moffa). As far as I know there haven't been any reunions for our year. My brother Richard went to GD in 1965 and his year have met up recently. I live in Cambridgeshire now and work in Peterborough. I'm going to be in (central) Birmingham next Tuesday evening, if you want to meet up. Best wishes, George

 

[Robert Coutts]

Hi Bob. Just to remind those who don't remember, Chunky Brookes was the art master at GD. I was never any good at art but I do remember him once praising my perspective which I did get right when I was trying to draw the inside of an amusement arcade. Otherwise I was rubbish at art. In about 1957 the entire school was redecorated and Chunky was put in charge of the colour chart so every room was a different colour rather than standard Birmingham Corporation colours. Chunky was also in charge of the model railway club and there were cheers in assembly one morning at an end of term when he announced that they would be running trains that afternoon rather than doing more rebuilding of the layout.

Miss Sales never taught us but she did stand in for a master who was away ill one day and we automatically greeted her with "Good Morning, SIR" then burst out laughing.

IGood to catch up George but no meeting in Birmingham I am afraid-locked down in Brentford but keep in touch with more names and GD stories.
BW Bob Coutts

 

[mick howson]

Reply to Ann

Hello Ann,
Hey, thanks for the interest. With 'Wallop Mrs Cox' there is a strong possibility of it going on again next year but I can't say any more at the moment so watch this space!!
Regarding 'Brum Rocks', Steve Gibbons and I have now left the show. We did three years and felt that format wise, it needed some fresh air.
As I understand it Bev , Trevor and Danny are doing another run of shows later this year with our old mate Raymond Froggatt who will no doubt bring his own special lick to the table.
Incidentally Steve and I are doing an 'unplugged' evening of our songs and other stuff at the Dovehouse theatre, Olton in October so if you fancy it we'd love the pleasure of your company.

Cheers for now and thanks once again for your interest.
Laurie

Hi Laurie. Iwas at GD 61 -66 .One of the highlights for me was a school dance at 5 ways with the Brum Beats and the Redcaps. cant remember the year maybe 64. As soon as I saw the Redcaps that was what I wanted to do.

 

[mick howson]

HI Cynth hope you are well

 

[Robert Coutts]

HI Cynth hope you are well

Am I dreaming it or did Robert Plant and his band of joy-recently reformed-play once on the stage at Five Ways?
Must have been 1966 or 1967? Bob C

 

[DPD]

Am I dreaming it or did Robert Plant and his band of joy-recently reformed-play once on the stage at Five Ways?
Must have been 1966 or 1967? Bob C

I was at Five Ways '64-'66 (when it closed) and don't recall any dances there when I was in the Arts 6th. There was a dance at City Road ('64) with the Girls School and I think the Brum Beats played (their manager was--if I recall correctly--Mrs Regan whose son was in the year above me ('58-'65) and who managed venues in B'ham.

 

[A Sparks]

Am I dreaming it or did Robert Plant and his band of joy-recently reformed-play once on the stage at Five Ways?
Must have been 1966 or 1967? Bob C

I'm wondering if you might be thinking of the King Edwards school in Edgbaston? They definitely had dances there, I went twice in the 60's, once to see The Who and the other time The Uglys from Brum were playing.
That would be the sort of thing the Band of Joy would have played at.

 

[carolina]

I was at Five Ways '64-'66 (when it closed) and don't recall any dances there when I was in the Arts 6th. There was a dance at City Road ('64) with the Girls School and I think the Brum Beats played (their manager was--if I recall correctly--Mrs Regan whose son was in the year above me ('58-'65) and who managed venues in B'ham.

Mrs Regan owned The Plaza and The Ritz

 

[A Sparks]

Mrs Regan owned The Plaza and The Ritz

....and the Plaza in Old Hill.

 

[Steve Maybury]

I was at Five Ways from 1958-1964, lots of fun playing soccer and cricket in the yard. "Wally" was a character with his sayings like "the ball's in your court", "in the main" "so to speak".

Where are you in Canada? I was at 5 ways 58-64. I am living in Kingston, Ontario, contact me by "starting a conversation"

 

[Steve Maybury]

I remember Mr Winson. A favorite trick was to pick out someone acting up and go and lift the culprit from his seat by his ear.

 

[Steve Maybury]

Hi Steven,

I think I remember you - did your parents have a shop in Rookery Road? Unlike you I was never sporty, and avoided such pastimes as rugby and cross-country, but I did sometimes subject my puny body to the rigours of athletics.

I never liked Five Ways - always seemed dull and dismal to me, and stairs everywhere. Once after school when I was getting on the bus into town one the masters - I think he taught chemistry, can see his face but can't put a name to it - sat next to me and started complaining about Five Ways. So I wasn't alone in that respect.

IIRC there was a police-station next door to Five Ways, across the wide yard.

In my latter year or so at GD Five Ways we'd walk down Broad Street for an espresso at the cafe near the Register Office - was it called The Acropolis or similar Greek name - even though this was expressly banned by Dragseye Dillworth. Only at that stage of my GD career I really didn't give a monkey's......what I did after school was my business, not his.

G

You must have been in my class, Contact me by using the "start Conversation" option. I always regretted having to spend 58-64 at 5 Ways. Could never understand why our "A" level class was banished! Yes we had the grocery shop at the end of Rookery road in Handsworth. I emigrated to Canada in 67, as did another classmate Dave Folks.

 

[Morturn]

Hi Steve

Thank you for post on the forum. We strongly advise members not to post their personal email addresses on the thread. Your email address and data could be harvested and used for scams, fraud, and identity theft. If you wish other members to contact you, then its best if you advise them to use the “Start Conversation” facility we provide. This then protects you and your privacy.

 

[Steve Maybury]

I was introduced to this site by a friend who lived in the area and is researching its history. Reading through the many entries it brought back so many memories and has spurred me to add my thoughts in the hope that others will find it of interest.

I started at GD in 1960 after passing the 12+ and spent my first year at Five Ways. After staying in the lower grades I spent an extra year in a special sixth form, S6, set up purely to retake ‘O’ levels in 1964 as there were so many wanting to get some better qualifications. I went on to sixth form, S4 and S2, before going on the University of Birmingham to study civil engineering in 1967 and retired from work at the end of 2008.

The entry is split into 3 sections, teachers, students and other memories with only a shortish bit on each, otherwise it could go on forever:
1. Teachers:

Rumsey (Head): He seemed to have a lovely old school presence about him but soon after I started he was taken ill and was replaced by DAD Dilworth,

DAD Dilworth (Deputy/Head): Once a week we would have morning assembly at St Germains church next door. There were two steps that DAD had to negotiate and there was always a pause as he felt for them with his foot, one day I thought....

Trout (Five Ways deputy): One of the reasons I stopped learning history in the second year. It’s amazing how liking, or not, teachers can affect your whole outlook on life.

Walker “The Pork” (??? ): Stood in the hall waiting to walk up City Road to the canteen at lunch time there would be a wave of silence envelope the room and you knew he had entered. He would walk diagonally across the lines until he reached the main noisemaker and then there was trouble.

Winson “Butch” (French): No one played up in class but he would hit students across the back of the head with a ruler if he thought that they may play up when out of his sight. He used to sit at our dinner table at Five Ways and one day before he arrived we had bought a tin of Butch dog food and put it on the table in his place. It was all taken in good part.

Buckley (Science): Great teacher but I think he died quite young.

Hannay (Latin): Never taught by him but remembered he was quite short and seemed to float around the corridors always wearing his gown.

“Gabby” Hayes (metalwork): One of my favourite subjects and he was a great teacher.

Lewis (English): First form master at Five Ways. A Welsh import and very likeable.

Little (French): Went on the school trip to Europe including Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany. I remember on one occasion him asking for directions in French and the local could not understand him. Now I know why I never passed a French exam.

Brookes (Art): It was announced during an assembly in Five Ways that he had died, quite a shock. Later it turned out that my wife worked for his wife at an office also in Five Ways.

“Fingers” Johnson (Physics): A young teacher who taught the second “A” level group. He was someone who got the best out of his pupils and seriously embarrassed Les Summerton when the number of “A” level passes he achieved was better than Les’s. I think he left soon afterwards.

Siddle (Chemistry): Took “A” level under duress but everyone in that year failed.

Les? Paul (Engineering Drawing): Another one of my favourite subjects, his lessons where much more than just the subject at “A” level with discussions diversifying into any topic that took our fancy. Surely this is what education is all about. I also went to his evening classes in Bartley Green where I sat at the back of the “O” level class he was taking and studied for my “A” level.

Fletcher (Music): I will always remember him playing that very dramatic classic piece every time we left the weekly service at St Germains. Can someone put a name to it?

?? Proctor (Sports): A sad loss.

2. Students

Max McDonogh: Also joined at the same time as me and also went on to be a civil engineer.

Colin Bourne: Both of us disliked sport, never build for rugby and always got the stitch in cross country, so spent Wednesday afternoon’s installing the telephone system for the school by climbing ladders, stringing telephone cables, installing switchboards and phones. How long that lasted I dread to think but it was great fun.

? Nicholson: Loved motorbikes and had another classmate with a motorbike sidecar, which you may think was safer. However, that was not the case and he turned it over one day and was never seen again.

Michael Chalk: In the same engineering drawing class and has been a Redditch Councillor for many years.

Derek Larigo: Used to travel home with him sometimes, lived between Rose’s cafe and Bartley Green.

Lewis: Are you the Lewis from 2E in 1960/61 and did you live at a pub in Digbeth, if so I remember some of your stories which had a lasting impression.

? Twiss: we had this American in our class for a while, I think his father was a diplomat somewhere.

John Maxfield and Peter Busby: Joint in the sixth form from Harborne Hill? School. Peter made head boy.

Other names, but no details, include: Dave Shenton, Steven Dixon, Paul Hogan, Donald Grendon, Jonathan Wickens, Paul Lyndon and Ronald Hill.

3. Other memories

The first and last lesson read out in the assembly each term was I. Corinthians Chapter 13. Still is a lasting memory for me.

The sixth form common room was built just as I entered the sixth form and it was brilliant.

On the way back from lunch the boys had to run the gauntlet passed the girls who congregated in a pack. If only I was as confident then ......

The Quad was the only area where we had some female contact with the school next door as their loos overlooked it, in retrospect it seems a rather bad design!!

I was always keen on railways and after school at Five Ways some of us frequently went to “bunk” the Monument Lane shed. I still remember being sat in the office there having given a good telling off by the “gripper”.

I vaguely remember the mass expulsion on the last day. I used to drive from Bromsgrove then so may have taken some of the offenders to the pub.

We were given plastic tokens to travel between City Road and Five Ways and by walking one stop you could save one for travel home and get something from the shop with the extra cash.

At break time we played stretch. The two players stood facing each other and took turns to throw a penknife into the ground near your opponent to make him do the splits. The loser was the one who fell over first. No pupils were hurt in this game.... well not many.

I remember one day in the chemistry lab when someone sucking sulphuric acid into a burette sucked for too long and got a mouthful of the stuff.

Food memories include the usual chocolate concrete and potato puffs bought from the shop a break.

Although now out of print my friend tracked down a copy of the attached book through Waterstones:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Years-City-Road-Secondary/dp/0955344409



Looking forward to your observations in due course.



Peter Mann

Amazing, The book was created by a classmate Laurence Reading> we were in the same "A" class from !958-64 at Five Ways. If anyone knows him, have him Contact me by using the "start Conversation" option.

 

[Bob Hughes]

Was at GD 63 - 70. Remember playing stretch (splits) on the sports field. Stuck the knife in someone's foot during one game. Fond memories.

 

[Bob Hughes]

Does anybody recognize anybody in the attached photo. Was taken at a sports day at the Hadley Stadium in the circa late 1960's

 

[DPD]

Hi Bob, thank you for posting the pic. I was at GD '59-66, and I think the first sports day we didn't use other than the school playing fields was '66. I don't recognise anyone, but I hope you have success.