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Gower Street Boys and Girls Schools

dave banjo is talking about trying to find a decent ground level photo of the original gower st school corner of gower st and guildford st...if you go to post 93 there is an overhead shot of it which is circled and if you look further up you can also see the part of the school which you posted a photo of corner of guildford and lozells road..post 95 shows a not very good photo of the original school but we are searching for a better one...

lyn
These days its easy to get an overhead picture of the main building (the only one left standing) on google satellite.
The church is also shown and the site of the craft building.

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The teacher is Wally Eyton. He was instrumental in me having to leave Gower St and go to Harry Lucas. I dont wish to say what i thought about this bloke who was feared by most. Max
I had Wally Eyton as my form teacher in the third year and he was the best teacher I ever had.Yes he was feared but he taught us to think for ourselves.My other teachers were good especially Mr Edmr wards and Mr Jones.
 
My best remembered memory of Wally Eyton was when he said to me "Have you given up smoking yet?" You obviously can't say "no" and "yes" would mean you did smoke once. All I could do was to splutter "I dunno Sir". I appreciated the humour only years later. Oh! I've never smoked.
 
I had Wally Eyton as my form teacher in the third year and he was the best teacher I ever had.Yes he was feared but he taught us to think for ourselves.My other teachers were good especially Mr Edmr wards and Mr Jones.
Hi Dave

I too admired Mr. Eyton who, like myself, didn't suffer fools.

Do you remember...
John "Archie" Andrews, Paul Ashford, John Barr, Martyn Broom, Graham Byford, Alan Childs, Alan Dabbs, Noel Davies, Mark Gardner, Barrington Green, Keith Griffiths, John Halpin (me), Melvyn Harris, Stephen Hinds, James Hogg, Michael Jay, Mark Kimberley, Andrew Leighton, John Lutwhitz, Tony McLaughlin, Winston Mosquito, Eaton O'Connor, Faiz Parker, Andrew Pavlov, Maurice Powell, Steven Stone, Stephen Turvey, Dennis Watkins, Steven Woods and others I am trying to rattle my brains for.

I'd be interested in knowing a little about what you did in the big wide world. In those days no-one ever thought of school reunions. I have tried to make contact with Stephen Turvey (one of his relatives is a member) on this site but there appears to be nothing doing.

John.

I am adding to the above list of names on this post (115) as and when I get them.
 
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Yes that is correct. "Guest" means they are no longer included as members, so the site has no method of contacting them
 
Hi Dave

I was in your class at school. We didn't have much to do with each other at that time; such were the class sizes. I have added you to the list of students I have been putting together. I too admired Mr. Eyton who, like myself, didn't suffer fools.

Do you remember...
John Archibald, John Barr, Martin Broom, Alan Dabbs, Noel Davies, Dave Duggins (you), Mark Gardner, Barrington Green, John Halpin (me), Melvyn Harris, Stephen Hinds, James Hogg, John Lutwhitz, Tony McLaughlin, Eaton O'Connor, Faiz Parker, Andrew Pavlov, Maurice Powell, Stephen Turvey, Dennis Watkins, Steven Woods and Mosquito and others I am trying to rattle my brains for.

I'd be interested in knowing a little about what you did in the big wide world. In those days no-one ever thought of school reunions. I have tried to make contact with Stephen Turvey (one of his relatives is a member) on this site but there appears to be nothing doing.

John.
Hi John ,. I'm sorry to say none of the names names you have mentioned rang any bells.Lads I remember David Burke(good footie player) Connor O Keefe ,my best mate was Peter Rogers,Ken Foley,David Farnsworth,Steven Gould,Clifford Mildenhall,Steven Hoare ,will try to get the gray matter working for s few more. I had Mr.Staunton 1stYear Mr.Jones 2nd Mr,Eyton 3rd then Mr Edwards in the 4th.Perhaps you have got me mixed up with someone else ?
 
Hi John ,. I'm sorry to say none of the names names you have mentioned rang any bells.Lads I remember David Burke(good footie player) Connor O Keefe ,my best mate was Peter Rogers,Ken Foley,David Farnsworth,Steven Gould,Clifford Mildenhall,Steven Hoare ,will try to get the gray matter working for s few more. I had Mr.Staunton 1stYear Mr.Jones 2nd Mr,Eyton 3rd then Mr Edwards in the 4th.Perhaps you have got me mixed up with someone else ?
Hi Dave

You must be right about my confusion for I don't know anyone you mention.
An image of one of my class mates popped into my head on reading your name. I can see his face clearly in my mind's eye. His name is very similar to yours.

John
 
Hi Dave

I was in your class at school. We didn't have much to do with each other at that time; such were the class sizes. I have added you to the list of students I have been putting together. I too admired Mr. Eyton who, like myself, didn't suffer fools.

Do you remember...
John Archibald, John Barr, Martin Broom, Alan Dabbs, Noel Davies, Dave Duggins (you), Mark Gardner, Barrington Green, John Halpin (me), Melvyn Harris, Stephen Hinds, James Hogg, John Lutwhitz, Tony McLaughlin, Eaton O'Connor, Faiz Parker, Andrew Pavlov, Maurice Powell, Stephen Turvey, Dennis Watkins, Steven Woods and Mosquito and others I am trying to rattle my brains for.

I'd be interested in knowing a little about what you did in the big wide world. In those days no-one ever thought of school reunions. I have tried to make contact with Stephen Turvey (one of his relatives is a member) on this site but there appears to be nothing doing.

John.
Steven Stone, Michael Jay. Do you remember Paul Ashford who had some kind of learning issues Wally,s Class , Was,nt there for long? Im still in touch with Anthony Huggins from Prince Albert And Gower, Hope your well John its been a long time but i still remember our friendship .
 
A couple more of my classmates have come to mind:

Eaton O'Connor - He was another who went on to Holte Comp. He was always immaculately dressed. A real lady-killer.
And there was a lad called Mosquito who also went on to Holte. Never knew his first name. There were a few other African lads... My brain is working on them. Oh and a few Indians too.
Winston Mosquito, Great friend of mine John. Eaton joined the Army.
 
A couple more of my classmates have come to mind:

Eaton O'Connor - He was another who went on to Holte Comp. He was always immaculately dressed. A real lady-killer.
And there was a lad called Mosquito who also went on to Holte. Never knew his first name. There were a few other African lads... My brain is working on them. Oh and a few Indians too.
Eaton joined the Army, Winston Mosquito was a good friend of mine,
 
I have just been looking at the Primary School I attended and noticed the Public Swimming Baths on Victoria Street, Aston.

I remember Mr. Eyton walking us from Guilford Street in an orderly fashion to the baths weekly. Gosh it's amazing recalling things you had forgotten about.

Thinking about it now though; it makes you wonder why we even bothered, It took half the lesson walking there and back. And I also recall spending only twenty minutes in the water.

:)
I remember that walk John
 
I had a friend who attended Gower Street School in the late 60’s, Paul Rook. He had a brothers Carl and David. Also had a couple of sisters; Wendy was one of them.
 
Hi everyone

I am a new member and I now live just about as far away from you all that I could possibly be without hopping on the shuttle into outer space. A little country called New Zealand.

I am not as old as some of you lol. When I was at Gower Street School the headmaster, Mr. Philips, had his office in the building on the corner of Guilford Street and Lozells Road. There were two other buildings to the school; one known as the Annex building further down Guilford Street and the third was around the corner near the church on Lozells Rd.

I always found it strange that the school was not actually on Gower Street. The Annex building stood on the corner of Guildford Street and Clifford Walk. It disappeared when the Alma way development got underway. The entrance to Holte Comprehensive carpark was at the junction of Gower Street, Clifford Walk and Alma Way.

I notice there are only photos of the main building; which is, unfortunately, the only one left standing today.

I am guessing that Mr. Eyton was a multi-talented teacher. Some of you have mentioned subjects he taught that I wasn't even aware of. So to be clear; we are talking about the same teacher here... 'Wally' Eyton as we used to call him. I know that may sound derogatory; but it isn't meant to be. Was his name Wallace?

I shall always remember him. Although he was very strict, he had a wicked sense of humour. Up until I had him as my form teacher he had a reputation. We were all scared of him at first. But he was the best Mathematics teacher I ever had. I quickly rose from near bottom of the class to the top. I owe Mr. Eyton a debt of gratitude; for without him my whole future in life would have been totally different.

Does anyone remember Baskerville (red), Boulton (Yellow), Murdoch (Blue) and Watt (Green)?
Mr. Eyton was the only teacher who submitted the winning house with negative points; and he did it week after week.
He would rather penalize what he considered to be bad behaviour rather than reward good students. He did give me 10 house points once; but we still ended up with a negative total.
During my time at Gower Street I cannot remember him ever smiling; after all he had a reputation to keep.
I only saw him only once after leaving school. It was many years later from a bus window. He was standing outside the Birmingham Town Hall; he looked exactly the same.

I was in the fourth form when the school closed in the early 70s. I went into the new school Holte Comprehensive the following year. It was made up of the lads of Gower Street, The lasses from Lozells Girls School and the students of Holte Grammar School. The latter I narrowly missed out on when I got the result of the 11+ exam. I used to attend the Prince Albert Primary School on the corner of Whitehead Road and Albert Street, Aston and many of my classmates ended up at Holte Grammar.

In a way it was a blessing because they appeared to me that they sat on their laurels instead of putting the work in.
I met up with them again at Holte Comprehensive and I was still the best at Mathematics.

After I left school I did a night class in Chemistry, a subject, I ought to have taken, but never studied it at school. I can't remember where I did the night classes now; but when I sat the paper I was gobsmacked to learn that it was to be taken at the old Gower Street School on Guilford Street. Not only that but it was in my fourth form classroom.
As there were not too many of us taking the exam; the papers were laid out, face down of course, to one side of the room. I requested and succeeded in getting a specific desk near the window on the other side, as it was the very seat I spent my last year in when I attended the school. I got an 'A' from the examining board.

One of my class mates in the fourth year was Stephen Turvey. We both liked art and I was a great fan of his style. I know he came from a large Family and I notice that one of the members of this site is TopsyTurvey. Could they be a relative? I think they just might be. I believe he finished his education at Gower Street School; maybe I should say he didn't go to the Comprehensive, that would be more accurate.

So I would be fascinated for some of you more senior (not older sorry) people to tell me how long the second and third Gower Street sites were in existence for. No-one else seems to refer to them at all. The Annex building is where the gym was located. I remember Mr. Foster and his Welsh accent. Sports day was a bus trip to Perry Barr. We used to play football. Mr. Eyton never awarded corner kicks; he used to give the ball to the goalkeeper. He wasn't too popular when that happened.

One of my classmates, Barrington Green, left his trousers on the playing field. To save time we used to change back into our school clothes on the bus. It wasn't until we were half way back to school that he realized his pants had disappeared. Of course Mr. Eyton was in possession of them. Instead of returning them to Barrington, Mr. Eyton got the student, Tony McLaughlin, who sat next to him in class to quickly put on Barrington's trousers upon arrival at school. Tony dashed up the stairs at the Lozells entrance; while the rest of us used the formal entrance further down Guilford Street. Barrington had been quite vocal about losing his trousers all the way back. Tony was already seated at his desk when we entered class.

We were well into the next lesson when suddenly Barrington stood up, pointed at Tony and shouted "Sir! He's wearing my trousers! Everyone was in stitches except Mr. Eyton. I'll never how he ever kept a straight face.



You don’t get a second chance to create a first impression.
Walter Eyton
 
A couple more of my classmates have come to mind:

Eaton O'Connor - He was another who went on to Holte Comp. He was always immaculately dressed. A real lady-killer.
And there was a lad called Mosquito who also went on to Holte. Never knew his first name. There were a few other African lads... My brain is working on them. Oh and a few Indians too.
Winston Mosquito,
 
Steven Stone, Michael Jay. Do you remember Paul Ashford who had some kind of learning issues Wally,s Class , Was,nt there for long? Im still in touch with Anthony Huggins from Prince Albert And Gower, Hope your well John its been a long time but i still remember our friendship .
Hi Martyn

Wow! Didn't expect you to reply. Great to know you are still alive and kicking.
As soon as I saw the name Paul Ashford I remembered him. Vaguely remember Michael Jay, but Steven Stone doesn't ring a bell. I remember Anthony Huggins very well and Alan Higgins (they were mates at Prince Albert). I don't think Anthony went to Gower though.
I seem to remember you originally came from Australia (I'm in NZ now).
And didn't you live in Farm Street? But the real question is... Do you remember Coral Jamie?
 
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Winston Mosquito,
Hi Martyn

I would never have remembered the name Winston if you hadn't told me.

He and I were at Holte Comprehensive together. I don't think he liked me much. Noel Davies and I were part of a music group at the Newton complex and we were listening to a lot of Simon and Garfunkel at the time.
It's tragic what happened to that place. We spent a lot of time at the swimming baths too with Dennis Watkins. Didn't you both have something to do with the national swimming trials?

I digress... Paul Simon came out with "Mother and Child Reunion" and I used to play the record in the sixth form common room. Winston was as happy as Larry when the track started, being a Reggae song. But when Paul Simon started singing Winston throw a wobbly when he realized it wasn't kosher.
He didn't enjoy being led up the garden path too much either.

The funny thing was though; every time I played it he reacted the same way.
There was another lad that followed me to Holte from Gower. He was Indian always smartly dressed; surname Singh but I can't remember his first name, I think it began with the letter R.
 
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Steven Stone, Michael Jay. Do you remember Paul Ashford who had some kind of learning issues Wally,s Class , Was,nt there for long? Im still in touch with Anthony Huggins from Prince Albert And Gower, Hope your well John its been a long time but i still remember our friendship .
It's me again...

Very well thanks Martyn. Sorry for spelling your name with an "ï". I like to get things right.
Are you still living in Brum? How are you enjoying retirement?
I believe we can make direct contact and/or have a private conversation on here; but not too sure how to go about doing that.

One for you Lyn (Astoness); would appreciate your help.
 
hi john i thought you knew how to send a private message as you sent me a few back in march...just in case click on the envelope top of the main page or click on the members name that you want to send a message to and start a conversation

hope this helps
lyn
 
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