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Gower Street Boys and Girls Schools

hi martyn and welcome to the forum...are you certain there was a lord byron on constitution hill as the the only one i know of was in farm st next to the joseph lucas factory

lyn
Hi Lyn, Is it possible to put my pictures on the forum , uploading them from my Facebook account? Im not very Computer Savy. Thank you
 
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 ?
Do you remember David Broom ? Came to Gower Boys from Australia about 1964
 
I mentioned on an earlier post that the students from Holte Grammar had been sitting on their laurels throughout their time at the grammar school.

In fact our form teacher at Holte Comprehensive, Mrs. Wilson, was very impressed with the classes results she couldn’t quite believe it. My fifth form class was made up of all the boys from Gower who decided to stay on and likewise the girls from Lozells girls.

When it came to lessons, however, we were lumped in with the grammar students. Our math’s teacher was Mr. Rodburn. This is only my opinion mind, he was dreadful. He would get us to do an exercise from the text book while he chatted one of the girl students up for most of the period. There was a rumour that they had been seeing each other on the weekends. The whole atmosphere was relaxed and too many of the students just chatted. It was a tad too noisy for my liking.

Mr. Rodburn fancied himself as Tommy Cooper and apparently took on that persona for the Christmas school function. He wasn’t at all funny.

One of the ex-grammar students queried a question from the exercise stating that his answer was different from the solution given at the back of the book. And so the teacher did it on the board.

He got the same answer as the student. He actually said that ‘the solution in the book was wrong’.

As I said before, I used to sit at the back of the class, I just mentioned to my mate sitting beside me that I’d got the answer in the book. No sooner had I said it; an ex-grammar girl sitting directly in from of me blurted out that I had the answer in the book. I was summoned to the front to do it on the board. This girl had a Cheshire cat grin on her mush as I passed by her.

Mr. Rodburn assumed I was going to make a minor change to his working, but I wiped the board clean before I started. I didn’t use the textbook.

I wrote the question from memory and worked it out. All he could say was ‘okay smart arse’ as I walked back to my seat.

Every maths lesson was like that. I was not at all impressed. I would rather have had Mr. Eyton taking class; he would have got some improvement out of them. It would have been interesting to see how he handled the girls.

:)-<
 
Well that is definitely not Mr. Phillips.
This is indeed a rare photo everybody. I didn't know Mr. Eyton knew how to smile!

This was taken from Guildford Street.
 
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smashing photo martyn... if i am not mistaken taken on the roof top (as so many are) of the school..the block of flats you see behind which was on lozells road has been demolished

lyn
Yes the roof was a favourite spot for photo,s, I did see some pics of the flat being taken down, Mr Phillips became Headmaster after Mr Ball retired and left. He was very fair and always made time for you. My days there were very good and i have fond memories of all the teachers even Wally Eyton , tough as he was ( Taps on the back of the head and " 10 house points off your team " lol i learnt more from him than any other teacher i had in my 4 years there. 1967-71.
 
are you on that photo martyn maybe 3rd from left top row?

lyn
No Lyn He is definitely better looking lol, No as John said I/we joined the School probably Sept 1967. I can only recognise the Teacher who is very hard to forget as anyone who went to Gower Boys will tell you. I have a picture somewhere of All of the Teaching Staff lined up for a photograph, Im trying my hardest to find it.
 
No Lyn He is definitely better looking lol, No as John said I/we joined the School probably Sept 1967. I can only recognise the Teacher who is very hard to forget as anyone who went to Gower Boys will tell you. I have a picture somewhere of All of the Teaching Staff lined up for a photograph, Im trying my hardest to find it.
thanks martyn be great if you can find it it would be a nice edition to this thread

lyn
 
I'm sure this photo is on the Forum somewhere. Credited to Bob Greathead History Collection, it shows Gower St School teachers in 1955. Most of these were still there in 1961 when I left. Standing left to right: Mr Cross (science), Mr Edwards, Mr Williams (my 2B teacher), Mr Phillips, Mr Dean (my 3B teacher) and Headmaster Mr Matts. I don't know the teacher standing on the right. Mr Eyton is front left and I don't know the other two teachers. Were any of these still there in 1967?
Gower St Teachers 1955 copy 1.jpg
 
I'm sure this photo is on the Forum somewhere. Credited to Bob Greathead History Collection, it shows Gower St School teachers in 1955. Most of these were still there in 1961 when I left. Standing left to right: Mr Cross (science), Mr Edwards, Mr Williams (my 2B teacher), Mr Phillips, Mr Dean (my 3B teacher) and Headmaster Mr Matts. I don't know the teacher standing on the right. Mr Eyton is front left and I don't know the other two teachers. Were any of these still there in 1967?
View attachment 157679
Thanks Banjo

Well, well, well. I have been waiting for a photo like this for a while now.
The first thing is that it was taken in the year I was born. Secondly Mr. Eyton was a smoker; didn't know that.
I only recognize Messer's Cross, Phillips and Eyton.

Mr. Phillips was always Headmaster in my time (67 - 70).
I take it you were based in the Annex building so I would not have known your two form teachers.
 
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great photo banjo...so if we look at the photo on post 161 and compere it to your photo i dont think it mr eyton on post 161


lyn
 
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