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Harry lucas school

FARM ST AND FRANKFORT ST 007.JPGthis is the closest i have come to finding a photo of harry lucas school...you can just see the entrance to it via farm st in this photo...

there are more pics of farm st under the farm st thread for those interested

lyn
 
Another Great pic Lyn. I used to go to Playcentre there for a couple hours in the evening in the early 60s. Friends Hall was more or less opposite and went to The Band of Hope there also.
 
Another Great pic Lyn. I used to go to Playcentre there for a couple hours in the evening in the early 60s. Friends Hall was more or less opposite and went to The Band of Hope there also.


morning topsy...as you may know friends hall is still there..i used to go as well..
 

Harry Lucas Secondary School Photographs

Hi folks, I may, unknowingly, have been acting as the Custodian of The Holy Grail for the last half century plus.
Let me first of all apologize for coming late to the party, in fact my fear is, judging by the date of the last posting, everyone has gone home. It was only a few weeks ago I felt the urge to take a trip down Memory Lane and checked the net for any Harry Lucas School listings, it was then I learned there was a desperate shortage of photographs. I knew I had one somewhere and following an intensive search I found it, the pic is attached together with a plan of the school, as I remember it (Please let me know of any serious errors and/or omissions).
I attended the school 1960-65 (same as Mike Leddy), the Headteacher was Mr. A.E.Walker and his deputy Mrs. Cadman (I can't remember her initials). The photograph shows and unusually deserted rear playground and has been expertly restored by fix-your-pix of Leeds.
The original photo, a 35mm colour transparency, was savagely mutilated, by someone wielding a hole punch, and left for dead in a wastepaper bin in the art room. I don't know why I felt compelled to rescue it (sometime in 1963) and keep it all these years but I did. Anyone who attended HLSS will know where the photographer stood, but for the record the pic was taken near to the entrance to the woodwork shop, this was close to the rear Bridge Street West entrance to the school site.
I can only estimate when the photo was taken, my best effort is sometime between 1960 and 1963, and there is no way of establishing who took it, possibly the art master at that time, Mr. Jones. What I can say for certain is, this is how the school looked when I left in July 1965.
The photographer may have chosen to shoot the back of the school rather than the front; the back was south-facing, so it was well-lit, and the box-like extensions (built to increase the school's facilities, at the time it became a secondary school?), on either side of the front elevation, were functional but were carbuncles on the school's original pleasing Victorian facade.
Does anyone know what happened to the 8mm silent movie The Bicycle Thief produced by Form G4 in 1964? It must be stored somewhere, with other school artefacts (trophies, house notice boards, etc.,) in one of the education committee's vaults. The film showed much of the school, inside and out, and if found and uploaded would be a valuable historical record of the buildings and pupils of the day; although I am not optimistic the reeled film will have escaped the ravages of time.
The school had a pre-planned short life as a senior school and I am saddened there is now no trace, or is there a commemorative plaque somewhere? (I left Birmingham some years ago.)
I was fortunate enough to be awarded a number of school prizes (which I still treasure) and I don't believe images of the award pages would be a significant contribution to archive material, however if the groundswell of opinion is the opposite I will upload them.
Thanks for your interest, Happy New Year.
Peg.

Post Script 21 Jan 2017
I have been able to date the photo positively as June 1961, I've added to photo top RH.
Peg.

Footnote 10 February 2017
School Plan Issue 2 uploaded, amendments:
1. First addition to front elevation: Description amended
2. Official address added (Burbury Street)
3. Coloured School Badges replace black and white
Regards,
Peg .
Harry Lucas School Photograph.jpg Harry Lucas School Plan Issue 2..jpg
 
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hi peg and welcome to the forum..there are going to be a few members on here who will be very pleased that you have joined us and posted that great photo you saved and thanks for your memories..although i did not attend harry lucas my brother did and so did my dad but this was before it was re named harry lucas school..previous to that it was known as burbury st school..looking at your photo i think that the tall building to the right is the joseph lucas building in burbury st ..please do post the award pages peg..i am quite sure that anything to do with the school will be a great asset to this thread..i wonder where that 8 mm silent film is..just as an aside where did you live

lyn
 
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thats a great write up carolina..now all we need are those pupils in it to come forward...thank you for sharing it with us..i think there should be a photo of the cafe you mentioned on the farm st thread...good to see this thread coming alive again:)

lyn x
 
At last............ Thank you so much for the photograph Peg. I remember the filming of the 'Bicycle Thief' - if I remember correctly I was in 1-1 or 2A? I have memories of Mr Jones on the roof of the boys toilets filming the chase. Once again thank you so much for unearthing the 'Holly Grail'..........

As i rember it, the only amendment to your plan of the school upper floor is that the science lab was on the opposite side to that shown as it was next to the staff room. The D.S room was directly above the art room.

Thanks Mabz
 
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