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Icknield St School

barrie

barrie

master brummie
Does anyone else remember the day out at Cadbury's Farm? We went from Icknield Street School, the final part of the journey was by tram, the trams pulled up outside the farm, and we were let loose.

Boy, did we enjoy ourselves, fields to run in, and trees to climb. At lunchtime we were called together, and were each given a pint bottle of milk, and a big pork pie, delicious. Then it was back to the dirt and grime of Hockley Brook. :D
 
It seems so, so long ago but I went for a day out ( it must have been Cadbury's Farm, it was deferentially Cadbury's but I am not too sure if we called it Manor Farm.) That was a great day out for us, I ask myself did we catch a charabanc ( Coach ) in Seven Street and did we travel up the Bristol Road to the farm ?
There were hundreds of children there from both boys and girls schools and we sat and had refreshments on the grass. Once more it was a realy great day out for everyone.
 
Below is cutting from the Evening mail in 1972.

icknield_st_school_closure.jpg
 
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Even today i pass it quite often and i used to go there in the fifties along with my two cousins whom lived in ford street
any body recall them ; barry and bryan phelps there parents were winnie and harry phelps, and barry lives in spain now
they have changed the house with a different build type and a block of flats; but will they ever knock down that old school
even the old bike shed is still there, heavens for bid
best wishes astonian ;;;;
 
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i went to ickneild street in the 70s and loved it there even though the inside of it was like a prison.i think the building is listed so i dont think it will be coming down just yet lol
 
hi paddy
yes i have come to that concliusion as to why they have not demolished and yes the interior was like a prision
i was there with my two cousins from ford st barry and bryan phelps and my auntie winn and ncle harry whom looked like freddie frinton the stand up comic like a drunk
mr urch mr wiseman mr kitchener mr fortuneare just afew names i recall as teachers there urch the slipper man for punishment and kicherer the cane
wiseman for releigion and barber the music man both from harborne allotments during the apple seasn we would go up there and scrump his apples ha
best wishes astonian
 
I remember a Mr Kitchen as the head Master,And a Mister Urch as being the deputy Head his class was on the first floor near to the stairs. I realy loved going to thst school , great for sport Football,Boxing,swimming was atrip up town to Woodcock Street Baths. Showed the school to my wife the last time I was up in Brum she thought it was a realy great building !!!!!
Hope they keep it and use it for other thing rather Buldoz it like evry other great building that Brum HAD
 
mr kitchen wasnt there when i was there.when was u there?god woodcock swimming baths ye used to go there then we went to newtown baths.i remember once when i was about 10 or 11 we came out of woodcock street and watched as a hot air baloon just folded up and came crashing down to earth. terrible
 
This Icknield Street School masters house(#303 Icknield Street) is listed on the Heritage at Risk list. It's in serious need of repair. Whoever owns it appears to be doing nothing about it. One to watch. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
hi viv..i have been watching the masters house for a few years now and to be honest its getting worse every year...cant see anything being done about it which is a shame

lyn
 
Not looking too good Lyn. I think these Streetview images were taken last year. The building has a very nice gable. But the house is mostly all boarded up. On the upside good to see the old school is still there. So maybe there's still hope.

image.jpeg image.jpeg

The house is very close to the pavement and right next to the school entrance. I wonder how many kids over the years dared to play knock down ginger at the schoolmaster's house? Viv.
 
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yes fingers crossed viv....far as i know the school is in part being used as some sort of centre...

lyn
 
Re the Hot Air Balloon Tragedy. I watched the entire event from the roof of Aston University. It came down beside the canal at Saltley landing on the towpath. Put me right off hot air balloons. Dreadful event.
 
My house in Heaton Street was opposite the rear entrance to the school and I was pretty sure it would be my fate to go there when I was 11 (1960) but all my friends from Farm St Junior went to Harry Lucas and so did I. (Not really a wise decision, by then my family had been rehoused to Erdington, should have found a school there).
Sad to see the Headmasters House as it is, nice property - small but perfectly formed.

Peg.
 
mikejee said:
Below are cuttings from the Evening mail & birmingham post in 1972, when the school was demolished

icknield_st_school_closure.jpg
Click to expand...
Hi Folks, I wonder what the story is behind the spire? There can't be many suburban schools that could boast such an impressive landmark.

Peg.
 
Hi peg
can you tell me when and what year was it when there was girls in that school please

I,m very intrested to know Astonian, Astonian,,,,
 
Astonian said:
Hi peg
can you tell me when and what year was it when there was girls in that school please

I,m very intrested to know Astonian, Astonian,,,,
Click to expand...
Hi Astonian, I lived opposite the Heaton St entrance to the school for the first 10 years of my life (1949-59) so my first hand knowledge of it extends only to the observations of a 0-10 year old during that period, (some of my exploits can be found on the threads: Heaton Street, The Flat, Pitsford Street, Key Hill, The Jewellery Quarter and, of course, Harry Lucas School).
I've found just by Googling Icknield Street School Hockley Birmingham brings up a number of useful listings and in fact the Wikipedia site (https://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/icknield_street_school) features a photo that could well have been taken from my parents' first floor bedroom window.
As I'm sure you know, Icknield Street School was one of many that offered evening classes and these are shown on the attached poster of 1902 vintage (Note: Men and Youths only at Icknield Street School, nearest school for girls? I'll let you decide - Burbury Street, perhaps?).
Good Luck with your search.

Regards,
Peg.

PS I'm sure I've got an old photo of girls working in an Icknield Street School Classroom but, frustratingly, I can't find it - I'll keep searching, it will only be a snapshot in time, but may be another piece in your jigsaw.
BSB Evening Classes 1902.jpg
 
Hi peg many thanks for your returned feed back , yes i do inded knew Ickneild street sec moderen
i went there myself from junior school along with my two cousins bryan and barry phelps whom lived on ford stret
just across the road facing the bus depot
i left there in 1959, i can,t say i really enjoyed it thou ,yes old man kitchener was head master and urch is second in command
he always use the slipper on you if you was ever later
the first year i was there along with all the other new kids for that year coming from juniors
was teraways they threw inks all over the teachers clothes at the back of his suit
and the other one was a mr godfrey a young guy but disabled with one arm obvisiouly he was new to teaching
i felt sorry for him because most of these kids from hockley was reall thugs
they threw things at him and abuse him him in every form they could do to him
one day he actualy ran across the class room floor and into the corner of the class room and started to kick and stamp on his own rubbish bin screaming at it the class was in stitches then old kitchener heard the commotion and yelled out to us all
the poor teacher left the school there was not much difference with his replacement mr fortune but he was a big
bloke and he barked at them , meaning he was showing them that he was in charge and not you lot
i see you lived in heaton street for them years did you ever know the keo family or the haynes family
whom lived in heaton street they lived across more or less facing the gates as well
by the way i am enjoying your stories and threads peg i read every one of them
best wishes Alan,, Astonian,,,,,,
 
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Astonian said:
Hi peg many thanks for your returned feed back , yes i do inded knew Ickneild street sec moderen
i went there myself from junior school along with my two cousins bryan and barry phelps whom lived on ford stret
just across the road facing the bus depot
i left there in 1959, i can,t say i really enjoyed it thou ,yes old man kitchener was head master and urch is second in command
he always use the slipper on you if you was ever later then there was joe wiseman the creep
all the lads hated him to come by you ashe was abit of a pervert if it had been reported he would have been locked up but nobody ever did report him
the first year i was there along with all the other new kids for that year coming from juniors
was teraways they threw inks all over the teachers clothes at the back of his suit
and the other one was a mr godfrey a young guy but disabled with one arm obvisiouly he was new to teaching
i felt sorry for him because most of these kids from hockley was reall thugs
they threw things at him and abuse him him in every form they could do to him
one day he actualy ran across the class room floor and into the corner of the class room and started to kick and stamp on his own rubbish bin screaming at it the class was in stitches then old kitchener heard the commotion and yelled out to us all
the poor teacher left the school there was not much difference with his replacement mr fortune but he was a big
bloke and he barked at them , meaning he was showing them that he was in charge and not you lot
i see you lived in heaton street for them years did you ever know the keo family or the haynes family
whom lived in heaton street they lived across more or less facing the gates as well
by the way i am enjoying your stories and threads peg i read every one of them
best wishes Alan,, Astonian,,,,,,
Click to expand...

Hi Astonian, quite a bit going on during your time at the school by the sound of it! Regarding the Keo and Haynes families, I don't remember the names but if they had children similar to my age at that time there is a very good chance I played with them.
I'm glad you like the accounts of my exploits, just when I think the barrel has run dry something happens to re-kindle another memory.
I've read the school had a very good adult choir that competed in National Events, but that would have been long before your time.
Happy Easter.

Regards,
Peg.
 
I went Icknield st school, from 1964 to 1968, teachers then were Mr Urch ( Reggie Urch as he was known) Mr Mazimba, Mr Northedge ( a very strict and a cruel man) Jock Sheerer, Mr Fred Kitchen the headmaster, a great teacher and fisherman, he took me, Roy Hands, Graham Shaw and others fishing on his club waters....it was a chaotic school, with lots of ethnic problems, I remember one, an asian kid who joined our class who was later proven to be over 20 years old, beard and all, you have to laugh, but whilst it was ok as a school and we had lots of laughs, it has to be said it didn't do me much good educationally, but hey ho, sa la ve, I have nothing but fond memories of Icknield st and all my old mates , even with its total anarchy and lack of discipline, but it had an abundance of corporal punishment via, the cane, the pump and board ruler and the numerous slaps, knuckled heads and twisted ears...but we were a tough bunch to control it has to be said
 
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HI Lawrence
I recall a couple of them teachers i went there in the fifty when i left
yes urchie and kitchen i am surprized he took lads fishing on his waters he was always mean looking and nasty with it
but i guess that period you was there he must have meloed with age
old daddy northredge as we called him was a wicked teacher , out on the summer holidays term
we went to his allotments and we scrumped his apple trees ;
And little old joey wise should have been locked up all the kids knew what he was like
walking up and down the isles and trying to touch kids up ,nfact it should have been reported
I can,t say i enjoyed the school even thou i had to cousind in that school at the same time as me
When my three mates andmyself left and got work three of them went to work to hoods limited
and i done a five year apprenticeship for painting and decorating money was rubbish
five ooounds aweek and i had to buy books for day school and night school for the courses
best wishes Astonian,,,
 
Mr Northedge lived in Bearwood and I bumped into him in Woolworths some 3 years after I left school, by then I was a strapping soldier and he was clearly nervous, he was a brutal man, but I showed him due respect and wished him well, it was a tough brutal school, my dad, my Uncles all went to Icknield st boys, and Mr Urch taught my dad, he was a tough teacher in a rough school, but very fair......but hey such is life I ain't done too bad
 
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Astonian said:
HI Lawrence
I recall a couple of them teachers i went there in the fifty when i left
yes urchie and kitchen i am surprized he took lads fishing on his waters he was always mean looking and nasty with it
but i guess that period you was there he must have meloed with age
old daddy northredge as we called him was a wicked teacher , out on the summer holidays term
we went to his allotments and we scrumped his apple trees ;
And little old joey wise should have been locked up all the kids knew what he was like
walking up and down the isles and trying to touch kids up ,nfact it should have been reported
I can,t say i enjoyed the school even thou i had to cousind in that school at the same time as me
When my three mates andmyself left and got work three of them went to work to hoods limited
and i done a five year apprenticeship for painting and decorating money was rubbish
five ooounds aweek and i had to buy books for day school and night school for the courses
best wishes Astonian,,,
Click to expand...
Hi Astonian, I'm a new member and I went to Icknield St for 1957-61.
Mr Kitchen became Headmaster while I was there, although he was very strict and caned me for no going straight back to school after a swimming trip, he did help me to go to a school camp.
I really wanted to go on a camping trip he had arranged in Wales, but my parents could not afford it. I played up at home and did no speak to my Mother for a week, she told him and he agreed to pay if I agreed to pay him back weekly form the money I earned working Saturdays helping a Milkman. The camp was great and I paid him back.
The one thing that I could not understand was is son who came on the camp with us, he was very naughty and unruly, how could such a strict teacher have a naughty son!
Vinny
 
Hi Vinny
Nice to hear from you, as you know i was an ex Ickneild street sec mod boys
regarding pigion eyed mr kitchen he was never popular type of person during my time there
and i also got the stick from him quite afew times for being late at school mor often than other kids
I used to hate that dammed school from start to finish , the only reason i ended going there
was because i had two cousins there before me starting there bryan and barry phelps
Mom said you have to go there because your cousins are there i pleaded i wanted to go to barford street but no she would never have
the only thing mr kitchen done any think for me was to get me bus tokens to travel to and from school from up in ladywood
was that the trip urchie went on and old wiseman went on
there is a school photo of the boys and a picture of kithen and his just two men getting of the coach

best wishes Astonian,,,,
 
icknield_st_school_closure.jpg
I did not personally attend this school but it will stir few memories for those who did.
 
hi folks been wanting to get inside this school for a long time and today was a good day as the gates were open..managed to get some photos taken from the ground then someone came out and asked what my interest was...explained that we need to take photos while these buildings are still there and also that our dad went to this school...although activities and prayers were going on much to my surprise i was invited in to take a couple of photos of what used to be the downstairs classrooms...did not like to be too cheeky but in the new year i will go back and ask permission to go upstairs for a look around...will post photos very soon

lyn
 
Nice one Lynn , i am sure there is a lot of us ex ickneild street boys will be looking foreward to seein these lates photos you have taken
we have all used those down stairs class rooms for different subjects during our schooling there
i have recently came in contact with one of my cousin whom is bryan phelps i have already mentionion this to him he is well chuffed to hear and hope to see them and i hope to see other members names on here when you bring them on , best wishes Lynn Alan , Astonian,,,
 
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