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Ilmington road school, Weoley castle

izzy eckerslike

master brummie
Hi,
I also went to Ilmington Road Boys school. Left in 1961 & was in the same class as Victor Newey.One of the brighter ones in my class & writer of some good verse. Some very funny. Strange how things turn out. I never liked Sam Small & was talking to a friend about the school who never went there but who it turned out lived next door to him when young. Told me he came from Ulster.
Who was the young guy who came about 1959 & took art? Hated PE & those showers with the water being turned hot & cold.
Had to mow the grass with Raymond Ellis for some reason.

One lunch waiting for second sitting at lunch time. Sam Small said no talking. My mother worked as a dinner lady & passed by doing some thing in the staff room. She spoke to me I answered. Got reported & Sammy Small gave me the cane for talking.

Tony Sargent.

I remember you Antony,we were friends at one point, I am Vic Newey,lol, I remember you used to be always on about Russian Railway gauges amongst other things & I remember you as a junior boffin.
I can't remember if you came around our house or it was some other kid, sure it was you & we were mixing up various chemicals & it started to bubble & froth & smoke & you were convinced we had discovered 'heavy water' & we ran out the house expecting a major explosion
 
Hi Victor,
I did come round your house in Oxley Grove. You had a small steam engine, which ran on meths. Your grandfather helped build railways in South America you told me.
We were friends also with Raymond & Jim Ellis. Also a Billy Hedge, who collected butterflies & moths & lived in Spernall Grove.

For some reason I hit your sister on the head with a very large book, which was an important family book.

We were also friends with a lad who lived at the start of Gregory Avenue, cannot recall his name. He went to work for the post office.

Tony.
 
Hi Victor,
I did come round your house in Oxley Grove. You had a small steam engine, which ran on meths. Your grandfather helped build railways in South America you told me.
We were friends also with Raymond & Jim Ellis. Also a Billy Hedge, who collected butterflies & moths & lived in Spernall Grove.

For some reason I hit your sister on the head with a very large book, which was an important family book.

We were also friends with a lad who lived at the start of Gregory Avenue, cannot recall his name. He went to work for the post office.

Tony.
hi Tony

Billy Hedge had the husky voice from a wart on his vocal chords, remember that telescope he had ? , I swapped it for something or other & it's still with me now, the lad you mention was my mate Eddie Maher, he used to go around picking up fag ends & making roll ups, I sadly discovered via friends reunited that Eddie died of throat cancer a number of years ago. filters were not used on cigarettes back then & so all the but ends must have been thick with nicotine, I'm just glad I resisted taking up smoking after trying one Eddie rolled for me.

Still got the steam engine in the loft, I'm 63 now & retired & living in Hunt End, Redditch, I worked in TV & film scenery for a number of years & then became a modelmaker & miniaturist I have a Son aged 22 & daughter 25
 
Hi Victor,
Bad news about Eddie. Always liked him.
I think Gordon Nelson who was in our class as also died. Saw something in the B,ham Mail a few years back.
I saw Raymond Ellis on my first trip back from Australia in 1970, outside the Raven pub. Told me he was working on the buses.
I dont think we stopped being friends but you made friends with another lad in our class, whose name I cannot remember but he was very quiet and appeared ill most of the time.
Can picture lots of faces from our classes but very few names. Among those I remember are Graham Such, Brian Eagles, and very non PC Bunny, and Rubberlips.

Not suprised you ended up in tv & film work along with model making.
Myself I ended up as a medical lab technician at B,ham medical school & Melborne university. I now live in Bewdley.

If in case you wonder about the odd spellings/letters. Computer software as been playing up on the key board. Been throwing odd letters in place of what you type in. Slowly sorting it out.
 
hi Tony,

Rubberlips, lol, seems we were rather cruel to him weren't we.

when I first started work for a firm of shopfitters (in 1961) I found Graham Such was already working there as a bench joiner & he was still there when I left 18 years later to work on Pebble mill TV scenery . I think the lad you mention I was friendly with was Geoffrey, can't recall his other name, he was always excused games & the torture of Marco. Strangely enough I don't recall Gordon Nelson at all.
 
hi all
I remember "rubber" he was always humming or singing that one hit wonder by "B BUMBLE & THE STINGERS" Does any one remember Ray Vicke? went to aussie with dad on £10 poms thingy, Chris Dodge, or Razza Hinkley, I remember Brian Eagles too! and "Smmiffy" and hairy Warring
paul
 
Hi Victor, Paul & others,
You are right that lads name was Geoffrey. I cannot remember you Paul.
Some names are starting to come back to me, Remember, Roy Walker, Micky Price, Tony Parsons, Derek Stanford, Dennis Heyes, Brian? Broadway, Paddy McGill, think he lived on the Square in a prefab, Graham? Conway & Dennis Rimmer, who Sammy Small had a real downer on.

Did have some teachers called Duffield? Squires? & a posh one called White?
 
hi tony
paddy mcgill who lived in the prefabs on castle square and was my best mate I was devestated when I heard he had died. I think you are all a year or so older than me, did brian eagles have a brother derek ??
regards
paul
 
Hi Paul,
I may be wrong about if it was Brian or Derek Eagles in my class. I think it was Brian. When Victor reads this he may know. He lived down in the Alwold Road, Burnal Road area I thnk. I do remember " Smiffy " he lived in Bentley Grove. Can you remember George the caretaker? Sad to hear that Paddy is dead. Will have to tell my sister.
Tony.
 
Micky Price!
I remember he & his brother had a huge collection of birds eggs, not just your usual common stuff but tray after tray of just about every bird in the UK, like most boys I had a collection & used to buy or swap with Micky to add to my collection.
Where their collection originated I don't know; possibly from their Grandfather. Such things are hugely frowned on now of course.

Does anyone remember John Craney? he was what we would call special needs these days & was a bit on the wild side & was always being picked on & fighting,I don't think he went to school, there was also a dark haired girl in the same area who had similar problems, might have been Carol ?

I can't remember if it was Brian or Derek Eagles either!
I remember the older one used to make his brother do stupid things such as take all your clothes off & run down the road.
Anyone remember Nic Walton? he lived next door to me in Oxley grove & we had a home made intercom with copper wire going from his house to mine, he was also mates with Eddie Maher
 
hi all
does anyone remember john debar and his brother ramond, they lived in the grove off gregory avenue directly behind us in milcote road, any one remember colin cave and his triumph 21, any one in the square club.
regards
paul
 
Hi Paul,
I was in the Square club. I remember Maggie the bus, going to the camp each summer near Kingsbridge on the farm. Marco had a friend who dressed the same. Johny Cook was one of the youth people I think.
 
hi Tony
Yes I always thought Marco slightly suspect and I remember John cook the coach driver, I had a slight stroke in march and it has played havoc with my memory. I don't suppose you remember the name of the butchers at the top of the square I worked for him when about 13 on Saturdays he was a mountain of a man and very kind to me.
 
I still have very vivid memories of that era in Weoley Castle, remember Faulkes sweet shop? I & two others from school got severe food poisoning & I was off school for 12 weeks, the only thing in common was that we had all bought sweets from the same sweetshop altho I don't know if it was ever proved.

Remember' the dump' ? the waste ground down by the duckpond, we spent hours there making dens etc. we lost it when they developed it & built flats & houses around 1958, the same happened up the Castle end where the farmland was all built over

Vic
 
hi izzy
I remember the dump went to Our lady in gregory ave and in the winter we built slides on the slopes of the dump remember skating in the winter on the duck pond, and sneaking into the back yard of the raven and pinching bottles and then going in the offe and cashing them in at 3d each. I remember the weoley park and playing on the slide and swings, at the back of our lady school were old air raid shelters and we played soldiers and chased the girls into them never had much money but always seem to be laughing.
regards
paul
 
Hi Paul, Victor,
Was the guys name Barnfield? " Fatty Barnfield " was the name lads called him. I am trying to remember if he won a lot of money on the pools. I know he went odd and became sick from things my mother told me. His shop was next to Jones the papershop. Another odd couple ran that shop, she was like a witch. I was a paperboy for them. Pay was bad & you were always in trouble over delivering papers late even it was thick fog or deep snow.
I also remember the dump. I went there with Victor & Eddie Mare. Had a lot of fun round there.
I do remember Faulkes sweet shop. He used to have sweets in the window for ages & then sell them cheap as window mixture. I bought a cheap crunchie bar once. It was so old it was hollow in the middle & the chocolate stale. I think in the back of my mind various others were sick from eating their stuff. His wife used to pay lads to go to the fish market & get fresh crab meat for their Sunday tea.
 
We nearly got caught with the empties trick at the Raven, climbed over & got 4 bottles & took them in & the off licence & the woman said 'wait here a minute' & we saw her go along to the bloke at the other end of the bar & she pointed back at us & we panicked & ran, the bloke vaulted over the bar & gave chase but we outran him. Never went near the Raven for months after that, apparently they had started marking the labels to catch us out..
Here's some memory pics showing the butchers but not sure if it's the one Paul worked at & in the lower picture Faulkes sweet shop is on the end by the van
24qqzvb.jpg


2bpd9t.jpg
 
hi tony and izzy
Yes it was fatty barnfield I worked for he hated his wife and the first job on saturday was he slipped me a note and 10/- for the offie I would get 2 small bottles of whisky and hide them in the old box's out back, he was always kind to me giving steak of mutton to take home on sat night along with 16/- which was good money then when older my sister wrote and said that he had committed suicide by cutting his throat with a boning knife in his big freezer, she recconed the fridge was ankle deep in blood. His wife never went to his funeral I remember the sweet shop next door sold jubblies in the summer and the woman looked just like a drawing of a witch. Great photo's Izzy John Favors went there for my mom every week and the bakers next door brings back many happy memories for me.

regards
paul
 
Just now remembered the second shop next to Faulks was ' Planty's Stores'
anyone remember what they sold?
I had a paper round that lasted for for one day, instead of writing the address on the paper corner like most shops they gave you a board with it all written on & on Sunday it took me 4 hours or more & angry blokes were opening the door saying where the heck you been?
 
hi Izzy
I to did a paper round and it took me four hours on a Sunday I didn't own a a bike so I did it on foot cannot remember the name of the shop but it was on the other side of the square in the Weoley castle Road. I had to do Quarry Road,Harvington Road,Shenley Fields Road and groves. All for 10/-6d and was'nt quarry hill a swine in the thick snow we used to get. yes!! Izzy I too used to get real grief if you were late with papers, did any one know Anne Godden I was sweet on her once.
regards
paul
 
Hi All,
Yes, remember being told what happened to Fatty Barnfield by my mom.
Thanks for the pictures of the shops on the Square.
I used to have to go every Saturday morning & get the family meat from the Co-op butchers in the one photo. The manager was a man called Edgar, his wife worked with him but cannot remember her name.
We had our groceries delivered by a lad on a bike from Favoures. Cannot think of his name. At one point I used to go to the back of Favours because I became friends with a lad from Ilmington school who lived there.
We also got our bread & cakes from Raggs.
The photos bring back a lot of memories.
The shop in the middle was also a grocers, cannot recall its name & the little shop between it & Faulks sold cooked meat & was a small grocers. An early VG shop of sorts?
My paper round for Jones newsagents was number 11. The round started at the corner of Marston Road & Shenley Fields Road. It then went into Green Meadow Road. New houses were being built then & the Green Meadow section just got longer & longer. Could just about walk & carry my bag. Slave labour for 10s a week. Before going out on our rounds recall reading the comics they had of classic books. Anyone remember them.
Always had to return the bags after delivering the papers.
Tony.
 
hi tony
yep they wos hard days, I used to tell my kids that the sunday paper sack I carried was about 3' wide and in the winter when the snow went down your wellies and your feet were wet through it was no joke, yep when waiting to fill your sacks I would read the latest comics remember the piles and piles of different sunday papers when you got your board then stated with your first drop it took about 20 mins to fill your sack in them days there was more sunday papers sunday sketch ect which are not about to day then as you said when finnished you had to trapse all the way back to the square to drop off your sack and many a time I was asked so and so hasn't turned up do his round for an extra 5 bob I always did somtimes not finnishing till nearly 11.30 after starting at 7.30 and that's when you got grief from customers great photo's from izzy,
regards
paul
 
hello izzy my name is matin tierney i went ilmo in 70s but i remember john craney from drinking with him in the california pub he was afriend of my older brothers , ithink he died some time in the 80s
 
I went to Ilmington Road school from 1962 /66 Small was the head master.
Teachers I remember were Elder as mad as they come, drove racing cars, Emery, Oliver, Prothero, Gale, Goss a mouthy welsh man, Marcasson & George? the caretaker.
I recall the production of Oliver Which Prothero had a big hand in producing.
At this time the school bought a old ambulance as school transport.
I lived in Roundlea road opposite the Shenley Homes, also gone, so I lived on the opposite side of the school to most of you.
Perhaps we should state which school house we were in & someone could give out merit marks for the best replies.
When did the school close? We moved to Redditch soon after I left school & I lost touch.

Regards Mike Webber
 
Yes I went to Ilmington Road School & left in 1957.I was in Mr Roberts class before leaving I remember Sammy Small & the Sadist Marcasson but cant remember Doc Jennings.Mr Pudephat was head master.I lived in Beckbury Road in them days & was born in Barcheston Road1942,a life time ago
 
Hi. Just read all your comments. What about the girls school. I left there in 1949 (quite an old girl now). It is lovely to read about Weoley Castle again. I remember all the shops on the square and just before the war I remember a Fair being on the circle in the centre. Then the prefabs were built. If any of my school friends are still about I would love to hear from them. I went around with Beryl Bayliss. Irene Bates, amongst others and also a lad we called Brasso and John Perry (he also emigrated with his family to Australia on the £10 passage). Your messages have brought back so many memories for me it almost makes me want to write a book. My maiden name by the way was Olive Jeyes if anyone remembers me.
 
Hello Pricey, you were there a lot earlier than all of us posting on here it seems, particularly if you remember the square before the prefabs were built!
For some reason your the first old Ilmo girl to post so where are the rest because there's quite a few ex Ilmo on
Friends reunited, I just added a link to this thread so we will see if anyone from FR joins in!


PS old girls for 1949 on Friends reunited are June Hartland, Pat Blacham, Beryl Sparkes, Connie Eling, Margaret Craven, Freda Mathews. Beryl Sparkes might be Beryl Bayliss as was
 
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hello to all you old Ilmo lot,im new to this site so bear with me.I attended Ilmington between 1971 and '76 and was in class 5.2 in my last year. Pupils that i remember in my class were,Carol and Karen Smith(not related but best friends) Isabelle Betty,Alvina Holyland,Leslie Pocock, Seamus Oneil, Stephen Brittain,Kevin Price,other names i can't remember at the moment.Mr Small was still the head at the time.I remember one of the kids father or brother came in to see smalls and landed up punching him.Marco was still there,Mrs qureshi.the history teacher who by the way never taught us history,she always spoke about aliens and ghosts and her family(strange)Does anyone else remember any of these pupils?
 
I went to Ilmington School between 1956-60 and remember all the names you mention.My form teacher was Noel Leonard with his famous phrase "Glory Be boy,it's plain as a pikestaff!" When Fred Small took over from Percy Pudephat he ruled by fear,how different things are now,both he and Marcusson would be locked up today but the charges against Marco would be more serious.I spent a year on the Square as well which was altogether more relaxed.Mr Paul,the metalwork teacher had me make a G clamp casting it in sand which I've still got,but have still never used.There was an old buffer named George Wooley who took gardening classes out by the air raid shelters but he retired soon after I arrived as did Dickie Wynn the art teacher. Do you remember Mr Roberts the tall guy who took music and Eckleston,geography and Jenkins,science? I've been a retail furniture buyer for most of my working life and have lived in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia for the last 11 years.Soory to here it's gone but I suppose it was bound to happen.
 
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