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Mapledene Junior & Infants School
- Thread starter badpenny
- Start date
jmadone
master brummie
I've just been reading another thread about the Home guard and the weapons they used. Talk of sticky bombs and Mills bombs sparked off a distant memory of an incident at Mapledene. Memories are a bit hazy but I'm sure that when we were in Mr Bates' class a lad (A vague recollection says it was Ian Christie) brought a hand grenade in to show the class. Whether it was de-activated or not I don't know and the pin had been bent round to prevent it from being withdrawn. It was obviously a souvenir from the war but it caused real consternation at school. I don't know what the consequences were only that it was taken from the classroom a.s.a.p. and we never saw it again. Does anyone else have any recollection of this incident?
Roy Tinkler, between Mr Bates and Mr Barlow, posted this to The Birmingham Mail and said:
"I don’t know all the names on the school photo but back-line, left to right, is Don Nicholls, fourth along Stuart Johnstone, fifth along Stephen Borseberry, sixth Terry Matthews, seventh Stuart Mitchell, eighth Tony Orton, ninth Robert Scholar. On the middle row is Trevor Smith, Mr Bates (deputy head and sports master), me, Mr Barlow (head). I don’t know any names from the front row. "
He says that he threw away his losers medal!
The second standing boy from the left looks like David Gray. Stephen Borseberry went on to become a vet.
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mbenne
master brummie
mbenne
master brummie
Mapledene Infants
In the late fifties one of our local haunts was The jungle. It was actually a piece of a very long, overgrown garden which had been fenced off and could only be accessed from the gulley in which we played. One Sunday afternoon on a visit to The Jungle we found a book of raffle tickets. Being five years of age my life experiences were limited so I have no idea why I suggested to my mates that we should sell the tickets to raise money for refugees. Something must have been going on in the world at that time to have prompted the idea (1959/60). There was little planning as none of us had even thought that a raffle should have a prize, how much each ticket would cost, or how we would identify the winner, but off we went! Knocking on each door in our road we'd ask if anyone would buy a ticket for the refugees. Despite being quizzed on having no prize, knowing the cost of each ticket or who the refugees were we found our neighbours very generous and came home with pockets bulging with loose change, mainly pennies and ha'pennies. At some point an ice cream van came up the road and we quickly decided that our efforts should be rewarded with a little commission and each of us took 3d to buy a raspberry split. The following day we we handed over the money to our teacher, Mrs Thomkins, telling her it was for the refugees. Her cupped hands were full of coins and she looked rather bewildered having no idea what we had done, us having no idea how much we had collected and subsequently no idea what happened to the money!
Our efforts didn't go unnoticed as later that day another enterprising lad, who will remain anonymous, decided he would also make some money, but this time for himself. He formed a small gang and toured the playground and at every opportunity threatened his victims with a beating unless they gave him money! It wasn't long before his activities came to light and one afternoon he was summoned to the front of the class and forced to admit his wrong doings before receiving a slap on the back of the legs and being sent to the headmistress, Mrs Wild. She took no prisoners and you could see the fear on his face. Like a man on the gallows he was asked to divulge the names of his accomplices before meeting his fate. He remained silent for a while and then pointed his finger directly at me! I was in panic mode, having no right to a lawyer, my Mom or my Nan and despite protesting my innocence we were both ordered to Mrs Wild's office. There was no formal lesson that afternoon and we were working in groups huddled around our desks. Walking to the door and seeing that the teacher was distracted I decided to hide under one of the desks rather than be punished for something I hadn't done. I waited a few minutes and then rejoined my group. I never saw Mrs Wild and neither did the teacher realise that I had never left or re-entered the class room!
In the late fifties one of our local haunts was The jungle. It was actually a piece of a very long, overgrown garden which had been fenced off and could only be accessed from the gulley in which we played. One Sunday afternoon on a visit to The Jungle we found a book of raffle tickets. Being five years of age my life experiences were limited so I have no idea why I suggested to my mates that we should sell the tickets to raise money for refugees. Something must have been going on in the world at that time to have prompted the idea (1959/60). There was little planning as none of us had even thought that a raffle should have a prize, how much each ticket would cost, or how we would identify the winner, but off we went! Knocking on each door in our road we'd ask if anyone would buy a ticket for the refugees. Despite being quizzed on having no prize, knowing the cost of each ticket or who the refugees were we found our neighbours very generous and came home with pockets bulging with loose change, mainly pennies and ha'pennies. At some point an ice cream van came up the road and we quickly decided that our efforts should be rewarded with a little commission and each of us took 3d to buy a raspberry split. The following day we we handed over the money to our teacher, Mrs Thomkins, telling her it was for the refugees. Her cupped hands were full of coins and she looked rather bewildered having no idea what we had done, us having no idea how much we had collected and subsequently no idea what happened to the money!
Our efforts didn't go unnoticed as later that day another enterprising lad, who will remain anonymous, decided he would also make some money, but this time for himself. He formed a small gang and toured the playground and at every opportunity threatened his victims with a beating unless they gave him money! It wasn't long before his activities came to light and one afternoon he was summoned to the front of the class and forced to admit his wrong doings before receiving a slap on the back of the legs and being sent to the headmistress, Mrs Wild. She took no prisoners and you could see the fear on his face. Like a man on the gallows he was asked to divulge the names of his accomplices before meeting his fate. He remained silent for a while and then pointed his finger directly at me! I was in panic mode, having no right to a lawyer, my Mom or my Nan and despite protesting my innocence we were both ordered to Mrs Wild's office. There was no formal lesson that afternoon and we were working in groups huddled around our desks. Walking to the door and seeing that the teacher was distracted I decided to hide under one of the desks rather than be punished for something I hadn't done. I waited a few minutes and then rejoined my group. I never saw Mrs Wild and neither did the teacher realise that I had never left or re-entered the class room!
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I wonder if your 'jungle' was Kedleston? This was a large house off Coventry Road between Coalway Avenue and Arden Oak Road. I think we might have gained access to it from a gulley behind Goldthorne Avenue.
In the school year 1959/60 Mapledene was collecting money for refugees. There was a big collection of waste wool and 'the shoddy man' picked it up in a tatty brown Austin K8 van. I think parents and the girls had been encouraged to knit squares to be made up into blankets. So called 'raffle tickets' were sold as 'cloakroom tickets' and intended to be used whenever someone left something that was to be collected later, as in a cloakroom or a dry cleaners. At the time I think it was quite hard to run a legal raffle, betting and gaming acts were involved, but there must have been many informal raffles throughout the period of rationing.
The name of Mrs Wild alone terrified me!
mbenne
master brummie
No it was between Normanton and Whitecroft Road. I don't remember the school collection but maybe it was that that prompted me to do something with raffle tickets? I know that we sometimes used to collect wool for some cause or other in the juniors. In Mr Bates's class a sack was hung under the blackboard at the front of the class to put old woolen clothing in. The class that collected the most would win a prize. It happened to be 2/1 and we were given £1. If we'd split it we'd get just a few pence each so Mr Bates decided to use it towards a school trip. We all added to it and earned a day out to Dudley Zoo.
1959-60 was UN World Refugee Year. [See here].
Perhaps The Jungle was a partly closed off bit of a gulley? (long and thin). Somehow some people managed to block off bits of the gulley, particularly if they lived halfway along a road as neighbours could get access from either side. Did they just fence it off and then eventually claim the land? I remember losing access from the back of Coventry Road shops to Deepdale while in infants school because someone put a garage in the way. No doubt there were the usual houses 'abandoned' by the elderly, absent and idle, just as today, we just don't have the children 'exploring' them anymore!
We used the gulley from the top of Warmington to the 'sack' end of Normanton cul-de-sac as our usual school run. Even in our day i'm sure there was some obstruction added to going between Normanton and Olerenshaw and I don't remember ever getting access to the Normanton/Whitecroft gulley either yet that could have been a good route for keeping off the roads.
Perhaps The Jungle was a partly closed off bit of a gulley? (long and thin). Somehow some people managed to block off bits of the gulley, particularly if they lived halfway along a road as neighbours could get access from either side. Did they just fence it off and then eventually claim the land? I remember losing access from the back of Coventry Road shops to Deepdale while in infants school because someone put a garage in the way. No doubt there were the usual houses 'abandoned' by the elderly, absent and idle, just as today, we just don't have the children 'exploring' them anymore!
We used the gulley from the top of Warmington to the 'sack' end of Normanton cul-de-sac as our usual school run. Even in our day i'm sure there was some obstruction added to going between Normanton and Olerenshaw and I don't remember ever getting access to the Normanton/Whitecroft gulley either yet that could have been a good route for keeping off the roads.
mbenne
master brummie
PY - JAMAS is the one I recall lol
jmadone
master brummie
Does anyone remember "Playschool". No, not the television programme, but a scheme that operated during the school holidays at Mapledene School. Twice weekly, Mondays and Thursdays I recall, the school would open up in the evenings, possibly between the hours of about 6pm and 8 pm. and manned, I presume, by volunteer staff possibly teachers or social/youth workers.
In the summertime we played individually with the equipment provided such as stilts, bamboo hoops and a variety of other games and sporting equipment. We played team games such as cricket for the boys and skittleball for the girls. Then sometimes we played mixed girls/boys games such as rounders or Red Rover.
When the nights were darker, late Autumn , Winter and early Spring we used the classrooms and the school hall which doubled as a gym. We painted, made models or filled scrapbooks with a variety of ephemera. We played games in the gym and on one occasion the "teacher", a guy named Mr Sampson whom I hero worshipped, brought in some boxing gloves and the boys were paired off to have a go at each other. I was even in those days tall for my age and surprisingly paired with a much smaller lad named Howard Thomas. What a little bantam he turned out to be! Despite my height and reach advantage he came at me like a whirlwind. Neither of us had any boxing technique and despite me landing a lucky punch on his nose which started bleeding, he got in a few telling blows and the bout was declared a draw. I think I was lucky to get that!
We had some great times there and it wasn't just for the pupils of Mapledene School. There were girls and boys who attended other Junior schools such as Stanville Rd., Elms Farm, St.Thomas More and Blakenhale.
In the summertime we played individually with the equipment provided such as stilts, bamboo hoops and a variety of other games and sporting equipment. We played team games such as cricket for the boys and skittleball for the girls. Then sometimes we played mixed girls/boys games such as rounders or Red Rover.
When the nights were darker, late Autumn , Winter and early Spring we used the classrooms and the school hall which doubled as a gym. We painted, made models or filled scrapbooks with a variety of ephemera. We played games in the gym and on one occasion the "teacher", a guy named Mr Sampson whom I hero worshipped, brought in some boxing gloves and the boys were paired off to have a go at each other. I was even in those days tall for my age and surprisingly paired with a much smaller lad named Howard Thomas. What a little bantam he turned out to be! Despite my height and reach advantage he came at me like a whirlwind. Neither of us had any boxing technique and despite me landing a lucky punch on his nose which started bleeding, he got in a few telling blows and the bout was declared a draw. I think I was lucky to get that!
We had some great times there and it wasn't just for the pupils of Mapledene School. There were girls and boys who attended other Junior schools such as Stanville Rd., Elms Farm, St.Thomas More and Blakenhale.
mbenne
master brummie
I only remember going in the summer and we called it play centre
I would say this was Class 4/2 with Mr Cullen, year 1961/62.
Robert Orton, Lynda Alders, Lyn Johnson and Paul Lovett might be here, (they were form prize winners two years earlier in Class 2/2). Some of the girls above will be here too.
I was working at a branch of one of the big four high street banks in 1985 and Mr Wimpory came into the branch..An elderly,frail looking man he was then not the sometimes volatile ,quite scary individual he was when I was in his class.I introduced myself but he was a confused person then so I didn’t Persue the conversation ..
mbenne
master brummie
Always made me wonder too! As kids we found it most infuriating.If you look on the opposite side there are two, side by side. The first one going down the hill contained a garage and a Aviary. The one nextdoor contained an entrance to a concrete bunker!
I remember us once distracting the one owner of the aviary to show us his budgies while the rest of the gang filed down one of the gardens to get access to the street lol
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Have this picture at home, I'm Margaret Bennett and standing behind Miss Green. I think the girl two to the left of me is Jean Rogers and the little chap at the end of my row could be David Gray. Didn't realise we could have once been so young!! Thank you for posting this
jmadone
master brummie
Hi Margj welcome to the forum. I remember you and your family very well as we lived in the same road. Didn't we meet at the last Silvermere reunion? I was there with my sister Carol who spent the night catching up with your sister Barbara. I have to say I didn't recognise you in the photo but now you've pointed it out then it's obvious. I'm not so sure that the lad on the end is David Gray but you could be right.
Best wishes,
Jim
I have no idea, and to be honest I don't remember this at all. What an arrogant poem, "Margaret is glad for she knows quite well there's a prize to be had" I hope I grew out of that pretty quickly.
Yes of course now you explain. You have always been Jimmy to Barbara and me, so when you signed off as Jim it threw me. I remember you and Carol at that Silvermere reunion. Can't believe all those years have past by since we were all at Mapledene and then Silvermere.
You did win a form 4/2 prize though and were a vice-captain of St Andrew's!
jmadone
master brummie
Yes I've morphed into my Grandad! When my grandfather was alive there were 3 of us named James. My grandad was Jim,
My Dad was Jimmy and I was little Jimmy!
By looking at your forum name you have turned into your Mum who, if I remember correctly was known as Marj together with your Dad Fred. I can also remember your Grandad and Grandma who lived in the flats opposite our house. It all seems so long ago doesn't it?
Thanks for those kind words..
Yes that was mum and dad, Marge and Fred. The couple who lived in the flats opposite you were my great aunt and uncle, my Nan and grandad lived in Acocks Green. My dad's cousin Elsie lived in the six story flats opposite our house. She would come across to ours on a Saturday morning to hang her washing out and would sometimes still be there when the washing dried, after drinking many cups of tea and chatting to mum. I remember Carol coming to ours with Barbara and playing schools, hospitals or house in the back shed. We also used to go across the park and jump over the brook, go to the dell and swing across on a rope that was there. Such a long time ago...anything up to sixty years whoa, frightening!!
