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Perry Beeches Secondary School

It's great to hear of all you 'young 'uns' getting in touch with one another. I know of many of these places you mention, but I don't seem to be finding anyone from my school years. Maybe going back to the nineteen fifties is a bit too far. Still, I am ever hopeful. Strange though. All those years ago, I often wondered if I would make 'old-bones'.

John
 
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Wobblyclogs said:
It's great to hear of all you 'young 'uns' getting in touch with one another. I know of many of these places you mention, but I don't seem to be finding anyone from my school years. Maybe going back to the nineteen fifties is a bit too far. Still, I am ever hopeful. Strange though. All those years ago, I often wondered if I would make 'old-bones'.

John Walker
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I wasn’t expecting to be in touch with school friends, it is lovely talking about those days and drawing on your memories. Time means nothing does it? I don’t think I ever thought about my ‘old bones’! Jen.
 
Hi Jeanette,

I didn't intend to give the impression I dwelt on the subject of aging. I didn't, but I had plenty of close calls in my youth; times when my blood ran cold, thinking this was it! So far, so good though! So my apologies if I have cast gloom and doom. I will try harder from now on! :)

John
 
Ah... They didn't have Cross Country running when I was at Beeches. If you couldn't sprint, Mr Caldicott reasoned you couldn't run and that was it. I think that was pretty general in those days, unless you joined a proper running club. I found out I could run longer distances when I finally went into the RN in1954. Had fun too, except it could 'brass monkeys'!

John :cold_sweat:
 
nickcc101 said:
I will always remember Miss Lloyd sitting in class, with Mr Edge, smoking with a long cigarette holder. She could sing though. This was in the late fifties when smoking was the norm.
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yeah i remember miss Lloyd the music teacher but when i was at the school from 68-73 she had a poodle that slept under her desk, today teachers would not be allowed to bring their pets to school
 
Wow! This forum thread makes me feel so young! I joined Perry Beeches secondary school around 2010. I’m pretty sure that it’s called something else now. But it’s honestly strange to hear people experiencing a school decades before me.
 
Death said:
Wow! This forum thread makes me feel so young! I joined Perry Beeches secondary school around 2010. I’m pretty sure that it’s called something else now. But it’s honestly strange to hear people experiencing a school decades before me.
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welcome to the forum death...enjoy

lyn
 
Hello all!
Just wondering if anyone remembers Ken Pitt, his brother Martin, sister Sue or his mate Pete Lewis?
Ken was at Perry Beeches from 1962 to '68, so is likely in one of the lovely pics that were posted of the whole school in '65, although I don't stand much chance of finding him!! His birthday's in a couple of weeks though so I'll be showing him those photos, see if he can find himself!
All the best, everyone.
 
Hello Robzor,
I was at Perry Beeches from 1962 -1966, I don’t recall any of the names that you have mentioned but Cecilia Pitt was in my class, don’t know whether she is a relative. She lived in the lower half of PerryWood Road. He will enjoy the photos, I did, he may be able to link up with a few people over time. Jen
 
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Jeanette:

I take it you mean the Calshot Road end of Perrywood? As opposed to the Thetford Road end?

That was on my paper round in the 1950s! Wow; how time flies! :worried:

John
 
Wobblyclogs said:
Jeanette:

I take it you mean the Calshot Road end of Perrywood? As opposed to the Thetford Road end?

That was on my paper round in the 1950s! Wow; how time flies! :worried:

John
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Hi John, I’m a bit sketchy with a few of the road names around PerryWood Road. If you walk down Booths Farm Road from Walsall Road it would be on the right side, Perry Wood Road that is. I lived to the left of Booths Farm Road. I suppose I always thought of it as the lower part because I walked down that way to get to Beeches School. Did you have your paper round working for the newsagent shop that was on the corner of Booths Farm and PerryWood? I moved into the area in 1962. Jen
 
Hello Jeanette,

My 'paper-round' covered both halves of Perrywood Road. I worked at what was Roden's Newsagents, next door to Moyle & Adams grocers. This was in the mid 1950s! I always considered the Calshot junction with Perrywood, as the 'bottom of that long road, as it was downhill! I lived in Heston Avenue, which adjoined Booths Farm Road, between Foden and Cramlington. I used to get to Perry Beeches, via Fowlmere and Thetford.

I was in the Mediterranean in 1960 and when I returned home in 1961, I found my parents had moved to Castle Bromwich. It's okay, they did tell me! I just didn't know how to get there from New Street! :cold_sweat:

I could have simply asked a 'Bus Inspector, but fortunately I met a chap who took pity on a 'lost sailor' and gave me a lift to Berrandale Road!

I still live in Great Barr, but over the border into Walsall, not far from the Old Horns of Queslett.

Regards John :)
 
nickcc101 said:
Hello Micheal. If you’ve read the posts on this thread I won’t bang on about my dislike for edge. I started in 1957 but missed the 3rd year and finished in June 1960 at 14 years of age. Miss Lloyd was my form teacher in 59/60 but as I’d missed the 3rd year I was totally out of my depth for my final year which resulted in extremely bad School reports and my dislike for the headmaster as he had no interest in any child unless they failed to meet his standards.
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I went there in 1969 to 74
Caldicot and Edge left in my third year
Lloyd was still there
The school improved after they left
 
oldplumber said:
I've been looking at some of your photo's & I see that you lived in Grindelford Rd,did you know Alfred Holder he was a friend of mine at school & he lived in the same rd,Do you also remember those very snowy winters we used to get in the 1940s & sledging down the field at the top of Sandy Lane !!,I lived in Holmesfield Rd off Thornbridge Ave
Brian
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Hi Brian, Did you know a Michael Robbins?
 
So this is a group of 1965 pupils! I had left the RN the year before, after 10 years service. In mid 1965, went to the school, one day to see Mr. Edge. I 'd phoned him to see if he would 'referee' for me, as I wanted to join the Birmingham Police. (Policemen were real Policemen then I should add. Not cardboard cut-outs like they are today! ) Yes he did give me the reference. Here I am now, at 82 still putting one foot in front of the other! My 'avatar' is about ten years old. Still got me hair and me own teeth! :D
My sister, Jean Walker, was at the school from around 1956 to 1960. I don't think Mr. Edge was too happy that she was an entirely different character to me!

John
 
Wobblyclogs said:
Hello Jeanette,

My 'paper-round' covered both halves of Perrywood Road. I worked at what was Roden's Newsagents, next door to Moyle & Adams grocers. This was in the mid 1950s! I always considered the Calshot junction with Perrywood, as the 'bottom of that long road, as it was downhill! I lived in Heston Avenue, which adjoined Booths Farm Road, between Foden and Cramlington. I used to get to Perry Beeches, via Fowlmere and Thetford.

I was in the Mediterranean in 1960 and when I returned home in 1961, I found my parents had moved to Castle Bromwich. It's okay, they did tell me! I just didn't know how to get there from New Street! :cold_sweat:

I could have simply asked a 'Bus Inspector, but fortunately I met a chap who took pity on a 'lost sailor' and gave me a lift to Berrandale Road!

I still live in Great Barr, but over the border into Walsall, not far from the Old Horns of Queslett.

Regards John :)
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John your childhood neighbour and school friend Ethel died this week. Sad news I know.
 
BigJohn said:
John your childhood neighbour and school friend Ethel died this week. Sad news I know.
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So sad, and at this time of life it is getting all too often. Thank you so much for giving me this news. I always had a a lot of time for Ethel, and she kept me up to date, whenever I came home on leave from the RN, in the 50/60s. She also used to tease me a lot about another girl I knew, but I didn't mind, 'cos she was right about that! :broken_heart: Ethel was a beautiful girl, as you might expect if you ever met her eldest brother, Jim. Thank you again,and I hope it's not too late to send a card to the family.

Regards... John
 
Yane mentioned a Michael Robbins.

I have been sifting my memory for why the name Robbins sounded so familiar to me. I don't think I am old enough to recall Michael Robbins, but yesterday I suddenly remembered another Robbins at Perry Beeches; namely Hazel Robbins. I remember her as a pretty girl, with long, dark hair and a ready smile. She was about my own age of course. Now I am wondering if she could have been related to Michael. If anyone else recalls Hazel it would satisfy my curiosity! Thank in anticipatio.

John
 
BigJohn said:
John your childhood neighbour and school friend Ethel died this week. Sad news I know.
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Thanks Avril. I have spoken to David earlier today. Unfortunately I am a bit immobile at present, but of course have sent the usual condolences. Thank you again; I am most obliged x

John
 
Yayne said:
Hi Brian, Did you know a Michael Robbins?
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No I can’t say I do remember him,but probably did but can't remember him,I started at Beeches Road School in 1939,the only person who sticks in my mind was the edit ........... headmaster at that time Mr Waterton edit ......... the cruel way he treated pupils.

Moderators note. Post edited.
 
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oldplumber said:
No I can’t say I do remember him,but probably did but can't remember him,I started at Beeches Road School in 1939,the only person who sticks in my mind was ..........
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One of his successors wasn’t much better, late fifties.
 
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Waterton was the Headmaster during my time in the juniors department. I started at Perry Beeches in 1943, so my time with Waterton would have been about 1946 -1950. I went to senior school at Birchfield in 1950. Waterton was a pig, who caned me for 'fraternising with the enemy'! Namely Italian prisoners of war who had stayed on after hostilities, building prefabs. My actual offence? Just greeting one of the prisoners. I was caught by a teacher from Aldridge Road School, who frogmarched me to Waterton. This teacher looked a lot like Mr. Edge. Maybe it wasn't Edgie though because when I finally returned to Beeches in 1951, he didn't recognise me!

How times have changed.

John
 
Hi,Wobblyclogs,,I also went to Birchfield Road School after leaving Beeches Road & they raised they School leaving age from 14 to 15 the year I was about to leave so it must have been 1948 when I left Birchfield Road School, our paths must have crossed ??
Yes ...edit ........ he was one of the biggest bullies that I ever came across & I met quite a few when I was in the army in the 1950s,hope you are well & still enjoying life.

Moderators note. Post edited.
 
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Hi Oldplumber.

Thanks for the reply. The reason I went to Birchfield Road School was simple. That teacher who took me to see Waterton was one of the staff at Aldridge Road. Hence, I chose to go to Birchfield Road to keep out of the way! I went to Perry Barr in 1950, as I said. Vividly remember Mr. Massinhgam the art teacher having us all paint a representation of HMS Affray, the submarine that was lost in the Hurd Deep that year. I didn't enjoy painting that for obvious reasons and I felt it was a weird choice for subject matter. I also disliked a teacher called Taylor who apparently won WWll single-handed!

I wouldn't say I was a 'hothouse flower', but the stink from the Tufnol works didn't agree with me at all, and my doctor advised I return to Great Barr. In 1951 I transferred back to Perry Beeches, which is where I first met Mr. Edge. Never had any problems with him, but by then I had learned not to rock the boat, and buckled down to getting the best I could out of school! I left in 1954, at 15 and joined the RN in September that year. That was the start of 12 months of virtual Hell at HMS Ganges Boys' Training Establishment. In comparison, Birchfield Road was a kindergarten. Ten years later I had finished my service, and had got married. I returned to Birmingham and here I stayed, living just a mile from my childhood home. I am not as mobile as I'd like to be, but I still keep putting one foot in front of the other! I plan to keep doing that as long as possible, but we all know that fate sometimes laughs at those who plan!

Cheers Old plumber.
Regards John
 
Many thanks John, for your prompt reply, I remember Mr Taylor at Birchfield Road ,but you are, I hate to say younger than me, I'll be 88 in December, my wonderful wife of 62 years died in 2016 & I've been on my own since although I do have a lady friend, also a widow who I get on with very well,fortunately John I'm still in extremely good health so still manage to do most things including driving,we moved to Brixham, Devon not long after finishing my national service in the Royal Engineers in 1957,bought a house up by Barr Beacon but couldn't settle so got a job in Devon in 1961/2, I was a plumber /heating engineer all my working life,the last 25 years working for myself, had two kids my daughter (52) lives in Exeter & my son (49) lives about 200yds away my wife & I had a great life together & I & I know my wife felt the same ,we have travelled to most parts of the world,
I'm still in touch with three old school friends one still live in Great Barr one retired to Norfolk ,the last one lives in Melbourne, Australia,
Take care John & keep in touch
Brian
 
Thanks Brian. Well what's a six year seniority? :)

My wife is 88 also, but she is in full care now. I looked after her from 2010 until 2016, when she finally had to have more care than I could physically give her. She has Parkinson's and Dementia, and aside from that she is in good health; which is typically perverse. I haven't seen her since lockdown, because the home she is at were locked down fully. They have eased to situation now, but that still leaves me struggling to actually walk around the place, to get to her room. My walking ability is improving though, so a couple of months should do it. She doesn't know our children, and it's looking likely she won't know me when I can finally get to see her. But we must wait and see.


Regards John
 
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