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St Thomas C Of E School Granville Street

hiya my name is barry hopwood ,and went to st thomas school from 1945 to 1954 also mt elder brother terry and my younger sister valerie any one there remembers me i would love to hear from ,and you can contact on the following e mail [email protected]
 
hiya my name is barry hopwood ,and went to st thomas school from 1945 to 1954 also mt elder brother terry and my younger sister valerie any one there remembers me i would love to hear from ,and you can contact on the following e mail [email protected]
Sorry I wasnt in those years. I was born 195I went to that school probably 1955 I was 4 nearly 5
 
I think this one may cause a little consternation, as I have the photo and I don't agree with the district it's tagged as. Though it is possible, lets just see if anyone can come up with the name and I will allow a little leeway with the location.
The school in the photograph is the senior school looked at from the playground of St Thomas's Infant and Junior School on Granville Street, Edgbaston/Lee Bank - (now Ladywood?) The senior school was, I think, called Lea Mason. I left St Thomas's School in 1959 for KE VI Camp Hill Boys' Grammar School in King's Heath, having passed the 11 Plus. The railings on top of the building prevented pupils falling from the rooftop playground but did not prevent the occasional beanbag being (accidentally) lobbed over during PE lessons! The former site of St Thomas's School is now the Tesco store on the corner of Granville Street. Can't imagine a third floor playground now.
 
It is definitely Granville street, Ladywood. My sister and I attended. I was there from 1949 to 1955 when my parents moved house out of the city
 
The school was on the corner of Bath Row (Edgbaston) & Granville Street (Ladywood) I started there in 1955 (5 years old) until 1961 (1st yr seniors), infants ground floor, juniors middle floor and seniors top floor, the roof was for seniors only. The seniors moved to Lea Mason (1961), I left in 1965. The school is still there on Bell Barn Road, Edgbaston where I grew up and watched the school being built. Lee Bank is at the rear of Lea Mason, as seen in the imageand runs between Bristol Road and Five Ways.
 

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I think this one may cause a little consternation, as I have the photo and I don't agree with the district it's tagged as. Though it is possible, lets just see if anyone can come up with the name and I will allow a little leeway with the location.
St. Thomas' C of E School was on the corner of Granville Street & Bath Row, Edgbaston opposite St. Thomas' Church or what's left of it, the spire is still standing & is now a Peace Garden. Granville Street stretched from Bath Row, Edgbaston to Broad Street which is nearer to Ladywood, I walked it many times as a kid living in Edgbaston and attended St Thomas' School from 1955 to 1961.
 
The school in the photograph is the senior school looked at from the playground of St Thomas's Infant and Junior School on Granville Street, Edgbaston/Lee Bank - (now Ladywood?) The senior school was, I think, called Lea Mason. I left St Thomas's School in 1959 for KE VI Camp Hill Boys' Grammar School in King's Heath, having passed the 11 Plus. The railings on top of the building prevented pupils falling from the rooftop playground but did not prevent the occasional beanbag being (accidentally) lobbed over during PE lessons! The former site of St Thomas's School is now the Tesco store on the corner of Granville Street. Can't imagine a third floor playground now.
The school definitely is/was St Thomas's and the picture is of the senior school, as stated. I was there from 1943 or 44 to the end of 1954. When I left the headmaster was Mr. Bate - Jones, who never cracked his face. Before him I think was Mrs. Bray. Some of the teachers I remember were Mr. Lawrence, lovely bloke, Miss Gethin, a really nice Welsh lady, Mr. Craggs, Mr. Mogford, Miss Cox, Mrs. Moldower, she was firm but fair with a sense of humour. I can't remember any other teacher's names but maybe somebody can refresh my memory. My Mom went to St. Thomas's when she was a kid and, along with me, so did my brother and two sisters. Some of my fellow pupils were John Budding, John Bates, John Cave, John Waterhouse (he always reminded me of James Cagney), John Hands - all with the same Christian name as me, a very common name in those days. Also Dennis Partridge, Geoffrey Benton, David Saunders, Barry Hopkins and a younger kid in my brothers class, Geoffrey Lewis. For some reason I don't remember any of the girl's names. Anyway, happy days.
 
The school in the photograph is the senior school looked at from the playground of St Thomas's Infant and Junior School on Granville Street, Edgbaston/Lee Bank - (now Ladywood?) The senior school was, I think, called Lea Mason. I left St Thomas's School in 1959 for KE VI Camp Hill Boys' Grammar School in King's Heath, having passed the 11 Plus. The railings on top of the building prevented pupils falling from the rooftop playground but did not prevent the occasional beanbag being (accidentally) lobbed over during PE lessons! The former site of St Thomas's School is now the Tesco store on the corner of Granville Street. Can't imagine a third floor playground now.


Spot on with this info Andy and Lego, I started there in 1949 and left in 1956. It wasn,t only beanbags that came off that rooftop playground if we had any snow they threw as much as they could down on the boys (the girls used the roof and the boys were on the bottom playground) when we were in line waiting to go into class and if Mogford was on duty woe betide you if you moved when anything hit you.
 
Viv I do not know what date these photos were taken, but when I lived in William St 1955-69 I cannot recall such an expanse of the school as in pic 1 . I notice in the newspaper cutting etc that it says Holloway Head formerly Wood St, was that what Holloway Head was originally named or was the school elsewhere and then relocated to Granville St . What makes me so adamant is that the left side of the school in the picture covers some ground, and when you look at the thread Chequers Walk there is no sign of the school as that is where that frontage would have almost ended up

Holloway Head ended at Granville street and became Bath row.
The school did go up Bath row that far, the large house next to the school was used by the girls for learning household skills, if you walked up Chequers Walk I seem to remember halfway up an entrance into the school but was never open and then chequers walk veered right so it came out a little further up bath row.
Hollidaystreeter.
 
Holloway Head ended at Granville street and became Bath row.
The school did go up Bath row that far, the large house next to the school was used by the girls for learning household skills, if you walked up Chequers Walk I seem to remember halfway up an entrance into the school but was never open and then chequers walk veered right so it came out a little further up bath row.
Hollidaystreeter.

Yes walked up Chequers Walk many times . I went in the entrance to the school for about two weeks one Summer holiday, it was something to do with the young getting fed while their parents were out at work
 
I think this one may cause a little consternation, as I have the photo and I don't agree with the district it's tagged as. Though it is possible, lets just see if anyone can come up with the name and I will allow a little leeway with the location.
Phil. It's St Thomas's C of E school Granville Street. I was there from an infant school sandpit start day right through to 1967. The modern building was as viewed from the playground. The top floor was a roof garden of sorts with tyres used as planters. I think that there is a Birmingham newspaper article on it. This part of the school was only used a classrooms for seniors about to leave for secondary modern school and had the main assembly hall. The second floor was not used when I was there but the first floor was where my classroom was. When we had a trainee teacher we us to bunk off through the windows onto the balcony and play upstairs and on the roof leaving a frantic trainee not knowing what to do. I remember the handrail down to the ground floor, you could slide most of the way down but had to remember there were brass studs near the bottom. The gym / main hall was in this part of the school and overlooked Granville Street and the bombed out St Thomas' church opposite. There was a back alleyway school entrance called Chequers Walk that I used every day. Chequers Walk was on the west of the school running from the Holiday Street end down to Bath Row. The old senior school part of the building was on the left of your photo, it was closed off in the mid 1960s. We use to sneak in with my mates and play there some during lunchtimes. We actually found the school's fencing foils and masks and use to have pretend fights. Eventually the access doors off the playground were locked up. I remember the headmasters office at the end of an open balcony what I think was on the first floor. This was in the old part of the school overlooking the playground. I had to go there a few times for a canning. I can't remember if it was hands or backside for the worst offences. You could but Wagon Wheel biscuits in the playground below off the playground attendant for 3d (Old pence), I didn't always have any money to buy with though. That's about all I can remember from 55 years ago I am afraid other than the cause of the scare under my chin. It was created when the school bully impaled me on the school railings during "Playtime" me on the school railings during "Playtime".

The class photo below has the newer part of the school behind us taken 1967ish.

In the photo are Kevin Scott first on left 3rd row), Tony Miles RIP (second from left 3rd row with blond hair, He became a chess grand master), David Pike second from right front/1st row, Annette Papula back row tallest in class next to Jennette ?, Stephen Cridge (3rd from right, front), Valerie Irving first on right 2nd row.

photograph-taken-in-the-playground-1967-ish-who-can-spot-kevin-scott-tony-miles.jpg
 
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I think this one may cause a little consternation, as I have the photo and I don't agree with the district it's tagged as. Though it is possible, lets just see if anyone can come up with the name and I will allow a little leeway with the location.
 
Yes walked up Chequers Walk many times . I went in the entrance to the school for about two weeks one Summer holiday, it was something to do with the young getting fed while their parents were out at work
I attended St Thomas’s and lived in Cregoe Street, it was in Edgbaston, our address was 9 Cregoe Street Edgbaston Bham 15, hope this helps
 
This was taken in St Thomas School playground, Granville Street. Behind is the Senior School annex. I am in this photograph and remember it being taken.
 
I have just discovered a photograph of St Thomas's School in a book published by Amberley called "Birmingham: Unique Images from the Archives of Historic England." Page 14 shows a photograph of "St Thomas's Church of England Day Schools, Granville Street." The caption is interesting: "The Ladywood School was founded in 1831 with a two-storey building for the girls and boys departments and a single storey for the infants. By 1911 the accommodation was no longer adequate, and the 1917 extension pictured was built on Granville Street to house the mixed seniors. The school closed on 20 July 1967 and was subsequently demolished."
I'd love to be able to attach the photograph but my IT skills aren't up to it!
 
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