Marsh Hill Boys Grammar Tech School

[steve carter]

WHATEVER HAPPENED to Garrett's Green Technical College, I did ONC Mech.Eng. there IN 1955 TO 1958.
Aston Tech became Aston University for HNC Mech.Eng.

Ernie

GG Tech was still there in '75 when I got my ONC. I think it's now housing.
Got my HND in Counselling and group therapy from Cambridge Extra Mural (Night school, not as posh as it sounds)

 

[steve carter]

Bernie Platt. Graduate of Bristol University. Lived in Lichfield and died last year. Brilliant teacher. Able Beethoven pianist. Was a member of The Sally Army I believe. Life long friend of Mr. Drury and Mr Tune. Tune was head of modern languages and Drury a mathematician and jolly nice chap. We were the first school in the UK to go online with Imperial College London. His predecessor was David Terry M.A. Phoebe Fairbanks was the only female maths teacher. Mr Hatton was old school and good.

Having Moved to North Carolina in 2007 I still remember immediately thinking about Bernie Platt the first time I saw cotton growing. And still d .

 

[steve carter]

Who are you Glamdring? I'm Pete Sammon, so I'm really curious now. You would obviously remember, Beanhead, Crippen, Caggy Horsecroft, and scary Mr Smith who used to give you the option of the Van Der Graff Generator instead of a detention.

Changed My Nick now, The email account I signed up under is going away. Can't be bothered to run the mail server any longer.

 

[dave146talbot@hotmail.co.]

Hello, just read through all of this Thread and had a lot of Memories stirred. Sadly, not many happy ones. I joined Marsh Hill Grammar Technical School for Boys ,from Yenton County Primary, in September 1965. Class 1A, House, Arden
Teacher Mr Baxter. Register started;
John Adkins ,?, David Arnold , ? Anthony Aston, ? Atherton, William Baker, Colin Banks, Paul Barnard, Paul Bird, Lee Collier, Frank Albert Kenneth Cooper, Roy Copsey, Lee Dalgleish, Robert Devaney...........
After that 1st Year, 2S, 3S,4S, 5S , leaving in June 1969. My Birthday was in September so I was one of the Oldest in my Year Groups and Academically, quite good. Sadly, we were not a well off Family and could not afford the things like Slide Rules and Parker Pens , School Unifoms were , generally Jumble Sale sourced and I took more crap than pretty much anyone else as I stuck out from everyone for looking like a Ragbag. As a result, got bullied relentlessly . No point in mentioning names after this long but one thing I had in my favour was a fast mind and mouth and escaped most attacks with wordy put downs , turning over their aggressive behaviour by pointing out how brave they were , picking on the "weedy kid". Got roughed up a bit but never got on the end of a beating as I refused to square up to defend myself.
I Really was a Fish out of Water as I couldn't join in with the Groups and Clubs due to having a skint Family and suffered for it.
I recognise and remember a lot of the Names of Teachers and Pupils from my time but never got on good terms with any of them as I did just the Education and non of the extra curricular activities.
Sorry to paint a bad picture and realise that I could probably have made better of my time but couldn't find anything that appealed or that I excelled in.
That all said, with no preparation and very little motivation, I walked away with Grade 1 English Language GCE "O" Level and scraped a pass in Geography every other subject got Grade 8 or 9 Fails. Despite this, I went on to an Engineering Apprenticeship at IMI, Witton. I passed through the 4 Years and got my City and Guilds Certificates, and Qualified as Maintenance Fitter, specialising in the Maintenance, Inspection and Repairing of Overhead Cranes, Hoists and Lifting Gear.
So, despite having an abject School experience, the boy, eventually, done good.

 

[Biscayne]

Hi Dave, I was quite saddened to read of your experience at ‘Harsh Mill’ but it got me thinking about my own experience. From the names that you mention I would guess that we were within a year of each other at ‘The Mill’. I also attended Yenton Juniors and for me, that is where the bullying began. I think that it was that I was ‘behaviorally different’ (and somewhat ugly) by the standards of my tormentors; Assembly at Yenton required that you be sat cross-legged on the floor in year order, youngest at the front. When I was in year 3, there was a group of three year 4 individuals who always seemed to be sat behind me and would stick a pin in my backside to try to get me to cry out, which would have attracted the wrath of headmaster Hawkins. On another occasion the same group pushed my face into the wall while I was relieving myself in the toilet. Even after all this time I can think of no explanation for their behavior. The only thing I take some solace from is that in one morning assembly Hawkins announced that one of my tormentors was leaving the school as his family were moving to Australia. A muted cheer went round the assembled pupils. Hawkins declared: ‘that’s not very nice’ but at least it gave me some reassurance that I was not alone in suffering from these idiots.
Fast forward to Harsh Mill; Once again, some pupils seemed to think it was fair game to intimidate others. The staff were either blind to the issue or just couldn’t be bothered to intervene. There was a particular group, a year older than me, who often carried open razors and bragged about their exploits outside of school, most of which was probably made up. I recall one occasion where a pupil had his blazer slashed by an open razor in the playground. You may remember them; they would carve their initials on tables, desks and other furniture around the school, using the first two letters of their first name followed by the first two letters of their last name. JIAN, ALEM, ROSH etc. They obviously thought that Fred Markwell was too dim to figure that out. Not.
I hope that you can reflect on your successes and not spend too much time reflecting on the bad stuff. I went on to get an HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and have done lots of things (and been to lots of places) that I doubt my tormentors will ever do or see. My escape moment from them is when I flew under the Verrazzano bridge in a Piper Cherokee (I wasn’t the pilot!). I doubt any of them ever did that.

 

[Phil Gundy]

Hi Dave, I was quite saddened to read of your experience at ‘Harsh Mill’ but it got me thinking about my own experience. From the names that you mention I would guess that we were within a year of each other at ‘The Mill’. I also attended Yenton Juniors and for me, that is where the bullying began. I think that it was that I was ‘behaviorally different’ (and somewhat ugly) by the standards of my tormentors; Assembly at Yenton required that you be sat cross-legged on the floor in year order, youngest at the front. When I was in year 3, there was a group of three year 4 individuals who always seemed to be sat behind me and would stick a pin in my backside to try to get me to cry out, which would have attracted the wrath of headmaster Hawkins. On another occasion the same group pushed my face into the wall while I was relieving myself in the toilet. Even after all this time I can think of no explanation for their behavior. The only thing I take some solace from is that in one morning assembly Hawkins announced that one of my tormentors was leaving the school as his family were moving to Australia. A muted cheer went round the assembled pupils. Hawkins declared: ‘that’s not very nice’ but at least it gave me some reassurance that I was not alone in suffering from these idiots.
Fast forward to Harsh Mill; Once again, some pupils seemed to think it was fair game to intimidate others. The staff were either blind to the issue or just couldn’t be bothered to intervene. There was a particular group, a year older than me, who often carried open razors and bragged about their exploits outside of school, most of which was probably made up. I recall one occasion where a pupil had his blazer slashed by an open razor in the playground. You may remember them; they would carve their initials on tables, desks and other furniture around the school, using the first two letters of their first name followed by the first two letters of their last name. JIAN, ALEM, ROSH etc. They obviously thought that Fred Markwell was too dim to figure that out. Not.
I hope that you can reflect on your successes and not spend too much time reflecting on the bad stuff. I went on to get an HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and have done lots of things (and been to lots of places) that I doubt my tormentors will ever do or see. My escape moment from them is when I flew under the Verrazzano bridge in a Piper Cherokee (I wasn’t the pilot!). I doubt any of them ever did that.

Hi Dave and Biscayne. Sorry to hear about your experiences of bullying. A younger cousin of mine had much the same experience at Marsh Hill, although he never opened up about it until years later. I think a lot of what I experienced was low level intimidation, the kind to make sure you didn't step out of line, as it were. My memories are mixed in that I had a few friends in school, but I lived a fair distance away and kept my old friends from primary school. I do remember being somewhat bored, so much so that I counted every hole in those ceiling tiles that were in every room. Interestingly there was talk many years ago about some of our year group getting together for a drink, which I didn't go to because I had an influx of unhappy memories I had forgotten about. Maybe I should have gone. Glad you guys had successful times afterwards.

 

[dave146talbot@hotmail.co.]

Hi Dave and Biscayne. Sorry to hear about your experiences of bullying. A younger cousin of mine had much the same experience at Marsh Hill, although he never opened up about it until years later. I think a lot of what I experienced was low level intimidation, the kind to make sure you didn't step out of line, as it were. My memories are mixed in that I had a few friends in school, but I lived a fair distance away and kept my old friends from primary school. I do remember being somewhat bored, so much so that I counted every hole in those ceiling tiles that were in every room. Interestingly there was talk many years ago about some of our year group getting together for a drink, which I didn't go to because I had an influx of unhappy memories I had forgotten about. Maybe I should have gone. Glad you guys had successful times afterwards.

Thanks, Phil. I was behind the 8 Ball from the off. The Family didn't have the money to kit me out in decent uniform so I was an easy target. I did find elements of the curriculum quite within my capabilities but just didn't have the motivation due to the ragging that I got. I may be wrong, but it felt like the "F" Stream were guided for excellence over everyone else. There were a good many lads in my Year that were Academically competent, or even good but a lot, also, that struggled, for various reasons.
Water under the Bridge, now. Can't change what's gone. Did well through my Apprenticeship, got a Trade Qualification, worked with a team of Blokes that I respected, which they reciprocated as I was the first person to gain that particular Trade Qualification through an
Apprenticeship, which reflected on them for the help and guidance that they gave me. Had a compete change of career at 25 and continued to work till I retired on my 69th Birthday, due to the Business relocating too far from home for me to want to commute.
No regrets, Life's too short. Maybe I just wasn't cut out for MHT. Most other things went well.
Never been able to look at Pelicans, though.