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Canterbury Road Canterbury Cross Schools

Now what about back in 1925/26 I have a school book of my Fathers from then "Canterbury Road School" was it for boys then he would have been 13/14years of age
Sue
 
Sue I have just read your post. I guess boys must have been there if your father was 13/14. Later it was girls only from age 11, and the boys went to Birchfield Road.
The photo's I took at the Centenary were lost when the Forum was hacked so I will sort them out and repost. It is such a lovely building and luckily someone put a conservation order on it so it can't be touched, other than repairs needed to keep it in good order.
 
I have forgotten how to add a script to the photo's, the first is of my sister Jenn and me. The radiator is the first one you see going into school and the one I used to warm my feet and hands, and the group is Charlie and her school pals.

Maybe a Mod will attach this to the previous post, thanks.
 
Lovely to see these photos again.
Re the photo of "Charlie and her school pals" Di.
Please note that I'm the good looking one, not the one pulling the stupid face.
I'm also an accomplished liar!
 
Hi Di. Thank you for posting the photos of the school. I too attended the Centenary Celebration and what memories came flooding back. Air raid drill in the cloakroom cum air raid shelter, the terror of Miss Pinches and Miss Gerund (if you are old enough to remember her!) There were other teachers however of whom only happy memories are retained. Miss Holman (with her nature table), Mrs Wheatley, Mr Limbrick, Miss Aubrey, Mrs Whatley et al. An excellent school through which passed many children who went on to lead successful lives. Not bad for a little parish like All Souls. Cheers to all former pupils. Regards. willey
 
Memories! I can actually remember my first day at Canterbury Cross, September 1951, in Miss Holman's class. She spent most of the morning comforting kids (mostly boys) who were crying their eyes out! Mostly good memories, though. My favourite teachers were Mrs Hopkins (who I was deeply in love with...) and Mr Philips. I remember the annexes at All Souls Church Hall and Wellington Road church. The headmaster Mr Chapman and his staff I think guided many, many young people into leading fulfilled and happy lives.

G
 
I was only at the senior school and it was all girls, Miss Fairhead was head teacher. I transferred from St Mary's Junior and Infants.
The junior school at Canterbury Road had both boys and girls though.
Lovely school, we actually left able to read and write (unlike some of them these days)!
 
Glad that the memories of the school are good ones. I was there in the infants and juniors too from '43, the brick shelter we used is now the teachers staff room with the addition of windows. Miss Pinches made the hardiest of us scared but I do remember the lads flicking ink bombs made of blotting paper on to the ceiling without her eagle eye catching them at it. Her aim with a bunch of keys or the blackboard rubber was acheived with plenty of practice. My headmistress in the senior school was Miss Baggs, she was wonderful, we girls all greatly respected her.

The school still have the school registers and at the Centenary celebrations I saw my entry to the infants in February '43.
 
Two words to strike terror into many generations of schoolkids in the Perry Barr area..........Miss Pinches!!!
 
I was in Miss Pinches' class from 1963 to 1965. For some reason (luckily!) she used to like me. She retired in 1965 which was the year I left the school at which point she was aged 70. I'm quite interested in family history research and I looked up some details about her when I'd got nothing else to do one day. She was the daughter of a police sergeant - doesn't that seem appropriate somehow?! Her younger brother was killed in the first world war at the age of 18 - maybe her sweetheart too, you never know. Perhaps that's where she got her sour temperament from. My friend and I went to visit her a couple of years after we left and she couldn't remember either of us. She died in the Accident Hospital in the early 70s. Guess she must have had a fall - I didn't manage to find that out.
 
Welcome to the forum sasha507. I remember my friend Jean talking about a Miss Pincher or Pinch from the school. Must be the same teacher.
 
sasha507, Many thanks for that update on Miss Pinches. I suffered at her hands back in 1945/6 and back then she appeared to be as old as my granny. Rest assured that your information will be passed on to others of my period and earlier who also suffered at her hands. What a character! Regards. willey
 
Have just re-read this thread starting with Di's wonderful post from 2004. Don't seem to have mentioned it before here but some time ago I pulled together some information about Mr. Thomas Chapman, headmaster of the School during and after the war. It's here.

Chris
 
I was looking for something else when I found this thread. The link from Chris's post is about my lovely headmaster Mr Chapman and it is worth reading if you have a few minutes. Little did we know that when we left school our head was travelling to Pelsall and often meeting his Home Guard Unit. So many men had very little sleep either being on duty with the ARP or Fire Watch or Home Guard and then going into work the next day.
 
re: canturbury road j&i school I to went to this school, and well remember mr chapman, have read the first class write up on him. you do not realise how much work they do inside and outside of school.
 
I remember Mr Chapman with great affection, but never knew he had a military background until I read the article by Chris M. He never seemed like an ex-military person to me, unlike one or two other teachers I had over the years who never let you forget they'd been in the Army. Mr Chapman always seemed interested in individual kids, and was always approachable if you needed to talk to him. A lovely man. I knew he lived in Pelsall, because for reasons I can't remember my brother, also former Canterbury Road, went to his house. Did he have a car, or use the bus, does anyone know? If the latter, it must have been quite a jaunt.

G
 
I don't remember any of the staff having a car, Grahame, even the senior school teachers. I wonder did Mr Chapman travel by train, Perry Barr to Walsall? Not sure if the line went that way, and then possibly the bus out to Pelsall.
 
Hi Di,

you're quite right, few if any of the staff had cars back then. I was speaking to someone who knows a bit about local public transport, and he says that Pelsall used to have a station - which is obvious as there's a Station Road crossed by a railway bridge in Pelsall, a place I know quite well, and I should have thought of this! If there was a train through to Perry Barr, maybe change at Walsall according to my friend, then Mr C wouldn't have far to walk. I remember going to Walsall on the train from Perry Barr, several times when I was young with my mother.

I'm sure I can recall one of the teachers having a motor-bike, and walking through the entrance wearing a huge leather jacket. This would be mid-1950's at a guess, but I can't put a name to that vague memory.

G
 
Hi Grahame, I will ask my sister Jenn if she remembers a car or motorbike, she was there in the infants at more or less the same time as you were. I do wonder if perhaps Mr Broadhurst had a motorbike?
 
if I remember wright, when mr chapman retired, a mr mullins was headmaster, he had a ford angila 105 e.
 
Mr Mullins taught me at Kingsthorne Junior!! He wore glasses, he was quite old even then. He was very fond of the ruler, quick strike across the knuckles. Having said that, he did make you learn your Times Tables. I was very scared of him. He taught me in the year before the 11 plus, be about 1962/3. Viv.
 
There must have been two Mr Mullinses because Canterbury Cross Mr Mullins was in post when I left in July 1964 (I said 1965 in my earlier post, but it was definitely 1964 - memory fade!) Mr Mullins and Miss Pinches couldn't abide each other apparently. Mr Mullins seemed to like me, though, for some reason. I think it was because I was very quiet and shy, and didn't cause any problems! Another teacher I remember was Mr Jones who seemed to spend most of his time telling jokes. I didn't learn a great deal that year (according to my school report, which I still have). I remember the annexe in the church hall in Westminster Road and being taught by two part time teachers, Mrs Treasure and Mrs Hogg. We took our 11+ exams there.
 
I left there in 1956, Mrs Treasure was a full time teacher then . The annexe back then was the church hall at All Souls Church in Wenlock Rd off The Broadway.

Try to jog a few memories with the few teacher's names I remember .
Mr Chapman,,,,,,Miss Piches......Mr Phillips.......Mrs Treasure.... Mr Broadist..Miss Hopkins ........Mrs Holman... Miss Towzer (Music)

I found myself back there many years later , to do some electrical work , the whole place seemed very small to a grown up .
 
Great to read snippets regarding Canterbury Rd School. My years there were during the War - very interesting in many ways. My peers and I can talk for ages about the events and teachers there. Anybody out there remember Miss Gerund? She ran Miss Pinches very close for being a tyrant. By the way Hooch, it was Miss Holman. She commuted daily from the Lickeys and was responsible for keeping the "Nature Table" fresh and up to date. Happy memories of a great school. Regards. willey
 
Thanks Willey, When you say "Nature table" I remember Miss Holman always having bowls of crocus, daffs snowdrops etc in the class . Is that what you meant.
Her class was in what was called "The Huts" . Two additional classrooms built in the playground.
My memories are not so pleasant , she was a stickler for metal arithmetic , which usually took the form of " How many ninepenny - three farthing buns can you buy for one pound , seventeen shillings & threepence halfpenny . ?"

I couldn't do it then & I still can't do it .
 
Hi Mooch! In my day, Miss Holman was in a classroom in the hall and situated at the end of the corridor from Mr. Chapman's office. Her "nature table" was just that being a flat table on which she placed seasonal items of leaves, plants, tadpoles in jamjars etc. If you went back for the Centenary, you would have found that the Infant & Junior School is now a toddlers school with decor and certain classrooms very different to our day. Happy New Year! Regards. willey.
 
Thanks Willey , I found myself back there about 18 years ago , doing some electrical work , the whole place seemed tiny to what I remembered.
Just realised I already said that .......Oh well leave it in now,
 
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