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Gower Street Boys and Girls Schools

Hi my dad went to gower county I came across his school report dated july 15th 1966. Form 4A The head teacher was Mr J T Ball I'm truly interested if anyone has a old school photo of that class or year. My dad passed away in Nov 2020. Any help would be much appreciated. Kind regards
 
hi khushi 1 hopefully some photos from that year will turn up. could we have his name please as sometimes old class photos from various schools do turn up on this forum.. if the 1966 report you have was from year 4 i guess he would have started at the school round about 1962

lyn

lyn
 
Hi yes my dads name was Khushi mohammed. Below is a school report. He was quite naughty hence the results
 

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Hi everyone

I am a new member and I now live just about as far away from you all that I could possibly be without hopping on the shuttle into outer space. A little country called New Zealand.

I am not as old as some of you lol. When I was at Gower Street School the headmaster, Mr. Philips, had his office in the building on the corner of Guilford Street and Lozells Road. There were two other buildings to the school; one known as the Annex building further down Guilford Street and the third was around the corner near the church on Lozells Rd.

I always found it strange that the school was not actually on Gower Street. The Annex building stood on the corner of Guildford Street and Clifford Walk. It disappeared when the Alma way development got underway. The entrance to Holte Comprehensive carpark was at the junction of Gower Street, Clifford Walk and Alma Way.

I notice there are only photos of the main building; which is, unfortunately, the only one left standing today.

I am guessing that Mr. Eyton was a multi-talented teacher. Some of you have mentioned subjects he taught that I wasn't even aware of. So to be clear; we are talking about the same teacher here... 'Wally' Eyton as we used to call him. I know that may sound derogatory; but it isn't meant to be. Was his name Wallace?

I shall always remember him. Although he was very strict, he had a wicked sense of humour. Up until I had him as my form teacher he had a reputation. We were all scared of him at first. But he was the best Mathematics teacher I ever had. I quickly rose from near bottom of the class to the top. I owe Mr. Eyton a debt of gratitude; for without him my whole future in life would have been totally different.

Does anyone remember Baskerville (red), Boulton (Yellow), Murdoch (Blue) and Watt (Green)?
Mr. Eyton was the only teacher who submitted the winning house with negative points; and he did it week after week.
He would rather penalize what he considered to be bad behaviour rather than reward good students. He did give me 10 house points once; but we still ended up with a negative total.
During my time at Gower Street I cannot remember him ever smiling; after all he had a reputation to keep.
I only saw him only once after leaving school. It was many years later from a bus window. He was standing outside the Birmingham Town Hall; he looked exactly the same.

I was in the fourth form when the school closed in the early 70s. I went into the new school Holte Comprehensive the following year. It was made up of the lads of Gower Street, The lasses from Lozells Girls School and the students of Holte Grammar School. The latter I narrowly missed out on when I got the result of the 11+ exam. I used to attend the Prince Albert Primary School on the corner of Whitehead Road and Albert Street, Aston and many of my classmates ended up at Holte Grammar.

In a way it was a blessing because they appeared to me that they sat on their laurels instead of putting the work in.
I met up with them again at Holte Comprehensive and I was still the best at Mathematics.

After I left school I did a night class in Chemistry, a subject, I ought to have taken, but never studied it at school. I can't remember where I did the night classes now; but when I sat the paper I was gobsmacked to learn that it was to be taken at the old Gower Street School on Guilford Street. Not only that but it was in my fourth form classroom.
As there were not too many of us taking the exam; the papers were laid out, face down of course, to one side of the room. I requested and succeeded in getting a specific desk near the window on the other side, as it was the very seat I spent my last year in when I attended the school. I got an 'A' from the examining board.

One of my class mates in the fourth year was Stephen Turvey. We both liked art and I was a great fan of his style. I know he came from a large Family and I notice that one of the members of this site is TopsyTurvey. Could they be a relative? I think they just might be. I believe he finished his education at Gower Street School; maybe I should say he didn't go to the Comprehensive, that would be more accurate.

So I would be fascinated for some of you more senior (not older sorry) people to tell me how long the second and third Gower Street sites were in existence for. No-one else seems to refer to them at all. The Annex building is where the gym was located. I remember Mr. Foster and his Welsh accent. Sports day was a bus trip to Perry Barr. We used to play football. Mr. Eyton never awarded corner kicks; he used to give the ball to the goalkeeper. He wasn't too popular when that happened.

One of my classmates, Barrington Green, left his trousers on the playing field. To save time we used to change back into our school clothes on the bus. It wasn't until we were half way back to school that he realized his pants had disappeared. Of course Mr. Eyton was in possession of them. Instead of returning them to Barrington, Mr. Eyton got the student, Tony McLaughlin, who sat next to him in class to quickly put on Barrington's trousers upon arrival at school. Tony dashed up the stairs at the Lozells entrance; while the rest of us used the formal entrance further down Guilford Street. Barrington had been quite vocal about losing his trousers all the way back. Tony was already seated at his desk when we entered class.

We were well into the next lesson when suddenly Barrington stood up, pointed at Tony and shouted "Sir! He's wearing my trousers! Everyone was in stitches except Mr. Eyton. I'll never how he ever kept a straight face.



You don’t get a second chance to create a first impression.
 

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welcome to the forum john...what a smashing fitst post full of memories...although the part of the school you attended was not on gower st i think part of the school was but this needs confirming...click on link below for a map showing you the school on the corner of guildford st and gower st...long gone of course..if you slide the blue dot the old map will fade out and show you what is there now..my brother was born in 1956 and also went to gower st i must ask him if he finished at holte..his name is mark harrington and i am sure he knew the mclaughlin family...john could i ask where you lived i take it it would have been local

all the best enjoy the forum :)

lyn

 
Astoness said:
welcome to the forum john...what a smashing fitst post full of memories...although the part of the school you attended was not on gower st i think part of the school was but this needs confirming...click on link below for a map showing you the school on the corner of guildford st and gower st...long gone of course..if you slide the blue dot the old map will fade out and show you what is there now..my brother was born in 1956 and also went to gower st i must ask him if he finished at holte..his name is mark harrington and i am sure he knew the mclaughlin family...john could i ask where you lived i take it it would have been local

all the best enjoy the forum :)

lyn

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Hi Lyn you must be up bright and early.
It is 5:51 pm here in New Zealand.
Thank you for the map!
I am afraid you are incorrect about the school being on Gower Street. The map doesn't tell you that Gower Street finishes at Guilford Street and the Annex building was on the corner of Clifford Walk and Guilford Street as shown on the map (attached).

I was using Google maps and looking at the new school without realizing it was 2008. How times change!

I am a little vague on Mark. It sounds as if he would have been in my year and I have a pretty good memory. Maybe he was in a different stream. As I said my classroom was in the main building. Perhaps his was in the Annex building.

Also, Do you remember Carol? Can't think of her surname. She was in the chess team. Gower Boys played at Lozells Girls School (organized by Mr. Philips). I was on board one playing Carol. We already knew each other socially.
She gave me a good game.

I have already attached this map; but I have edited it. I was relying on nearly forty years of memory for the exact position of the Annex building. We often had to walk from one building to the other and I really didn't think it was that far away. :)

I Emigrated from the UK in 1995. I didn't really live locally. I lived in Tower Road, Aston; only part of which still exists today. I heard lots of bad stuff about Upper Thomas Street School from lads in my street and decided to give it a miss.

John.
 

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Astoness said:
welcome to the forum john...what a smashing fitst post full of memories...although the part of the school you attended was not on gower st i think part of the school was but this needs confirming...click on link below for a map showing you the school on the corner of guildford st and gower st...long gone of course..if you slide the blue dot the old map will fade out and show you what is there now..my brother was born in 1956 and also went to gower st i must ask him if he finished at holte..his name is mark harrington and i am sure he knew the mclaughlin family...john could i ask where you lived i take it it would have been local

all the best enjoy the forum :)

lyn

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I could give you a few names in my year. Maybe Mark might remember them.

Tony McLaughlin (and Woody his surname was Woods and I can't think of his forename, they were best mates)
Mark Gardner (saw him play at Aston Villa juniors)
Maurice Powell (also went to Holte Comp), Noel Davies (another Holte)
Steven Turvey, John Barr, Andrew Pavlov, Martin Broom, Dennis Watkins, John Lutwhitz, Alan Dabbs.
And if he was in my class he would never forget Barrington Green.

I believe Carol was the same age as me 1955/6. Also Anne Tussio her best friend went to Lozells Girls and lived in Berners Street. Anne's younger sister Margaret went to Holte Comprehensive. I believe they all lived in Lozells at one time.
 
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TOPSYTURVEY said:
View attachment 57549this is a photo of my husband taken on the roof of gower st school. Date on picture
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Hi

The link to the photo appears to be broken.

But... I must ask this... Are you one of the very large Turvey family? I believe several of the lads went to Gower Boys School.
I am reluctant to call it Gower Street as it wasn't even on that road. I went to the school in the early seventies and Steven was in my class.

John
 
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John_Gower_Street_pupil said:
Hi Lyn you must be up bright and early.
It is 5:17 pm here in New Zealand.
Thank you for the map!
I am afraid you are incorrect about the school being on Gower Street. The map doesn't tell you that Gower Street finishes on Guilford Street and the Annex was on the corner of Clifford Walk and Guilford Street as shown on the map.

I was using Google maps an was looking at the new school without realizing it was a few years old. How times change!

I am a little vague on Mark. It sounds as if he would have been in my year and I have a pretty good memory. Maybe he was in a different stream. As I said my classroom was in the main building. Perhaps his was in the Annex building.

Also, Do you remember Carol? Can't think of her surname. She was in the chess team. Gower Boys played at Lozells Girls School (organized by Mr. Philips). I was on board one playing Carol. We already knew each other socially.
She gave me a good game.

I have already sent this one already; but I have edited it. I was relying on nearly forty years of memory for the exact position. We often had to walk from one building to the next and I really didn't think it was that far away. :)

Emigrated from the UK in 1995. I didn't really live locally. I lived in Tower Road, Aston; only part of which still exists today. I heard lots of bad stuff about Upper Thomas Street School from lads in my street and decided to give it a miss.

John.
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hi john always up early. if the school showing on the old map on the corner of gower st and guildford st was not part of gower st school then maybe someone with more knowledge and a longer memory than i have could tell us the name of it...for years i thought it was connecte to gower st school..gower st started at berners st and ended at william st

sorry i dont recall a carol at lozells girls think she was younger than me i was born in 53..as you can see gower st school on the corner of guildford st and lozells road is still standing although the caretakers house next door was demolished about 6 years ago..i took photos of it before demo..we also have a thread for gower st with old photos on it if you are interested

i think we have a thread for tower road with a few pre demo photos...just use the search engine top right of the main page...if you can give me your surname i will ask our mark if he recalls you..ido have this info about gower st school which was formed in 1862

Gower Street School (apparently undenominational) was established in 1862 in a temporary building, but a new building opened in the same year. By 1876 the school apparently included a separate Infants Department when it was transferred to Aston School Board. It was enlarged for three departments in 1877-78 for boys, girls and infants; a new junior mixed block opened in 1886. The school was reorganised in 1931 into three departments for senior boys, junior mixed and infants. The Infant Department closed in 1938. Enemy action in 1940 destroyed the junior block and this department was housed in the former Alma Street School until 1945 when it closed. In 1945 the Senior Boys Department became a separate school.


lyn
 
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Astoness said:
hi john always up early. if the school showing on the old map on the corner of gower st and guildford st was not part of gower st school then maybe someone with more knowledge and a longer memory than i have could tell us the name of it...for years i thought it was connecte to gower st school..gower st started at berners st and ended at william st

sorry i dont recall a carol at lozells girls think she was younger than me i was born in 53..as you can see gower st school on the corner of guildford st and lozells road is still standing although the caretakers house next door was demolished about 6 years ago..i took photos of it before demo..we also have a thread for gower st with old photos on it if you are interested

i think we have a thread for tower road with a few pre demo photos...just use the search engine top right of the main page...if you can give me your surname i will ask our mark if he recalls you..ido have this info about gower st school which was formed in 1862

Gower Street School (apparently undenominational) was established in 1862 in a temporary building, but a new building opened in the same year. By 1876 the school apparently included a separate Infants Department when it was transferred to Aston School Board. It was enlarged for three departments in 1877-78 for boys, girls and infants; a new junior mixed block opened in 1886. The school was reorganised in 1931 into three departments for senior boys, junior mixed and infants. The Infant Department closed in 1938. Enemy action in 1940 destroyed the junior block and this department was housed in the former Alma Street School until 1945 when it closed. In 1945 the Senior Boys Department became a separate school.


lyn
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Thanks Lyn

The school showing on the map is Gower Street Boys and the one I refer to as the Annex building (Mr. Philips always referred to it as such). What I am saying is that the map you so kindly sent me, with the blue dot function, does not show the change of street name as Clifford Walk, instead it suggests that Gower Street continues straight through.

Perhaps Clifford Walk took over part of Gower Street at a later time. That would make more sense. The map I attached, with the three red concentric circles, clearly shows Clifford Walk and that is how I remember it when I went there.

The history is fascinating. I thank you for that. As a student we spent time in all three buildings. My positioning of the Lozells Road premises is approximate; but I distinctly remember using a pelican crossing every time we used this place. And I know it was very near to the church.

I don't wish to cause you work; but it would have been nice to know what buildings they were referring to in your last paragraph.

I shall certainly check out Tower Road; I used to live at the back of the Egg factory (No. 67).

John
 
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ahh right i understand what you mean now john...i agree it would be interesting to find out what buildings they were that is mentioned in my info..below is a streeview of your old school...still being used...if you have any problems locating anything on the forum please get back to me

lyn


www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
john in case you have not found it here is the link to the tower road thread

lyn

TOWER ROAD ASTON B6

In the unlikely event that Michael Aspel will ever call with his RED BOOK - thought I'd do a send-up the following is "WOT A LIFE !" :( April 19 1924 - this was the day that Francis Sheargold and Violet Beckett were married, at St James Church Aston., she was 21 he was 22. They had met 2...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Hi Lyn

I gave the Tower Road thing a whirl. Didn't find what I was looking for; but I was able to help a couple of people out. One on this site and one on another similar site. Birmingham Forum I think it is called. Both after photos of their relatives shops.
One of them was misinformed thinking it was a sweet shop and the other looking for a picture of her nan's outdoor; both in Tower Road.

Both places came back to me instantly. Isn't it strange how the brain holds memories that you had almost forgotten you had? I was able to paint a verbal picture of the outdoor; although it might have been completely useless if she already knew what it looked like. :)

Thanks for the link to the school; I have enough pictures of that one. I'm wanting some of the other two buildings.
Of course if photography had been around fifty years earlier than it was I might have been lucky.

You mentioned the caretaker's house. I'd appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction on that.
 
hi john noticed you had posted on the tower road outdoor thread but did you also find the tower road thread with photos on it?

yes photos of the other school buildings are non existent at the min but fingers crossed some may turn up...

the photos i took of the caretakers house are stored on my desk top so if i can find them later i will post for you..but for now here is a 2008 street view of it..now demolished and houses built on the ground

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
right john go back to the tower road thread and let me know on that thread the numbers of the posts where photos have been posted but you cant view them...it could be that if they are ones posted before sept 2010 they were lost when the forum was hacked and we lost over 66000 images...since then our members have tried to repost them but of course this depends on whether original posters are still alive or indeed still members...

lyn
 
Hi

Well I did it!… And it worked! I slept on it… A bed you might ask?. Well …Yeeeessss.

Whatever it was... I slept on it... And a few things came flooding back.

Here in ‘the land of the great white cloud’ (Aotearoa in Maori) it is morning; and whilst things are fresh in my mind...

Stephen Hinds was another student I remember and John ‘Archie’ Archibald was another. He shared his birthday with yours truly and that unnerved me a tad. He was tall and I wasn’t. He was somewhat of a scatterbrain; sorry John that was my impression.
At that time I had a keen interest in Astrology and he was nothing like me despite sharing my birthday. Later in life I understood why... I digress!

I think the 'Woody' I referred to, in an earlier post, was Steven Wood. He lived in Lozells.

Then there was my year two form teacher, if you are older than me you wouldn’t know him. His name was... And you will have to forgive me for this, I could hardly pronounce his name back then, never mind spell it… Mr. Beswetherick. I am almost certain I got that wrong; I think there’s a ‘z’ and/or a ‘y’ in there somewhere. He was a giant of a man from Canada. Probably six foot fifteen inches. Boy was he fast on the football field.

Then there was my Art teacher Mr. Price. He was a Beatle nut. I understand the correct term should be Beatlemania(c).
He had collages on the classroom walls; one was of ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. He used it as an excuse to play the song in class. ‘Yellow Submarine’ was another. But he was a good teacher as far as I can remember.

He recognized my talent from the get go. One of our classmates (can’t remember who it was now) was clad in only his shorts and modelled for us on top of a couple of desks. Whilst everyone else was sketching side on, left or right, he had me sketch him head on. With his legs stretched out in front; I had the foreshortened view to contend with.

My strongest subjects were Mathematics, Art and Technical Drawing. The latter was taught by Mr. Neville. We used to get reprimanded if we called the straight edge a ‘ruler’. ‘That’s the Queen of England’ he said. It is called a ‘rule’. That always stuck in my mind ever since.

I had a very traumatic upbringing, which I feel is beyond discussion here, but Mr. Phillips saw fit to take my brother and I out of class and whisk us away for a two week holiday at the Rotary Boys Home in Weston-Super-Mare. I told my Canadian form teacher before I went; but he marked me absent every day I was gone. On my return he asked me why I hadn’t been at school.
I explained that he already knew where I had been and I was peeved. Throughout my entire schooling I had never missed a day at school. There went my one-hundred per cent attendance record.

Just before I finished for the night yesterday I saw a post by a guest (Maxwell Bullivant).

I suspect I would not be able to make contact with him as he is not a member. Anyway, it was with regard to ‘Wally Eyton’. Unless the fearful teacher did this on a regular basis; I think ‘Max’ would have been one of my classmates.
I distinctly remember, on the first day of year three, someone being expelled from school. Mr. Eyton was late for class, which was unheard of in the annals of all history books. When he did walk into the classroom you could hear a pin drop. At that time we were all very aware of his reputation.

I never did find out who it was or why he was expelled but we heard the student was now attending the Harry Lucas School.
 
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Astoness said:
dont worry john a tad off topic is allowed..actually i was talking to george just the other day..hope you enjoy the forum john there is plenty to read about..oh my brother also went to gower st school but he would have started there round about the time you left..i may have one or two photos of new st but if you are interested i have posted quite a lot of gerrard st prior to demo under the gerrard st thread

lyn
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Hi Lyn

You are not referring to New Street, city centre by any chance?
I do seem to remember another very small road with that name; was it just off Hockley Circus? Google maps have quite a few unnamed streets these days.

Anyway, I am on the lookout for photos of the top end of New Street Birmingham showing 'Bogarts' in the 70s in particular.
There is very little in the way of pictures on the net. I have one from '78 but the angle is too acute.
 
hi john no not new st city centre but new st aston which was to the left of the bartons arms pub..put bogarts into the search box i think there could be one or two photos

lyn
 
I mentioned on an earlier post that the students from Holte Grammar had been sitting on their laurels throughout their time at the grammar school.

In fact our form teacher at Holte Comprehensive, Mrs. Wilson, was very impressed with the classes results she couldn’t quite believe it. My fifth form class was made up of all the boys from Gower who decided to stay on and likewise the girls from Lozells girls.

When it came to lessons, however, we were lumped in with the grammar students. Our math’s teacher was Mr. Rodburn. This is only my opinion mind, he was dreadful. He would get us to do an exercise from the text book while he chatted one of the girl students up for most of the period. There was a rumour that they had been seeing each other on the weekends. The whole atmosphere was relaxed and too many of the students just chatted. It was a tad too noisy for my liking.

Mr. Rodburn fancied himself as Tommy Cooper and apparently took on that persona for the Christmas school function. He wasn’t at all funny.

One of the ex-grammar students queried a question from the exercise stating that his answer was different from the solution given at the back of the book. And so the teacher did it on the board.

He got the same answer as the student. He actually said that ‘the solution in the book was wrong’.

As I said before, I used to sit at the back of the class, I just mentioned to my mate sitting beside me that I’d got the answer in the book. No sooner had I said it; an ex-grammar girl sitting directly in from of me blurted out that I had the answer in the book. I was summoned to the front to do it on the board. This girl had a Cheshire cat grin on her mush as I passed by her.

Mr. Rodburn assumed I was going to make a minor change to his working, but I wiped the board clean before I started. I didn’t use the textbook.

I wrote the question from memory and worked it out. All he could say was ‘okay smart arse’ as I walked back to my seat.

Every maths lesson was like that. I was not at all impressed. I would rather have had Mr. Eyton taking class; he would have got some improvement out of them. It would have been interesting to see how he handled the girls.

:-)-<
 
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