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Handsworth Kindergarten and Preparatory School

W

walsallie

Guest
Has anyone any information/records/photographs of this school which was in Park Avenue, off Park Road, Handsworth. Head Teacher was Miss Treglown with deputy, Miss G. Lewton. I think Park Avenue was off Park Road, where Soho College for Girls was. I was there from 1947 to 1958 and used to get there on the tram from Aston Church, Witton Lane where my parents owned the sweet and tobacco shop opposite the church. I am really looking for photos as I know a block of flats has now replaced this beautiful old house. I wish to complete my life history for my sons. Any help would be much appreciated.
 
:angel: I this the School your after?
Handsworth Ladies College, opened in 1872 as a preparatory school for ladies, based at Milton House, it offered the basic curriculum and at extra cost the subjects of German, maths, harmony, dancing and piano. It was a successful school which relocated to larger premises at the corner of Villa Road and Hamstead Road in 1891.
 
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Thank you for your quick response. Very grateful, but unfortunately, this is not the one.

Once again, thank you very much for your help.
 
The 1950 Kelly's Directory shows Miss Katherine H Treglown as running a private school at 10, Park Avenue. This road ran from Soho Hill down to South Road, and No 10 was I think the second big house south of Vicarage Road on the west side (left on the map). The map by the way is 1904, so it doesn't show the smaller houses going down the hill, which I can remember. The 1950 Kelly's Directory shows Miss Katherine H Treglown as running a private school (unnamed) at 10, Park Avenue. This road ran from Soho Hill down to South Road, and No 10 was I think the second big house south of Vicarage Road on the west side (left on the map). The map by the way is 1904, so it doesn't show the smaller houses going down the hill, which I can remember, and which would have been later. By 1963, it is shown as the Handsworth Kindergarten and Preparatory School, but by 1969 there were none of the elegant older buildings left.
As my dad became organist at St Michael's Church round the corner, I joined the choir aged 17 as a bass or tenor singer, and didn't leave until I came down here to London in 1959. I can remember in the earliest days one or two girls wearing Soho College uniform, one was Patricia Irene Hartshorne, I recall. They wore a brown blazer with a cream embroidered badge with the name Soho College. She lived in a little cul de sac, off the Crescent, down the road.
Sorry I don't have any pics.
Peter
 
handsworth kindergarten


1945 Brian Vince
1946 Jimmy Innis I'm on the waiting list
1947 Judy Tuck
1950 Kay Shaw
1951 Pamela Cole
1951 Heather Dudley
1952 Colin Holmes
1954 Christine Smith (Smithy)
1955 Wendy Jones Finally retired
1956 Michael Arthur (Mike)
1958 Susan Dudley
1959 Roger Grainger
1959 Ken Haden
1960 Gaye Aspley
1961 Steve Bradbury
1961 John (Jean) Thierry
1962 Averil Atkins
1962 Valerie Horlick (Val)
1962 Gaynor Hudson
1962 John Park
1963 Norman David Crisp (Ned)
1964 Pete Flint
1964 Gillian Foster
1964 Linda Imms
1964 Suzanne Wilson
1967 Tina Pardoe
1967 Susan Pickering
1977 Sheela Kalsi (Sheela)
1982 Anita Sippits
1984 Samantha Penny
 
I know the old place was knocked down so that flats could be built and when I returned to look for it, it had gone ! We wore green and yellow as a uniform and my friend went to Soho College in brown and cream. The school was the second big house on the right
was HKPS. From what I can remember the first house was a big cream painted one. We used to go to St. Michael's sometimes.

Thank you for this information - its great to chat to someone who remembers a little. I have posted school mates names on Old schoolmates, friends reunited etc but no luck so far.

Thanks again.
 
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Ahhh . . . so your old school wasn't Soho College. I've never given the name a thought for well over 50 years, so perhaps I can be excused for getting it wrong. I must look Soho College up some time, but not at this time of night!
Peter
 
Soho College

Hello from a new member!

It was interesting to read the messages about Soho College and Handsworth Kindergarten. I went to both these schools in the 1940/50s. Soho College was situated on the corner of Soho Avenue and Soho Road and Handsworth Kindergarten was in Park Avenue, off Soho Road. Can't remember much about the Kindergarten, but the uniform for Soho College was a Maroon Blazer and a brown gymslip!! I also went to Sunday School at St Michaels. Anyone else go to Soho College?
 
Soho College

I used to go to Soho College on Soho Rd.I was there in there in the 50's. We had a few boys in the class.
I sat next to Christopher Tayler.He always stole my hat at the bustop:) He was very cute.
 
Soho College

Hi - When I went to Soho College there were only 2 boys in the school, and I guess we always felt a bit sorry for them being the only ones amongst so many girls. I started there in about 1946 and left in 1954 after spending a couple of years in the Commercial Dept learning shorthand/typing/bookkeeping etc. in Miss Higginbotham's class. Other teachers I remember were Miss Courbet (head and owner of College), Miss Newbury, Mrs Williams, Mr Knight.

Judy
 
Soho College

Hi Judi,I went to Soho/C around 1952?
Yes I remeber Mrs Cobert.I had forgotten her name/thanks Also Mr Knight,he seemed to be very old to me and he was the only male teacher in the school.
We had 3 boys in our class.Christopher Taylor and 2 brothers.They weren't there that long and they left.
Do you remember Suasn Gunn,who died in the Isle of Mann.She was a real Whiz and we had just been told.she had passed her 11+ to go to Kind Edards.Which was a very hard school to get into.Then we next heard about her death.Her friend was called Suan Hunn,who accepted her death better than I did.What a brilliant girl she was.What a loss.
Do you remeber Ms Colbert Siaminese Cat.I thought it so pretty.
 
I had forgotten about Miss Courbet's Siamese Cat - but yes, now that you have reminded me, I do remember it. The name Susan Gunn does ring some bell in the back on my mind but I can't place the face. I left Soho C in 1954 aged 15. How old would you have been then, and what is your name? Do you remember the stuffed alligator that was over the door to the downstairs (cellar) cloakrooms?
 
Soho for Ever

Fuuny you should mention downstairs:) For some odd reason,I had a curiosity about down stairs,it seemed the older/smarter girls went down stairs?I was only down there Once!
Perhaps you are remebering Mr Knight,who had the school upstairs to talk about Susan(he was alitle chubby,always smiling and had a dk brown hair.with a pony tail.
My name was Vivienne Fisher.My friend was Carol Fieldsend.

My Brother and I used to go to then Pictures ffurther up on that Rd pn Saturdays.We were the ABC Minors.It was a lot of fun.
 
Soho Forver

I want to tell you,I was 10yrs old in 1954.
 
Hi Vivienne

Yes, you are right - the downstairs cloakroom was for the older girls. There were lockers there to put your things in. As for Mr Knight, well he was quite old and not like you describe. He was about 70 I guess, or seemed that when I was young!! He had grey hair and taught Music, Art and Maths. He was the only male teacher in the school.

I don't remember you, but then I am 5 years older and wouldn't have hadmuch contact with the younger girls. I spoke to my sister who is 3 years younger than me and also went to Soho College. The teachers she remembers were Rita Tongue, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Pattison, as well as Mr Knight and Miss Courbet. Mrs Pattison left to have a baby. Rita Tongue was head girl when I started at the school and went on to return as a teacher.

Judy
 
Soho for ever

Hi Judy,
I think we have got our wires crossed:)
I was talking about the Susan who died.Mr Knight,seemed very ooooold and his hair was going and he wore spectacles..I embarassed him one day in that big room upstairs.Maybe it was religon or Cristmas but he was talking about the Virgin Mary and in my innocence,I asked him,what did Virgin mean.He stammered but then thought it best to ignore me.Now I am older I think it is funny.At the time I couldn't figure out why he did that.Of course later I got kidded for that one.
I remember Mrs Colbert.Mrs Murphy too. I remember,she wrote in my book.
Flower in the Cranny Wall,
I pluck you out of the Cranny,
I hold you in my hand.Root and all,and all in all.
If I could understand,what you are root and all, and all in all.
I would understand what God and man is.
Something like that anyway.(smile)Excuse any typing errors.
Running our of room it seems.Is it Ok,I write long posts like this?
This is such a great site.:)
 
I well remember that Tennyson poem - "Flower in the crannied wall" - I remember one Speech Day at the Central Hall in Corporation Street, having to come out on stage alone, holding a flower, and reciting that poem. I have never forgotten it. Seems as though it must have been a favourite with Soho College!!
 
Yes,I must have been so.I remember Mrs Murphy saying someone had written it in a book,they gave to her.
Do you remember,that school,who we were quiet rivals with? They wore a green uniform with yellow stripes.They always said their school was better than ours:rolleyes:
I see you are now living in Devon.I was down there as a kid.I thought it quite charming.Where did you live in Birmingham.
Is this right to ask you personal questions,for all to see?
Being new,I am not sure of the correctness of things.
Perhaps you can clue me in.:)
 
1947 - 1954 Christine Smith. Anyone remember Treg, Lewtie, Welding, Fuller, Bunn, Boris ? Fab. playground ? etc. Anyone got photos please. Desperate for one

Fellow pupils - Some - rainbow, wedekind, roberts,
 
I went to three Birmingham Schools which no longer exist :-

Handsworth Kindergarden and Preparatory School, Soho.

Greenmore College Prep at Pershore Road, Junior on the Bristol Road

Moseley Grammar School.

Moseley Grammar school was a nasty dickensian place where bullying was endemic especially by the schoolmasters.

Peter Vince
 
Hi Peter

I also went to Handsworth Kindergarten & Preparatory School run by Miss Treglowen (Treggy). Guess I was there around 1944/5. My sister also went there about a couple of years later.

Judy
 
Jayell said:
Hi Peter

I also went to Handsworth Kindergarten & Preparatory School run by Miss Treglowen (Treggy). Guess I was there around 1944/5. My sister also went there about a couple of years later.

Judy
Click to expand...

Hello Judy,

You don't look old enough! My sister Pauline went there about the same time as you did. I have two memories of the place. First the inedible chewy grey meat we had to eat which I always secreted in my hanky and one amazing event when Miss Boris tried to make me do something and I gave her a push, she took a step back, tripped over the cill of the open french windows and then bounced backwards down the steps into the garden. What happened next has been erased from my memory!

Peter
 
Hi Peter

I must admit I have very few memories of Handsworth Kindergarten, except that it was only a short walk away from where I lived in Soho Avenue. We used to walk down Vicarage Road and turn right into Park Avenue and there it was on the right hand side. I seem to remember the front door with big columns on either side. Also the fact that the garden was the site of the pool belonging to Soho House. I am seeing my sister tomorrow and she seems to have many more memories of it than I do, so I will ask her what she can remember.

Judy
 
Hi Peter

I saw my sister today and asked her what she remembered about Handsworth Kindergarten. She remembered there being two playgrounds on different levels, and the lower one was only used by the older children. She said her classroom was at the front of the building, but she couldn't remember any names of teachers or children - apart from "Treggy" the headmistress.
We did remember that the uniform was in green and that the boys used to wear caps!

Judy
 
walsallie said:
Has anyone any information/records/photographs of this school which was in Park Avenue, off Park Road, Handsworth. Head Teacher was Miss Treglown with deputy, Miss G. Lewton. I think Park Avenue was off Park Road, where Soho College for Girls was. I was there from 1947 to 1958 and used to get there on the tram from Aston Church, Witton Lane where my parents owned the sweet and tobacco shop opposite the church. I am really looking for photos as I know a block of flats has now replaced this beautiful old house. I wish to complete my life history for my sons. Any help would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

I went to HKPS from 1958 (was two and a half) to 1963 before going to Astwell Preparatory School as HKPS was to close down. The headmistress was Miss Bunn but I remember a lovely teacher there called Miss Summerfield. The grounds were stunning or it could have just been me as I was so small. I also remember having small bottles of milk and warming them by the gas fire to drink at break time plus chocolate biscuits which we would melt & lick the choc off using the same gas fire.
I also remember being honoured to go and fetch a new box of straws that were contained in a cardboard box... Carrying them up two flights of stairs to a classroom which appeared to be up in the gods to me.... & then the bottom falling out of the box letting all the straws fall down the two flights of stairs through the bannister. Imagine the pain when I looked up as I was trying to get all these straws back in the box and seeing my teacher plus classmates looking down at me!!!!
Miss (or it could have been Mrs) died shortly after she gave up the school. It was a lovely school and even tho I was young, I still remember it with nostalgia..... Oh and yes, cookie who used to make jelly blancmange for dessert!!
 
Hi Peter,
I was at HKPS at the same time as you and also used to spit lumps of meat into my hanky, we couldn't leave anything on the side of our plate, they were very strict but I suppose it was good grounding. Miss Treglown we were all frightened to death of her. Did you ever hear anything of Jimmy Innis, I thought he was wonderful!!!!!! Oh Happy Days. I remember on one ocassion having to sit with a silver spoon in my mouth for doing something naughty and Miss T sent Jimmy to actually fetch it I imagine from the kitchen. He was somehow related to her.

Katie
 
Hi Christine
Just come across your thread on H.K.P.S. and notice I have a Cynthia Wedekind in my autograph book amongst others!! I also have Miss Treglown's autograph 26.7.50 (this must be worth something!!!!!!!!) We must have been there at the same time.
Kay
 
Both my sister and I went to HKPS during the late 50's, I left in 1959 and she left in around 1961. Mrs Bunn was the Principal/Headmistress and she ruled with a rod of iron and smoked like a chimney, I was often sent down to the rear corridor by her own accommodation to collect another packet of Craven A which were her prefered brand of cigarette ! She was brilliant and always got the best out of her pupils. Names I remember : The Mitchell Twins - Keith & Ian( Father was a Consultant at Dudley Road), Gary Elms (Parents had a newspaper shop on the Soho Road) Robert Ford- brilliant, however, he was dragged from under the No 40 bus at the Terminal by the Driver because he wanted to see how it worked!! He also sat chewing the mains cable to the radio during a school's broadcast, I never saw Mrs Bunn move so fast ! John Theirey- I am sure his mother taught at the school at times, we called him Bingo because when he was home it was a full house.Phillip Stant(on) was also there his Father was A Company Director and they lived in Brecon Road Handsworth, Phillip had the misfortune to be burnt by acid which fell off the back of a Canning lorry on the Soho Road, I am not sure how badly he was burnt, he also jumped out of his bedroom window with an umbrella as a parachute, it did not work and he broke his leg. I am sure that Derek Webb was also there. Robert Ford went on to King Edward's Edgbaston, I failed that entrance exam, however together with The Mitchell Twins and Derek Webb, I passed for King Edward's Aston. My sister went to Erdington Grammar School in 1961 and went on to qualify as a Physiotherapist , unfortunately she was killed about 4 years ago in a car accident. I was Ken Haden my sister was Angela and we then lived in Mayfield Road Handsworth. It was a brilliant school, but what a shock awaited us at Grammar school, no Mrs Bunn to push us !! I became a Director of an Architectural Practice in the Midlands and recently retired to Northern France.
 
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