Groups  

Hello all,

Fag ash "Sid" Hingley with the nicotine stained fingers taught us music (or something like it) on the piano in the main hall. He did look very "blue lippy", I put it down to the battle going on in his lungs between the oxygen and tar from the chain smoking. He never did hand out  any fags to us boys though, just a few coughs between verses.

 

I cannot remember many teachers nick names other than those already mentioned but Dougie Gray always refered to the late Mrs. Williams (RIP) as "the cleavage". Mike, (I think), was nicknamed "Basher" Williams by a few boys, after his love of physical discipline.

 

Pub Pals, if you go to the site & it bans you .. log out, or use the "delete all board cookies". You`ll then get to see the boards (but won`t be able to post / read anything). Just log in again with your original user name and chosen password. Tony is correct, Brian (admin on Pub Pals), has been applying a few spam and I.P. address filters to keep out the wallies. Hope it helps .. c.u. later on

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't denegrate Bill Hayman, John. I'm sure the problem was mine, being a bit thick. But I did admire Pete Moore for being able to get through the solid bone and actually get me to learn. It was like someone pressing a switch and suddenly there was light. I can remember it all these years later as an example of a teacher able to achieve success where success had seemed a forlorn hope only a year before. Sorry to hear Bill is no longer with us, Ken. It would have been great to see him again at a reunion. Talking of sons, Mr Alvis's son was called (to the best of my recollection) Brendan. I came across him as a boy scout in the fifties.

Sid Hingley! Yes, it comes back to me now, Francis. He taught us music in the basement room at St James's Hall.

Hi all.

Yes David, you and I have similar recollections of Sid, he taught us music in St James'Hall also, but we must have been nearer our maker as ours was upstairs. I seem to recall that if he played something we all knew then we would sing with gusto, but if it was new then the result was a lot of out of tune mumbling. Bill was right about Sid liking his fags, I guess that his lungs were like a couple of empty coal sacks, probably got him in the end!

I think he may have lived out Chippenham way as he sometimes caught our bus home, but no one ever saw him get off.

I think that Gummy Freeman lived that way also.

Can't imagine why they didn't catch the train as it left Bath after the bus and arrived at Chippenham a long time before the bus, its first stop after Bath was Chippenham and it was usually hauled by a Castle. The train used to overtake the bus between Bathford and Box.

It was about the same point in the journey that Macus was often to be found throwing up on to the road from the rear of the open platform of the bus 'cos he'd been smoking Barons again. Oh yes, whilst this was going on the bus continued on its merry way.

Health and safety, Bah humbug!

The kid knew that Barons made him ill but he continued to smoke 'em, maybe he had a free supply, who knows.

Got to go, tea's ready I think (hope).

Sticky.

PS. Nearly forgot, sometimes Pete Moore was known as Pissquick, I knoweth not why.

PPS. Thanks for all the information on Killer, Ken, nice to know that he lived to be a ripe old age and that he lived to see the new millenium.

PPPS. Can't remember who taught us to use a slide rule, Chris, but it definitely was not Pete Moore. I recall that the school advised us that we should invest in a  model known as 'Unique Universal 1' I think they must have had a job lot or something 'cos they were rubbish compared to the Faber Castell one, I still have mine somewhere.

Incidentally when I first started work and college slide rules were fairly universally known as 'Guessing sticks'. 

Hi All, I expect you all remember the maps that were drawn on the revovling blackboards by Mr Alvis. They were really good when you consider that most teachers could hardly write on one , let alone draw a map of Asia and show what grew where etc.

 

When it comes to music I recall that in 64 or 65 some bright spark got a guy called John Oxley, who sang on the radio, to come to assembly and try to teach to sing instead of mumble. He didn't succeed because the groan that went up each time he got on the stage, far outweighed the singing !! Then, of course, was Mr Clohessy, who was in charge of the school band. Now that was an experience. I could already play because I was taught from the age of six and played in the People's Mission Band in Corn Street. It was really hard work hearing all the phutting and farting noises from the new guys. I think that in the end it was a fair attempt at being a band and I'm still trying to recall some of the members.

 

Rich