Hemsworth Secondary/Grammar School 1921-67
Headmasters: Major A.G. Jenkinson M.A. (Oxon) and Mr. R.W. Hamilton M.A., M.Litt.
Headmasters: Major A.G. Jenkinson M.A. (Oxon) and Mr. R.W. Hamilton M.A., M.Litt.
Labor Ipse Voluptas
The Initial Quote:
Those people we all met at HGS came into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Any way you look at it - it was a memorable time for everyone, and this site celebrates it.
Sheila
Those people we all met at HGS came into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Any way you look at it - it was a memorable time for everyone, and this site celebrates it.
Sheila
The Main Building in April 2022
Please note that the 1967 buildings have now been removed from the School site.
Please note that the 1967 buildings have now been removed from the School site.
"Space to breathe."
The Main Block in 1940
"The HGS web site has brought much pleasure to many old students who are now scattered throughout many distant corners of the world. That these former students have succeeded in many fields of endeavour is to the great credit of the two headmasters and their many staff."
Leighton Smith (1945-50, Holgate)
Leighton Smith (1945-50, Holgate)
The First Move
A local newspaper dated 26th June 1920 gave the first report that the West Riding County Council’s Education Committee had entered negotiations to purchase Hemsworth Hall for £9,000, in order to create a secondary school in the Hemsworth District. The land, comprising 20 acres was the former residence of Samuel Gurney Leatham and it was estimated that a further £7,000 would be spent in adapting the Hall. In the middle of January 1921 the County Council approved the initial expenditure of £2,000 for the adaptation of Hemsworth High Hall to the purposes of a secondary school.
So begins the story to which this website is dedicated.
A local newspaper dated 26th June 1920 gave the first report that the West Riding County Council’s Education Committee had entered negotiations to purchase Hemsworth Hall for £9,000, in order to create a secondary school in the Hemsworth District. The land, comprising 20 acres was the former residence of Samuel Gurney Leatham and it was estimated that a further £7,000 would be spent in adapting the Hall. In the middle of January 1921 the County Council approved the initial expenditure of £2,000 for the adaptation of Hemsworth High Hall to the purposes of a secondary school.
So begins the story to which this website is dedicated.
I have many fond memories of H.G.S., a beautiful building with those gorgeous magnolias as you walked up the driveway, the shuttered windows and that impressive staircase. The Green Gate was the entry to a special world.
Pat Cockburn (1955-62)
Pat Cockburn (1955-62)
Maureen Appleton show us the Green Gate. This was the way into the HGS grounds for all pupils and staff who walked from and to Hemsworth.
Photo: Fox
Photo: Fox
Mr Jenkinson 1921-37
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Mr Hamilton 1937-67
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Sports day 1937 by the Pavilion and the two Headmasters meet for the first time.
The Hemsworth Grammar School Song played on a piano just as it was in the Main Hall.
Words by A. G. Jenkinson
Music by Mrs. Wilks
Sons of Yorkshire, lift your voices, joyfully proclaim,
Honour to the School that bred you, glory in its name
Yorkshire's daughters swell the chorus, echo loud your praise,
Hail with song the School that gives you joyful happy days.
Here to-day and gone to-morrow,
Days at School will quickly pass;
Let your work be joy not sorrow;
"Labor ipse voluptas."
Mind and hand alike here gather, strength to see life through,
Gaining skill and storing knowledge, sifting false from true;
Goals and wickets, bursts and rallies, matches won and lost,
All are part of one great lesson "strive nor count the cost".
Here to-day and gone to-morrow,
Days at School will quickly pass;
Let your work be joy not sorrow;
"Labor ipse voluptas."
Arm you then for life's endeavour, choose your weapons here;
Keep them bright, your shields untarnished, records clean and clear
Bear the torch as borne before you, hand it on again:
"Work with pleasure" be your motto, this your glad refrain
Here to-day and gone to-morrow,
Grasp your schooldays ere they pass;
Struggle gaily, banish sorrow,
"Labor ipse voluptas."
Music by Mrs. Wilks
Sons of Yorkshire, lift your voices, joyfully proclaim,
Honour to the School that bred you, glory in its name
Yorkshire's daughters swell the chorus, echo loud your praise,
Hail with song the School that gives you joyful happy days.
Here to-day and gone to-morrow,
Days at School will quickly pass;
Let your work be joy not sorrow;
"Labor ipse voluptas."
Mind and hand alike here gather, strength to see life through,
Gaining skill and storing knowledge, sifting false from true;
Goals and wickets, bursts and rallies, matches won and lost,
All are part of one great lesson "strive nor count the cost".
Here to-day and gone to-morrow,
Days at School will quickly pass;
Let your work be joy not sorrow;
"Labor ipse voluptas."
Arm you then for life's endeavour, choose your weapons here;
Keep them bright, your shields untarnished, records clean and clear
Bear the torch as borne before you, hand it on again:
"Work with pleasure" be your motto, this your glad refrain
Here to-day and gone to-morrow,
Grasp your schooldays ere they pass;
Struggle gaily, banish sorrow,
"Labor ipse voluptas."
"Those people we all met at HGS came into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. It was a memorable time for everyone, and this site celebrates it. Needless to say, Dave and I seem to have made it our mission to record as many details of our education at HGS as we can. There isn't any other Hemsworth Grammar School "easily accessible" record of those days in existence, and judging by the number of Hilmians who have joined us and have sent us the smallest details, there are many of a like mind who can't bring those times back, but would want the knowledge of them available to succeeding generations.
Sheila Kelsall (1955-62)
Sheila Kelsall (1955-62)
Audrey K. Jenkinson 6S., Price, Prefect 1935-37
On Leaving School
This is my "Goodbye" to School. In July I shall leave, as a pupil, for ever. The headaches and gladness it has given to me I shall never know again. To this, my sixth and last School I leave a special farewell, for it is, I suppose, the one I shall remember the longest. I shall remember those winter terms when it became dark about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and when our greatest delight was 'to have the light on'. Every Wednesday when we used to gather in the Hall - somehow it always seemed cosy then - to listen to 'Macbeth'. Instead of 'a fanfare of trumpets' one boy gave the Scout Call on his bugle somewhere near the Physics Lab. To watch 'Oliver Twist' when Mr. Runnels Moss took all the parts. How we used to look forward to Wednesday!
I remember one winter term, I believe it was my first, when a thick fog lay about for a week and we had to walk home from School at night, and another time when the snow was about fourteen inches deep. It's queer to think how we used to love walking home in the fog and snow, but how we would wait half an hour for a 'bus on a fine day. The day of the Christmas holidays, we used to draw all manner of weird designs round a magnificent 'Merry Xmas' done in every coloured chalk imaginable on the blackboard, and at the bottom always appeared something like this, "No more Latin, no more French, No more sitting on a cold hard bench". Then there were the film shows in the Art Room when we sat enthralled by Leni Riefenstahl in the pictures set in Switzerland and such exciting ones as 'The Key' and 'Metropolis'. I have a glowing memory of these cheerful, eventful and exciting days.
I remember one winter term, I believe it was my first, when a thick fog lay about for a week and we had to walk home from School at night, and another time when the snow was about fourteen inches deep. It's queer to think how we used to love walking home in the fog and snow, but how we would wait half an hour for a 'bus on a fine day. The day of the Christmas holidays, we used to draw all manner of weird designs round a magnificent 'Merry Xmas' done in every coloured chalk imaginable on the blackboard, and at the bottom always appeared something like this, "No more Latin, no more French, No more sitting on a cold hard bench". Then there were the film shows in the Art Room when we sat enthralled by Leni Riefenstahl in the pictures set in Switzerland and such exciting ones as 'The Key' and 'Metropolis'. I have a glowing memory of these cheerful, eventful and exciting days.
Summer had its share of events too; Sports Day and its excitement; the Country Dance Festival and its gaiety and prettiness. The many people walking about the grounds, the gaily-coloured dresses under the brilliant sun which usually favoured us, the races, the tug-of-war, the exhibitions, the tennis and cricket matches, all went to make everlastingly memorable occasions. And then the night of the Country Dance Festival with hundreds of people dancing on the Cricket Pitch, the Maypole, the Sword-Dances, the popular "Goddesses", "Picking-up-Sticks" and finally the many circles of cheery, laughing people dancing "Sellenger's Round". One summer term we saw a play, in one scene of which the couch from the Girl Prefects' Room was used. The heroine sat on it and patted it as an invitation to the hero to sit beside her. Do you remember the howls as clouds of dust rose as a result of her gentle patting?
Then pictures of our lovely, envied grounds come into my mind. I see them transformed into a fairyland in winter. The branches and delicate twigs of the huge trees suddenly form lacy patterns with pure, soft snow. The plot between the two paths to School is ceaselessly beautiful. It makes a carpet for the frail, shy snowdrops, then come the triumphant golden daffodils, and the deep, glorious colour of masses of bluebells and the warm gold and mauve of overwhelming beauty, the honey suckle, roses, rhododendrons, the stately waving borders of lupins and delphiniums, and the wild beauty of the quarry from its tall shrubs and trees to the daisies which cover the lawn. Memories of all these flowers rush into my mind. I can see them in the brilliant sunshine, under cloudless skies and also standing brave and firm on warm, wet, dark days when the sombre, heavy green of the trees and lawns form an entirely different background.
And all these, that were once realities are now memories. Never again will these happy sights belong to me. If ever I come to School I shall be an onlooker not a partaker. Perhaps I shall wander round trying to live again the joyous hours that at once I took for granted; but everything will have changed and probably I shall be thought "just another Old Hilmian making herself a nuisance and acting as if she owned the place".
So, for all these memories, School, I thank you.
Audrey K. Jenkinson 6S., Price, Prefect 1935-37
Then pictures of our lovely, envied grounds come into my mind. I see them transformed into a fairyland in winter. The branches and delicate twigs of the huge trees suddenly form lacy patterns with pure, soft snow. The plot between the two paths to School is ceaselessly beautiful. It makes a carpet for the frail, shy snowdrops, then come the triumphant golden daffodils, and the deep, glorious colour of masses of bluebells and the warm gold and mauve of overwhelming beauty, the honey suckle, roses, rhododendrons, the stately waving borders of lupins and delphiniums, and the wild beauty of the quarry from its tall shrubs and trees to the daisies which cover the lawn. Memories of all these flowers rush into my mind. I can see them in the brilliant sunshine, under cloudless skies and also standing brave and firm on warm, wet, dark days when the sombre, heavy green of the trees and lawns form an entirely different background.
And all these, that were once realities are now memories. Never again will these happy sights belong to me. If ever I come to School I shall be an onlooker not a partaker. Perhaps I shall wander round trying to live again the joyous hours that at once I took for granted; but everything will have changed and probably I shall be thought "just another Old Hilmian making herself a nuisance and acting as if she owned the place".
So, for all these memories, School, I thank you.
Audrey K. Jenkinson 6S., Price, Prefect 1935-37
December 2020
Kenneth Johnson
►A beautiful description of the grounds and parts of the school environment. We were very lucky.
Melvyn Thomas
►Wonderful memories.
Graham Hesketh
►Wow, just love the nostalgia and feeling attached to that post. Thanks for sharing.
Kenneth Johnson
►A beautiful description of the grounds and parts of the school environment. We were very lucky.
Melvyn Thomas
►Wonderful memories.
Graham Hesketh
►Wow, just love the nostalgia and feeling attached to that post. Thanks for sharing.
Across Five Decades
Leighton Smith
Dear Dave,
I am sure that you realise the HGS web site has brought much pleasure to many old students who are now scattered throughout many distant corners of the world. That these former students have succeeded in many fields of endeavour is to the great credit of the two Headmasters and their many staff. That we are now able to look back on those school days through the wonders of the internet is due to all your work and effort. I trust that you and Sheila will be able to reflect on the pleasure you have brought to others and receive your own pleasure and sense of satisfaction from that knowledge.
Leighton Smith
HGS 1945-50
I am sure that you realise the HGS web site has brought much pleasure to many old students who are now scattered throughout many distant corners of the world. That these former students have succeeded in many fields of endeavour is to the great credit of the two Headmasters and their many staff. That we are now able to look back on those school days through the wonders of the internet is due to all your work and effort. I trust that you and Sheila will be able to reflect on the pleasure you have brought to others and receive your own pleasure and sense of satisfaction from that knowledge.
Leighton Smith
HGS 1945-50
►A really great collection of memories. Not just our memories but ones that stretch back decades. Parallel lines, or lives, that meet, cross, diverge, separate, sometimes adsorbed sometimes absorbed. We all went there for a brief moment of time, yet the memories still linger. What a pity that the authorities decided that traditions were no longer relevant.
Melvyn Thomas
►Leighton Smith sent me your web site address in his Christmas mail. What a wonderful Christmas gift! Seven happy years spent at HGS. It was an excellent school with beautiful grounds. I am proud to be a former pupil and an Old Hilmian.
Irene Wright (1944-51)
►I started Hemsworth Grammar in 1927 and left in 1933. I was in the school choir and a Prefect, and thoroughly enjoyed my days there. I'll never forget the day I opened that green door in the stone wall and looked into what looked like heaven after Grimethorpe Primary!
Eileen Morley (1927-33)
►I have many fond memories of H.G.S., a beautiful building with those gorgeous magnolias as you walked up the driveway, the shuttered windows and that impressive staircase. The Green Gate was the entry to a special world.
Pat Cockburn (1955-62)
►I think it's wonderful to find such an informative site dedicated to a school and staff who nurtured us in our formative years.
Gordon Clarke (1943-50)
►What memories this site has brought back: the Green Gate, the spring flowers, the wonderful grounds and so many excellent teachers.
Anne Norrick (1949-56)
►"This vast new access to the past is an incredible experience. Having made contact with many ex-pupils from various stages of life, I think we are designed to 'grow old' slowly, readjusting to 'age' gradually and gently. Just quickly glancing at our reflection. This is all a bit of a sudden shock. What we were. Things that could have been. Opportunities taken and missed."
Peter Kaye (1955-62, Talbot)
►"I was given the URL this morning and I duly logged on. Three hours later I had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, from my computer."
Keith Twigg (1955-62, Holgate)
►"That school was the single most important feature in shaping what I became in so many ways. What is more, my regard for it and its place in an educational era have been enhanced by time not diminished."
Geoff Graham (1949-55, Talbot)
►"I really cannot believe it is 40 years since I left. Looking at all this for the last 3 hours it just seems like yesterday. Happy days though we probably didn't appreciate just how happy at the time. In those days our whole lives revolved around school even for sport and leisure. I guess we were lucky to be so well provided for."
Peter Cooper (1956-63, Guest)
►"It is really nostalgic to see the old photographs and read the anecdotes of people we knew so long ago. It only seems like yesterday."
Colin Garbett (1950-58, Guest)
►"Universal themes in all the comments on the site are the fond memories and gratitude to Hemsworth Grammar School; in this regard I am no exception."
Tony Pickering (1952-58, Price)
►"Thanks for reviving all those memories of long ago."
Peter Ackley (1944-49)
►"What wonderful memories these pages evoked!"
Linda Rochnia (1965-69)
►"Thanks for the website - it's the only one I look at!"
Dilys Hughes (1954-61)
►"Many thanks to you and Sheila for the maintenance of such a nostalgic and wonderful website, there couldn't be a better memorial to the name of Hemsworth Grammar School."
Roy Walker (1961-66)
►"What a remarkable place HGS was, and what wonderful experiences the staff provided for us."
Peter Wall (1947 to 1954, Price)
►"The HGS web site has brought much pleasure to many old students who are now scattered throughout many distant corners of the world. That these former students have succeeded in many fields of endeavour is to the great credit of the two headmasters and their many staff. "
Leighton Smith (1945-50, Holgate)
►"This is just fabulous to find this site ... for seven years I loved going to that place, HGS ... and as I've been exploring the site, I am amazed at how much comes flooding in, generalities and very detailed memories."
Jean Snookes (1950-57, Price)
►"I have read many contributions within your site relating to the platform that HGS provided for later life - Labor ipse voluptas - has indeed served us all well. One of the Sons of Yorkshire."
John Basford (1964-71, Price)
►"I remember my old school with the greatest affection - I wish I had appreciated it more at the time."
Bill Hewitt (1950-55, Price)
►"The many Hilmians I have recently met or have spoken to on the phone have a common view that the School was generally a very positive experience. It is part of our history and deserves to be captured for all time. I wonder what Mr. Hamilton, Miss. Smith and Mr. Collette would have made of the fact that their School is still held in such high regard after all this time?"
Dave McKenzie (1955-62, Holgate)
►"They were mostly happy days at HGS and I don't think the strict regime did any of us any harm. I feel very lucky to have spent 5 of my school years there."
Wendy Harrow (1959-64, Price)
►"My years at HGS are remembered with great nostalgia and happiness. I was there from 1943 to 1950 and I can honestly say they were some of the best years of my life."
Gordon Clarke (1943-50, Guest)
►"The site continues to grow and remains of great interest with a lot of thought provoking memories."
Tony White (1957-64, Talbot)
Melvyn Thomas
►Leighton Smith sent me your web site address in his Christmas mail. What a wonderful Christmas gift! Seven happy years spent at HGS. It was an excellent school with beautiful grounds. I am proud to be a former pupil and an Old Hilmian.
Irene Wright (1944-51)
►I started Hemsworth Grammar in 1927 and left in 1933. I was in the school choir and a Prefect, and thoroughly enjoyed my days there. I'll never forget the day I opened that green door in the stone wall and looked into what looked like heaven after Grimethorpe Primary!
Eileen Morley (1927-33)
►I have many fond memories of H.G.S., a beautiful building with those gorgeous magnolias as you walked up the driveway, the shuttered windows and that impressive staircase. The Green Gate was the entry to a special world.
Pat Cockburn (1955-62)
►I think it's wonderful to find such an informative site dedicated to a school and staff who nurtured us in our formative years.
Gordon Clarke (1943-50)
►What memories this site has brought back: the Green Gate, the spring flowers, the wonderful grounds and so many excellent teachers.
Anne Norrick (1949-56)
►"This vast new access to the past is an incredible experience. Having made contact with many ex-pupils from various stages of life, I think we are designed to 'grow old' slowly, readjusting to 'age' gradually and gently. Just quickly glancing at our reflection. This is all a bit of a sudden shock. What we were. Things that could have been. Opportunities taken and missed."
Peter Kaye (1955-62, Talbot)
►"I was given the URL this morning and I duly logged on. Three hours later I had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, from my computer."
Keith Twigg (1955-62, Holgate)
►"That school was the single most important feature in shaping what I became in so many ways. What is more, my regard for it and its place in an educational era have been enhanced by time not diminished."
Geoff Graham (1949-55, Talbot)
►"I really cannot believe it is 40 years since I left. Looking at all this for the last 3 hours it just seems like yesterday. Happy days though we probably didn't appreciate just how happy at the time. In those days our whole lives revolved around school even for sport and leisure. I guess we were lucky to be so well provided for."
Peter Cooper (1956-63, Guest)
►"It is really nostalgic to see the old photographs and read the anecdotes of people we knew so long ago. It only seems like yesterday."
Colin Garbett (1950-58, Guest)
►"Universal themes in all the comments on the site are the fond memories and gratitude to Hemsworth Grammar School; in this regard I am no exception."
Tony Pickering (1952-58, Price)
►"Thanks for reviving all those memories of long ago."
Peter Ackley (1944-49)
►"What wonderful memories these pages evoked!"
Linda Rochnia (1965-69)
►"Thanks for the website - it's the only one I look at!"
Dilys Hughes (1954-61)
►"Many thanks to you and Sheila for the maintenance of such a nostalgic and wonderful website, there couldn't be a better memorial to the name of Hemsworth Grammar School."
Roy Walker (1961-66)
►"What a remarkable place HGS was, and what wonderful experiences the staff provided for us."
Peter Wall (1947 to 1954, Price)
►"The HGS web site has brought much pleasure to many old students who are now scattered throughout many distant corners of the world. That these former students have succeeded in many fields of endeavour is to the great credit of the two headmasters and their many staff. "
Leighton Smith (1945-50, Holgate)
►"This is just fabulous to find this site ... for seven years I loved going to that place, HGS ... and as I've been exploring the site, I am amazed at how much comes flooding in, generalities and very detailed memories."
Jean Snookes (1950-57, Price)
►"I have read many contributions within your site relating to the platform that HGS provided for later life - Labor ipse voluptas - has indeed served us all well. One of the Sons of Yorkshire."
John Basford (1964-71, Price)
►"I remember my old school with the greatest affection - I wish I had appreciated it more at the time."
Bill Hewitt (1950-55, Price)
►"The many Hilmians I have recently met or have spoken to on the phone have a common view that the School was generally a very positive experience. It is part of our history and deserves to be captured for all time. I wonder what Mr. Hamilton, Miss. Smith and Mr. Collette would have made of the fact that their School is still held in such high regard after all this time?"
Dave McKenzie (1955-62, Holgate)
►"They were mostly happy days at HGS and I don't think the strict regime did any of us any harm. I feel very lucky to have spent 5 of my school years there."
Wendy Harrow (1959-64, Price)
►"My years at HGS are remembered with great nostalgia and happiness. I was there from 1943 to 1950 and I can honestly say they were some of the best years of my life."
Gordon Clarke (1943-50, Guest)
►"The site continues to grow and remains of great interest with a lot of thought provoking memories."
Tony White (1957-64, Talbot)
