Emails to the website (2)
Year 2002
Year 2002
1. Ian Townsend 1955-60
Dear Dave,
I was pointed to the website by Sheila Kelsall and was most impressed, it contains lots of marvellous things. HGS days were not the happiest of my life but I can remember two things above all - apart from Russ Hamilton’s total adulation of Geoffrey Boycott. Mr Collette gave me the best definition of education I’ve ever heard. He said: “I can teach you all you need to know to get you through your exams, but my task in life is to encourage you to read and enjoy all these things after you’ve left school.” The RE teacher Mr Hassall posed two questions which I have always remembered. He said: “If space has boundaries, what is on the other side of the boundaries?” and “If the big bang created all the matter in the universe, what was there to go bang in the first place?”
I left HGS 1960 and started work as a reporter with the South Yorkshire Times. I’ve been in the business since then, for the last 30 years with the Oxford Mail.
Ian
(June 2002)
Dear Ian,
Thank you very much for contacting the site. Your favourable comments are much appreciated. Mr. Collette for me was a wonderful man. After you left 5S I stayed for two more years. He was always there to advise when needed. I hope you will keep in touch with the site and try to personalise it with your HGS thoughts if possible. We have an audience which is growing.
I couldn’t see HGS disappear without trace, so the web site was set up. People make contributions as they wish e.g. today I have received school magazines from 1952 and 1954. I will collate whatever comes in. We all have memories of HGS - some good, some not so good. Together we can develop a lasting picture of our school.
As ever,
Dave McKenzie
2. Frank Morley 1953-60
Dear Dave,
Working my way through great site. Keep up the good work, Dave, et al. I’m surprised you find the time as a teacher.....or perhaps you’re now a headmaster!!!!!!! Just seen item in “girls’ arch” section re cricket pavillion. It was moved to the “top of a pile of earth” to make way for the new science block, but until then was roughly near the (then) new biology lab. Will try to get round to forwarding some photos.
Regards to all,
Frank Morley
(June 2002)
Dear Frank,
Thank you for contacting this new site. No, I am not a headmaster. Thank goodness! Just a two-years-to-go-teacher of IT. You would have been in U6S when I was in 5S. You are in that special position, like Terry McCroakam, of having been on “both sides of the fence” - pupil and teacher. Photos and experiences would be very welcome to our audience. The site has been set up to record what we can of HGS. As far as I am aware, there is no internet record of the school apart from this one. As more people contact the site, so the record becomes more complete. I think it would be a great shame if HGS were simply allowed to disappear into the mists of time. Please help in any way you can.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
3. Keith Shelley 1959-66
Dear Mac,
Great site providing hours of enjoyment! My memories of H.G.S. are still so vivid so here goes. Hope they are of interest. I first went to school as a very young child to watch my dad, Harry Shelley, play cricket for the Old Hilmians. He’s still going at the age of 85 years so he must be one of the oldest former pupils still alive. He attended from 1930 to 1933 when he left to join the Merchant Navy. He remembers Mr. Jenkinson and was in the first ever 1st form, all boys. Prior to that there had only been 2nd year forms etc. Anyway I remember running down into the magical Den when the cricketers had their tea break in the Domestic Science room. My first ever car journey was in Mr Hamilton’s car to a cricket match in the mid 1950s.
Having broken the school record for ‘Throwing the Cricket Ball’ in 1960 (10 points to Price House!) you, Mac, showed me how to putt the shot (I remember that also! Dave McK.), something I continued to do for the school athletics and college teams. Many thanks. Rugby at H.G.S. was a ‘religion’ for me and many other lads. In my final year the 1st XV, captained by Kenny Johnson, went undefeated. Some of the highlights included beating King’s School, Pontefract at home. I’ll never forget the rousing, passionate pre-match team talk given to us by Mr Wilkinson. Travelling down to Llanelli, Wales, for the prestigious 7s tournament was a chance for us to sing all the rugby songs we had ever learnt! ‘An Engineer’s Daughter’ was a particular favourite. At that tournament playing for the posh school, Millfield, was quite a good player called Gareth Edwards! His team won.
The Friday Club:
As a member of the Committee in our final year, Dave Fearnside, Dave Cooper and myself wrote the annual ‘Trial’. This was a much looked forward to occasion. We performed the ‘Trial of Henry VIII’. Dave Cooper was the presiding judge and yours truly played Henry in full costume and brandishing a water pistol which I used on the unsuspecting audience with vigour.
I do have some memorabilia, including a number of South Yorkshire U15 and U19 Rugby Programmes which should provide some memory searches. I’ll send them soon.
Cheers, Mac, and continued success with the site.
Keith
(June 2002)
Dear Keith,
Thank you for contacting the site and for sending such an interesting message. You pitched into many facets HGS life with typical energy. The site is, as far as I am aware, the only one on the internet concerning HGS. There are superficial references to HGS on the internet, but nothing substantial. That is where I hope people who contact the site can help. Those locked away memories such as you have already mentioned will make fascinating reading for many ex pupils. The overall picture of HGS will gradually emerge from staff and pupils’ memories, experiences and memorabilia.
Dave McKenzie
4. Andy Hudson 1958-65
Hey, What a site. I learned about it from David Fearnside who e-mailed me here in Ireland from Hong Kong...such is e-life these days. Several of us (via Friends Re-united) from 5A of 1963 are having a reunion Sept 21 in Hemsworth. We will send you a retrospective of memories. Excellent work.
Well Done.
Andy Hudson (aka Hooker 1958-1965 Head Boy 1964-65)
(June 2002)
Dear Andy,
Welcome to the web site. Good to here from you and I am glad that you like the site so far. We have all gone our separate ways in life but HGS is still there in physical form - just! I am hoping that people will contribute their individual memories and artefacts to this new site so that we can create a common reference point for our secondary schooldays. Facts have appeared which I had forgotten, or just did not know, about my time at school and other pupils’ times at the school.
Please keep in touch
Dave McKenzie
5. Dave Worgan 1954-62
Dear Mac
Congratulations on an excellent web site. Having read Sheila Kelsall’s account of the pig sties, I was vividly reminded of the amazingly anarchic game ‘Finger, Thumb or Dum’ which took place in the vicinity of the pig sties. Basically the game consisted of two teams of 8 or more slightly deranged boys. The team who were the ‘backs’ placed one boy in contact with and facing the wall with the remainder placing their heads between the previous boys legs making a row of backs. The team who were ‘on’ then had to get every member of their team on to this row of backs using a leap frogging action. Once every member of the team were on the backs (numbers were critical at this point believe you me) the captain of the ‘on’ team then held up either a finger, a thumb, or a dum (fist). The captain of the backs unbelievably then had to guess which of these three options the other captain was displaying. If the guess was correct then the teams changed postions (backs becoming ons), if incorrect then the teams stayed in position and the process was repeated. Remember this was the West Riding in the 1950’s long before Equal Opportunities (singing treble was a definite advantage) and the HSE! Can anyone enlighten me on the finer points of the game (technicalities, language, unofficial records etc.) and am I right in thinking that a version of this game appears in Breugel’s “Childrens Games”?
Cheers
Worg
(June 2002)
Dear Dave,
Thank you for contacting the site. It’s only 40 years since we last met! How very good to hear from you. I’m glad that you like the site. It’s still young, but if people keep sending in material as you have done, it will soon build. We went through many shared experiences together such as the Rugby and the Prefects. I do hope you will keep in contact and let us know about your years at HGS as you saw them.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
6. Joyce Fox 1948-54
Hello Dave,
This is an excellent site and seems much more personal and informative than the Friends Reunited site. More names have come to light on this site who I remember from my school days at H.G.S. 1948 - 1954. The photographs on the home page showing members of staff is a good reminder of people who had a great influence on our lives. I am in contact annually with Margaret Connolly and Audrey Carrington who were in the same year as I was. Other friends I would like to hear about include Valerie Manning, Jean Mosley, and Rosemary Handley and what about any of the boys who may remember me? Don’t often get to Yorkshire now but would love to meet up at a reunion sometime. Congratulations on your efforts.
Joyce
(July 2002)
Dear Joyce,
Thank you for contacting the site. Your comments are much appreciated. You left HGS the year before I arrived, so we must have an element of common memories. In particular you mention the staff on the Home Page. The two gentlemen, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Collette, had a profound influence on my life. Miss Smith - not so much as she never taught me. If you could tell me which House you were in I will add it to the “Pupils’ Houses” page. Please consider the site your own and interact with it as you wish. Any text or photo contributions would be very welcome. I do hope your friends will see your entry and contact you.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie.
Dear Dave,
Thank you for such a quick response. I must add that many of the staff on the photograph on the Index page also taught me. I was in Guest House. I was never very sporty, but took part in several of the music activities including the school choir and madrigal group. Miss Carter was the music mistress. During my last year I assisted in the ‘props dept’ for the school production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. I will look for some school photographs. Don’t quite know how to let you have them however?
Best wishes,
Joyce
Dear Joyce,
The simplest way to get photos to the site is by email. Simply scan them, attach them to an email and send them in. They will scan as bitmap (.bmp) or jpeg (.jpg) files. Either are OK. If you have Photoshop, those files are OK as well. If the scans are too big for Yahoo to handle, I have another email address which compresses files automatically. If you are not happy scanning, post them to the site. I will let you have the postal address of the site. They will, of course, be safely returned.
Best wishes,
Dave
7. Peter Fisher 1945-52
Hi, Everyone,
Great site! I am trying to obtain digitized photos of the 1952 First XV Rugby Team also the Athletics team at Huddersfield Sports for the same year. Mine were destroyed long ago in a fire. Also pleased to hear from anyone who remembers me or thinks they do. Thanks for your help.
Peter
(July 2002)
Dear Peter,
Thank you for contacting the site. Our network of Hilmians is growing, so hopefully someone may be able to help with your request for the photographs. If you can let me know which House you were in at school and which years you attended, I will then be able to personalise your entry. If you have any memories or other photographs you would like to share with our audience, please let me have them for publication. In the 70s I worked for a year in Brantford. Nice part of the world. I wonder how you found out about the HGS site.
Dave McKenzie
David,
Thanks for contacting me. I was very impressed with your site, although I get the impression that it is for students later than my era but of course this may change. (As time progresses it should cover all years. Dave McK.) I enjoyed the photographs making up your home page recognizing some but no idea about others! I was in Holgate House and left the Hallowed Halls in 1952. I emigrated to Canada in 1966 with my wife Adrienne and two children, Mark and Jacqueline. Employed by the University of Waterloo in Ontario. I had a year off for good behaviour and spent it in Tasmania, Australia. Took early retirement in 1996 and since then I have been working on making my second million selling books on the internet! I still have a long way to go. During this time I have met several former HGS students and would be very pleased to hear from anyone who knows me or thinks they know me. I am also trying to obtain photographs of the 1952 Rugby First XV and the Athletics team same year. Mine were destroyed years ago in a fire. Any help would be appreciated. I was directed to your site twice in the last two days by Terry O’Marr who contacted me earlier this week from Friends Reunited and again earlier today by yet another Terry (what is it with Terry’s that they do like to help?), Terry McCroakam. I had just finished emailing Mac when your email came in. A thought I sent to him, I’ll send to you. We wrote and produced a Pantomime and put it on for the school one Christmas. I think it was called Cinderella but I am not sure about that. I played somebody called Sing Lo and Dudley Taylor played Sing Hi. We were the comics. How’d you guess? Where they come into Cinderella, who knows, but that’s panto! The point of the story is that Mr Combs, art teacher at the time, did the make up and also took individual photos of some of the cast. He made a collage of it which was framed. It used to hang somewhere next to the Prefects Room and the door leading down to the basement. Is the collage still around? I would expect not, but wouldn’t it be great to get a copy of that. Do you know it? Whats the odds on that one???
Just a couple of years ago, here in Canada in Mississauga which is part of metro Toronto, my wife and I were shopping. Inevitably, since we are booksellers, we are also book buyers, so everywhere we go we have to visit the local bookstores. In this particular store I could hear the man behind the counter talking to a customer. I said to my wife “This guy is from our neck of the woods.” Sure enough when we went to the counter.
He said “Where are you from?
We reply - Yorkshire.
Oh yes. Whereabouts?
Oh just a small place near Wakefield, Pontefract whatever. You wouldn’t know it.
So he says try me.
OK, South Elmsall.
No! Says he.
I went to Hemsworth Grammar School.
So did I!!
There followed a rendition of the School Song with an audience of his other customers wondering what was happening!! Coming to the last line Labor Ipse Voluptas (something like that) this was spontaneous and unreahersed as they say we both yelled out Labor Ipse WALLOP SASS! For those who don’t know there was once a teacher at Hemsworth called Dr. Sass who taught Esperanto and maybe Maths. Thus his name was always substituted for the last two words. We both remembered that part even if we had to la la hum hum some of the other ones. It turns out my singing partner was John Dixon. I could remember the name but not the face. I believe John was a year maybe two ahead of me. However, we did have a most enjoyable chat about the old school and we did know some of the same people... I must visit John again soon.
All the best,
Peter
A comment from Keith Vest
I also remember Doctor Sass, especially the way he glared around assembly to identify the uncouth youth who sang Labor ipse wallop Sass in their rendition of the school song.
8. Elaine Barker 1955-59
Dear Mac,
Good to hear from you. A real surprise to hear from Ruth after all these years also. We’ve had a computer a long time, but I have never used it before. I have some photos including some of a group of students who went to Italy in 1958, but I have no idea how to send them to you using a computer. Let me know how to get them to you. Hope you will contact me soon.
Elaine Berry (Barker)
(July 2002)
Dear Elaine,
Lovely to hear from you. Quite a gap in time. Fascinating to hear also from so many others of our year at school. I suppose as time goes on, the group will grow. On the Willowhem.... site, you will have seen that Ruth and I met quite recently. Great meeting - as it was with Helen Slater, Jean Tallett and Sheila Kelsall. We had lots to talk about. We all went our separate ways in life but now is perhaps the time to re-establish connections. The web site is for us to use as we wish. Please let me have any memories or anecdotes and I will publish them. The photos you mention will be a very good addition to the site. If you are not happy scanning, simply post them to me. They will be returned safely.
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
I was at H.G.S. from 1955 - 1959 and my house was Holgate. Looking back I had a great time at school although I did not always think so at the time. I worked really hard to get out of 1D and was thrilled to bits to get into 2A. I thought I was the brainiest pupil of the year. This idea was soon knocked out of my head when I was put in the desk in front of Wray Vamplew. It is no surprise he is writing a book!
Keep up the good work.
Elaine.
(August 2002)
9. John Connolly 1956-63
Hi Mac,
It’s funny. I was watching the Commonwealth Games swimming events 50 metres freestyle and thought of our mammoth race when I didn’t breathe racing you all those years ago! As you may have seen I live in Barcelona and have done for almost 20 years. I went to work for United Steel Companies and they paid me to go to Bath University. From there I went to NatWest and ended up in NatWest heading up the office here until they threw in the towel. I became a university lecturer in 3 universities as well as being an independent financial adviser and dealer in classic sports cars - not so much now because there’s no longer enough money in it. I don’t get back to Ryhill. I’m in touch with Judy Gunhouse too.
Hope you’re fit and well.
Cheers,
John
(August 2002)
Dear John,
Thanks for the contact after all these years. Swimming galas were fun. Frickley baths had cold, green water. If we were not in a race, we would probably have thought twice about diving in. The things we did for House points! One of the benefits was being able to buy hot Oxo to warm us up. If you can search your achives for material useful for the site, please do. Any thoughts about your time at HGS?
As ever,
Mac
10. Cynthia Hodge 1954-61
Dear Dave,
I attended HGS from 1954 to 1961. My forms were 1A, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A, L6A, U6A. I was in Guest house. I have several photos which I will try to send you.
Cynthia
(August 2002)
Dear Cynthia,
Thanks for getting in touch with the site. I hope you will find it to be of interest. You were just one year above me. Much of the present site content will be familiar to you. If you can contribute material to our site, please do. Text and or photos are always very welcome and much appreciated by our audience.
Dave
Dear Dave,
I have been reading more of the site today, and note that you have recently been in contact with Miss Ward. I was talking to my brother, Brian, also ex-HGS, and a colleague of yours at Willowgarth until his retirement, and we were wondering about Kath. He will be pleased to know she is OK. I have a little snippet about Mr. Hamilton after he left HGS. During my teaching career I had a one term “sabbatical” in 1975, when I attended Rolle College, Exmouth. I had heard that Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton had retired to Exmouth. On making enquiries, I found that they were living just round the corner from where I was staying. After contacting them I was invited to tea and we spent a pleasant afternoon reminiscing. I am not sure that he really remembered me. I am still working out how I can e-mail my photographs to you.
Best wishes
Cynthia Hodge
Dear Cynthia,
I was deciding whether or not you could be related to ‘odgy (as I used to call him) when your email answered my question for me. I spent many years teaching with Brian and Kath Ward. She will be glad to hear from him. If you would like to post your photos instead, let me know and I will give you the site’s address.
Lovely to hear from you again,
Dave
11. Alvin Bashforth 1956-63
Dear Dave,
I am at an age when the onset of nostalgia made me very pleased to come across your web site. Not many from my year seem to be involved to date, so I thought I would contribute something. One of the exceptions is Peta Adams who has supplied a lot of photographs. I remember going to parties at her house in Upton. I have school photographs somewhere in the loft and will look them out and send them to you if you give me an address. I remember a great many of the people on the web site. Dave Williamson and Margaret Birkin were Head Boy and Head Girl in my final year. Miss Ward taught me Geography for years and Miss Smith, French, for nearly as long. I kept in touch with Dave Freeman, Pete Cooper and Tom Wild from my year for a while after leaving school but that ended in the late 60s. I noticed my cousin, Les Bashforth, in the U-12 rugby team of 1959-60. I am afraid he died about 20 years ago. He was only in his 30s. Looking at the photographs on the web site gave me a funny feeling. The faces were so familiar and yet so strange at the same time. I have lived in the Shetland Islands for nearly 30 years and work for the Council here. I would be interested to hear from anyone who remembers me.
Alvin Bashforth
(Guest House 1956-63. Forms 1a thro to U6a)
(August 2002)
Dear Alvin,
Welcome to our site. It started life in March of 2002. Hopefully more of your year will get involved as time goes by. You mention Miss. Ward. I worked with her for many years at Willowgarth High School where she was the Deputy Head. A true professional. I spoke to her recently and she is just the same. Miss. Smith is more of a mystery to me as she never taught me at HGS. If your reflections can be converted to text, I am sure that many of our audience would be interested in what you have to say about your time at HGS.
Best wishes,
Dave
12. Linda Collingwood 1962-69
Dear Dave,
I was delighted to discover your site while looking for information about Shafton. I was in the 1962-1969 lot, who went through the 6th form during changeover to comprehensive. The site has brought back so many memories, which I will try and write about. I also have some form and choir photos which I will scan and send. I was in Holgate, and remember having to sing a solo every year to get points for the house competition. Miss Evans wasn’t very pleased, because we all turned up and sang a hymn for our solo, she almost begged each of us to sing something different. One of the few who had the confidence to was Louise Armitage, who now sings with the major Sheffield choir. I am in contact with several people from that year, so will direct them to the site.
Linda
(August 2002)
Dear Linda,
Hello and welcome. I hope you find the site interesting. Your suggestions about text and photo contributions will further strengthen this young site. It started out on March 20th this year to give a cyber presence to HGS. Perhaps you have read Terry McCroakam’s contribution concerning the HGS-HHS changeover? You must also have thoughts and experiences about that. Please interact with the site as you wish. I look forward to hearing from you.
Dave McKenzie
13. Christine Arrowsmith 1959-66
Just a quick hello! I have some memories that I would like to add to the site - how wonderful it could become! It’s pretty good now but obviously so much more history could be added. I have some photos but need to find them! Mention was made of Mr Bulley’s book - The History of Hemsworth. I believe he taught History at the school and lived up Mount Avenue. I think his daughter was called Gillian and attended the school at the same time as my sister 1962/67.
Will email again when I have more time.
Regards to any friends,
Chris
(August 2002)
Dear Chris,
Thank you for contacting the site and Welcome! We must have passed each other on the HGS corridors somewhere. Your point about the history content of the site is well made. I think that as time passes, more information will filter to the site and that it will become all the more interesting for it. If you can find those photos, they will make great material for the site - so too will your memories.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Hi,
HGS Variety Show 1962
Well, I was there, somewhere! I seem to remember dancing the Charleston while singing ‘Ain’t She Sweet’ along with several others. I think it was one of the few (if not the only) time/s the school had put on a variety show.
Chris Arrowsmith
(August 2002)
14. Judith Gunhouse 1956-63
Just got the site address today from John Connolly in Spain and it was great to see the photos and read the messages. As I live half the year in Australia it will be good to keep in touch. Reading the old school song brought a lump to my throat as I loved my days at HGS. Mr. Hamilton always said in assemblies that the more you put into life, the more you get out and I have always tried to live by that maxim. Hope we can have a reunion as I keep in touch with quite a few in the 1956-63 era.
Thanks Dave
Judith Gunhouse
(August 2002)
Dear Judith,
How very good to hear from you. Your positive remarks about HGS are well received. The last time we met - it must have been 1975. You had just come back from a Canadian teacher exchange organised by the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers. Did you exchange with Jim and Barb Elsworth? Jim was a History teacher in Paris, Ontario. Lovely couple. We spent a lot of time with them when they were over here. I actually first met Jim on a field trip in deepest, maple syrup Ontario - Mennonite country - back in March 1973. Keep in touch, Judith, and please send any photos and memories to the site.
As ever,
Dave
15. Dee Tyrrell 1955-61
Dear Dave,
Would you be interested in the official programme for the opening of the New Gymnasium and Science labs, 26 Oct 1957? It’s the only thing I can find apart from my green covered school report (which doesn’t make good reading!) If you give me an address I’ll mail it to you.
Dee
(September 2002)
Dear Dee,
Thank you for contacting the site and for the offer of material. I hope you have enjoyed your visit. The programme would be of significant interest to many of our audience. Terry McCroakam has submitted a photo of the buildings when they were under construction. I was there at the time and remember it well. Your item would complement the photo. Any comments you have would also be welcome. Perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to send it to me at my school. I will scan it in the IT Department and publish it on the web site. It will then be returned to you. Thank you very much for the offer.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Hi, Dave!
You do realise that this is all with the encouragement of Pete Kaye! I have searched some more because I am so sure that somewhere I have a copy of Mr. Bulley’s book about Hemsworth. Can’t find the book but I have found a couple of photos of the school and grounds so I’ll send you those, too. I came away from HGS with a lasting love of singing, having been encouraged by, I think, Miss Evans. I sing to this day, perhaps now more seriously than I have ever done!! I’ll continue the search and send you some stuff soon.
Love,
DEE
ps - Did you play for the school cricket team? When I saw your name on the website I pictured you in whites. Cricket was the only sport I ever took the slightest notice of. (Or if you want it in Arthur Walker’s correct English - cricket was the only sport of which I took any notice.!!!!)
Dear Dee,
Thanks for getting in touch again. Those photos of the school and grounds will be very welcome. Yes, I did play for the school cricket team. I visited Pete Kaye a couple of times in July and August. Lovely visit and very productive for the web site. It only seems a short while ago that you and I were in 3A together (1957/58!!). You mention Arthur Walker. I don’t think he ever taught me, but he was the first teacher many of our year ever saw at HGS as he supervised pupils coming into our first ever assembly. He looked very authoritarian.
Lovely to hear from you again,
As ever,
Dave
16. Joan May 1948-54
Dear Dave,
I started HGS in 1948 and Mr Lock was my form teacher (1D). I then went into 2A etc. I did one year of 6th Form and left. I was a member of Price House. Played in House and School teams also other activities. I can truthfully say that I enjoyed school. Two of my sisters also went to HGS Janet and Susan May. I have enjoyed looking at the website and found it excellent. I heard about it from Geoff Govier.
Joan
(September 2002)
Dear Joan,
Thank you very much for contacting this new site. I hope that you will continue to enjoy it as it develops. Geoff has been a significant contributor to the site and has suggested development modifications. You probably left HGS the year before I went to it (1955). Mr Lock never actually taught me but he was certainly there during my time. If you would like to contribute some thoughts, memories or photos etc, please let me know. I am sure that our growing audience would be very interested.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
17. Les Thomas 1949-54
Dear Dave,
I hope the old newspaper cutting which I have sent is clear enough for your viewers to recognise some of the participants in the 1954 Senior cross-country. I can make out the following; Ardron, Dillon, Riding, Peter and Alec Wall, Hudson, Poole, Secker, Trueman, Ward, Johns, Thacker, Thomas, Allsop, Long, Chivers, Donaldson, Holder, Shaw, Farnsworth and Longden. All ran along the North Walk, down the hill, under the railway bridge and round Sally Walsh’s Dam..........or did they? Somewhere in the house I have several Rugby photographs which I shall forward if and when I find them.
Les Thomas
(September 2002)
Dear Les,
Thank you very much for the newspaper cutting. That is now on the Gallery of the web site. I do hope you enjoy your visits to the site. The rugby photos you mention will make the site more complete. If you have any thoughts or memories about HGS, please send them in also. Original contributions are always welcome and are enjoyed by our growing audience.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
18. Joy Midgley 1962-69
Dear Dave,
Just wondered if you needed the names for the Normans form photo for 1962/3. Here they are:
Front row left: Carol Cavanagh, Glynis Glyn, Joy Midgley, Angela May, Mr Coare, Cienwyn Hughes, Carol Fletcher, Audrey Ashman, Linda Rollins
Next Row: ?, ?, Christine Sellars, Ruth Douglas, Margaret Nobes, Susan Arrowsmith, Lorraine Whittaker, Dorothy ?, Dave Barraclough, ?, ?,
Next Row: ?, ?, Chapman, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Darryl Watson
Back row
Donald Foster, Neil Bowmer, Michael Jones, ?, Alwyne Mills.
2A also.
Joy
(September 2002)
Dear Joy,
Thank you very much for contacting the web site. The photos’ details are much appreciated and will be added to the appropriate sections this evening. You came to the school just as I had left. Magaret Birkin would have been the Head Girl and Dave Williamson the Head Boy. So that I may personalise your entry, which house were you in? There may be other photos on the site which are of interest to you. Perhaps you could help us with names there? If you do have any photos or memories, please send them in. Many people will be interested in the seven years you were at HGS.
Please keep in touch,
Dave McKenzie
19. Roy Mason 1952-56
Dave,
Found the site thanks to a note left on the Friends Reunited site by Sheila Kelsall. Congratulations on producing such an excellent walk down memory lane. The frightening thing is that I could put names to many faces of 46 years ago. Having spent the last 36 years in Australia, I retained little memorabilia of the old days and this has brought back many happy memories.
Roy
(September 2002)
Dear Roy,
Thank you very much for contacting the site. Sheila and I are developing it through documents produced by HGS and memories and memorabilia contributed by former pupils and staff. We obviously have a long way to go, but time will take care of that. People seem to be gradually finding the site. If you do have any memories that you would like to make public on the site, please do. Just to complete the record, please let me know when you went to HGS and which House you were in.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
In the words of a good Australian G’day Dave,
Sorry if it seems to take a long time for me to respond but I have yet to set myself up on the Internet at home since it was never a necessity. However, now that I have achieved partial retirement I must get around to it. Anyway, in answer to your questions I was at Hemsworth from 52 to 56 and in Holgate. Like all trainee geriatrics I only have good memories of the school, even a couple of visits to the Head’s office for the requisite number of swats with his cane don’t seem as bad as they once did.
Just spent a happy half hour looking through the Sports and reading all the results brought back memories of probably the most consummate sportsman to attend HGS. Brian Moore was, to my mind, an athlete second to none at school, a great rugby player and equal to any cricketer we had at the school at that time. He had the ability to play tennis, soccer and almost any sport he cared to take an interest in. I was fortunate enough to train (more like try to keep up with him) with Brian for my last two years at school and thanks to that found the rigours of life as a Boy Entrant in the Royal Air Force almost a relaxation. Brian was the epitome of what we love in sportsmen to-day, full of self-confidence and a particularly nice guy. He refused to believe that anyone could beat him. In today’s more enlightened times, that attitude is seen as a pre-requisite for success and isn’t it strange how the harder you work at something the “luckier you get”. Unfortunately I lost contact with Brian when I left for Australia and Brian went off to Loughborough but I’ve often wondered what happened to him. Take care and keep up the excellent work on the site.
Regards,
Roy
20. Geoff Abell 1955-60
Dave,
I’ve been looking forward to a reunion for a few years now but as always just thought about it. Jean Hardcastle let me know about the reunion about a month ago. I had the pleasure of finding your website on Sunday the 15th Sept and enjoyed browsing through it. However, if you do decide that the reunion is a success and will be holding another one please let me know because I would certainly love to attend. Hope you all have a good time.
Best wishes
Geoff Abell (Guest House)
(September 2002)
Dear Geoff,
Thanks for getting in touch. I am very glad that you enjoyed looking through the web site. Putting it together so far has been a pleasure for me. It really is quite a time since we last met, so I will definitely let you know about the next get together. It is obviously very early days for the site. Hilmians will gradually find it and contribute material to it, so it should get stronger. There must be a lot of us still out there. If you can let other people know about the site, please do. Nostalgia seems to loom large for many people of our age.
Very best wishes,
Dave
21. Janet Thorley 1946-53
Dear Dave,
I was at Hemsworth from 1946 to 1953 and have very fond memories of my time there. It is interesting to read the comments submitted by other former pupils, particularly about the teachers that I knew.
I particularly remember Mr Lloyd who taught me Maths during some of my most formative years and inculcated a love of the subject which I still retain. Also Miss Wimpenny who taught me Applied Maths in the 6th form. I was recently able to contact her again after a lapse of many years. She is now retired and lives in Lowestoft but has lost none of her verve and spirit, leading a busy and active life. I also remember Mr Crossland (I think) who taught History and was Senior Master before Mr Collette. He was an inspirational teacher who was able to get across all the drier parts of English Political and Industrial History from the 19th century. He had no hang ups about political correctness (a phrase not known in those faraway days) and made sure that we all knew where his political sympathies lay. In fact they definitely coloured his teaching a very vivid blue!
I remember the boss, Mr Hamilton, as he strode down the corridor alongside the assembly hall with his gown billowing out behind him. As Prefects we had to take it in turn to read the lesson at assembly and had to wait for him outside Miss Smith’s office after everyone else had gone to assembly. We then trotted meakly after him down this corridor. Assemblies, in the school hall, also call back some vivid memories. Standing there on the first day of each new school year waiting for your class list to be read out and then departing with your classmates. On my very first day at the school I had to sit there through all the 700 or so names and was one of 3 small girls left over after everyone else had departed. I wonder if Jill Andrews and Marcia Gunhouse are out there somewhere as they were the other 2 girls. We were underage entries to the school and had not been allocated to forms. A quick glance at the numbers on the lists and Mr Hamilton allocated us to 1C. This was a stroke of luck for me as 1C’s form room was Room 3 (behind the Head’s study) and it was lovely to be in one of the older parts of the building in that first year.
I can also remember times when all the boys were kept behind after the girls left assembly. I believe this was to do with smoking and we were told that some of them were searched for cigarettes! There was no thought that girls might be indulging in a quick fag in those days. I have so many more memories of the school and it is nice to be able to write them down in a place where other people will read them with interest and where they may evoke other memories.
Good luck with the site. May you get more and more hits.
Janet
(September 2002)
Dear Janet,
Thank you for contacting the site and Welcome! You have sent such an interesting email. You will have grabbed the attention of many people immediately. They will be wanting to hear more of your anecdotes from your time at HGS. You left only 2 years before I went to the school. There will be many similarities and differences in our experiences. I look forward to hearing about them all. To complete the record, please let me have your House and if possible a photo from your school days. If the latter is not possible, please try to find your position on the 1947 and 1952 whole school photos on Index 3. I will put the best photo of you on the site.
Lovely to hear from you and thank you for your good wishes for the site which is now 6 months old. A final point of interest - today (24/09/02) Mr. W. Farrar, a Science Teacher who was at HGS during our time, came to my school and brought some memorabilia for the site. It’s great to have these links with the past.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
22. Avril Booth 1963-66
Hi,
Someone sent me details of this site and curiosity got the better of me! What a shock to see my picture on the screen!! Avril Booth - Romans - 1963. I have some pictures and probably some reports/school books somewhere but don’t ask me where!! I’ll have to try to find them for you. Do we all get nostalgic as we get older? I was at HGS from 1963-66 and remember quite a few of the names mentioned often wondering what became of them. I lived at Brierley and went to Shafton Two Gates School before going to HGS after passing my 11+. I left after my ‘O’ levels to go to Barnsley School of Technology on a Secretarial Course for a further 12 months. Some of my best friends were Helen Moxon, Elizabeth Pears, Elizabeth Gibson, Sheila Radford, Gail Lawton, Anne Wilson to name a few. I started off in Romans and followed through in the ‘B’ stream until leaving. Can’t remember what the House was called but I know the colour was red, anyone remember the name? (Guest, Dave)
Avril
Dear Avril,
Thank you very much for contacting the site. I hope you have got over the shock of seeing yourself on the screen! You sound as if you enjoyed your visit. You will note that there are some Romans photos from Phil Wilkinson where the pupils are not named. We could do with some help in that respect. If you could forward scans of the photos to the site I will publish them for others to enjoy. Specific memories are always welcome too. The picture of you above is not a good one. Can you help here?
Lovely to hear from you and please keep in touch,
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
I was pointed to the website by Sheila Kelsall and was most impressed, it contains lots of marvellous things. HGS days were not the happiest of my life but I can remember two things above all - apart from Russ Hamilton’s total adulation of Geoffrey Boycott. Mr Collette gave me the best definition of education I’ve ever heard. He said: “I can teach you all you need to know to get you through your exams, but my task in life is to encourage you to read and enjoy all these things after you’ve left school.” The RE teacher Mr Hassall posed two questions which I have always remembered. He said: “If space has boundaries, what is on the other side of the boundaries?” and “If the big bang created all the matter in the universe, what was there to go bang in the first place?”
I left HGS 1960 and started work as a reporter with the South Yorkshire Times. I’ve been in the business since then, for the last 30 years with the Oxford Mail.
Ian
(June 2002)
Dear Ian,
Thank you very much for contacting the site. Your favourable comments are much appreciated. Mr. Collette for me was a wonderful man. After you left 5S I stayed for two more years. He was always there to advise when needed. I hope you will keep in touch with the site and try to personalise it with your HGS thoughts if possible. We have an audience which is growing.
I couldn’t see HGS disappear without trace, so the web site was set up. People make contributions as they wish e.g. today I have received school magazines from 1952 and 1954. I will collate whatever comes in. We all have memories of HGS - some good, some not so good. Together we can develop a lasting picture of our school.
As ever,
Dave McKenzie
2. Frank Morley 1953-60
Dear Dave,
Working my way through great site. Keep up the good work, Dave, et al. I’m surprised you find the time as a teacher.....or perhaps you’re now a headmaster!!!!!!! Just seen item in “girls’ arch” section re cricket pavillion. It was moved to the “top of a pile of earth” to make way for the new science block, but until then was roughly near the (then) new biology lab. Will try to get round to forwarding some photos.
Regards to all,
Frank Morley
(June 2002)
Dear Frank,
Thank you for contacting this new site. No, I am not a headmaster. Thank goodness! Just a two-years-to-go-teacher of IT. You would have been in U6S when I was in 5S. You are in that special position, like Terry McCroakam, of having been on “both sides of the fence” - pupil and teacher. Photos and experiences would be very welcome to our audience. The site has been set up to record what we can of HGS. As far as I am aware, there is no internet record of the school apart from this one. As more people contact the site, so the record becomes more complete. I think it would be a great shame if HGS were simply allowed to disappear into the mists of time. Please help in any way you can.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
3. Keith Shelley 1959-66
Dear Mac,
Great site providing hours of enjoyment! My memories of H.G.S. are still so vivid so here goes. Hope they are of interest. I first went to school as a very young child to watch my dad, Harry Shelley, play cricket for the Old Hilmians. He’s still going at the age of 85 years so he must be one of the oldest former pupils still alive. He attended from 1930 to 1933 when he left to join the Merchant Navy. He remembers Mr. Jenkinson and was in the first ever 1st form, all boys. Prior to that there had only been 2nd year forms etc. Anyway I remember running down into the magical Den when the cricketers had their tea break in the Domestic Science room. My first ever car journey was in Mr Hamilton’s car to a cricket match in the mid 1950s.
Having broken the school record for ‘Throwing the Cricket Ball’ in 1960 (10 points to Price House!) you, Mac, showed me how to putt the shot (I remember that also! Dave McK.), something I continued to do for the school athletics and college teams. Many thanks. Rugby at H.G.S. was a ‘religion’ for me and many other lads. In my final year the 1st XV, captained by Kenny Johnson, went undefeated. Some of the highlights included beating King’s School, Pontefract at home. I’ll never forget the rousing, passionate pre-match team talk given to us by Mr Wilkinson. Travelling down to Llanelli, Wales, for the prestigious 7s tournament was a chance for us to sing all the rugby songs we had ever learnt! ‘An Engineer’s Daughter’ was a particular favourite. At that tournament playing for the posh school, Millfield, was quite a good player called Gareth Edwards! His team won.
The Friday Club:
As a member of the Committee in our final year, Dave Fearnside, Dave Cooper and myself wrote the annual ‘Trial’. This was a much looked forward to occasion. We performed the ‘Trial of Henry VIII’. Dave Cooper was the presiding judge and yours truly played Henry in full costume and brandishing a water pistol which I used on the unsuspecting audience with vigour.
I do have some memorabilia, including a number of South Yorkshire U15 and U19 Rugby Programmes which should provide some memory searches. I’ll send them soon.
Cheers, Mac, and continued success with the site.
Keith
(June 2002)
Dear Keith,
Thank you for contacting the site and for sending such an interesting message. You pitched into many facets HGS life with typical energy. The site is, as far as I am aware, the only one on the internet concerning HGS. There are superficial references to HGS on the internet, but nothing substantial. That is where I hope people who contact the site can help. Those locked away memories such as you have already mentioned will make fascinating reading for many ex pupils. The overall picture of HGS will gradually emerge from staff and pupils’ memories, experiences and memorabilia.
Dave McKenzie
4. Andy Hudson 1958-65
Hey, What a site. I learned about it from David Fearnside who e-mailed me here in Ireland from Hong Kong...such is e-life these days. Several of us (via Friends Re-united) from 5A of 1963 are having a reunion Sept 21 in Hemsworth. We will send you a retrospective of memories. Excellent work.
Well Done.
Andy Hudson (aka Hooker 1958-1965 Head Boy 1964-65)
(June 2002)
Dear Andy,
Welcome to the web site. Good to here from you and I am glad that you like the site so far. We have all gone our separate ways in life but HGS is still there in physical form - just! I am hoping that people will contribute their individual memories and artefacts to this new site so that we can create a common reference point for our secondary schooldays. Facts have appeared which I had forgotten, or just did not know, about my time at school and other pupils’ times at the school.
Please keep in touch
Dave McKenzie
5. Dave Worgan 1954-62
Dear Mac
Congratulations on an excellent web site. Having read Sheila Kelsall’s account of the pig sties, I was vividly reminded of the amazingly anarchic game ‘Finger, Thumb or Dum’ which took place in the vicinity of the pig sties. Basically the game consisted of two teams of 8 or more slightly deranged boys. The team who were the ‘backs’ placed one boy in contact with and facing the wall with the remainder placing their heads between the previous boys legs making a row of backs. The team who were ‘on’ then had to get every member of their team on to this row of backs using a leap frogging action. Once every member of the team were on the backs (numbers were critical at this point believe you me) the captain of the ‘on’ team then held up either a finger, a thumb, or a dum (fist). The captain of the backs unbelievably then had to guess which of these three options the other captain was displaying. If the guess was correct then the teams changed postions (backs becoming ons), if incorrect then the teams stayed in position and the process was repeated. Remember this was the West Riding in the 1950’s long before Equal Opportunities (singing treble was a definite advantage) and the HSE! Can anyone enlighten me on the finer points of the game (technicalities, language, unofficial records etc.) and am I right in thinking that a version of this game appears in Breugel’s “Childrens Games”?
Cheers
Worg
(June 2002)
Dear Dave,
Thank you for contacting the site. It’s only 40 years since we last met! How very good to hear from you. I’m glad that you like the site. It’s still young, but if people keep sending in material as you have done, it will soon build. We went through many shared experiences together such as the Rugby and the Prefects. I do hope you will keep in contact and let us know about your years at HGS as you saw them.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
6. Joyce Fox 1948-54
Hello Dave,
This is an excellent site and seems much more personal and informative than the Friends Reunited site. More names have come to light on this site who I remember from my school days at H.G.S. 1948 - 1954. The photographs on the home page showing members of staff is a good reminder of people who had a great influence on our lives. I am in contact annually with Margaret Connolly and Audrey Carrington who were in the same year as I was. Other friends I would like to hear about include Valerie Manning, Jean Mosley, and Rosemary Handley and what about any of the boys who may remember me? Don’t often get to Yorkshire now but would love to meet up at a reunion sometime. Congratulations on your efforts.
Joyce
(July 2002)
Dear Joyce,
Thank you for contacting the site. Your comments are much appreciated. You left HGS the year before I arrived, so we must have an element of common memories. In particular you mention the staff on the Home Page. The two gentlemen, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Collette, had a profound influence on my life. Miss Smith - not so much as she never taught me. If you could tell me which House you were in I will add it to the “Pupils’ Houses” page. Please consider the site your own and interact with it as you wish. Any text or photo contributions would be very welcome. I do hope your friends will see your entry and contact you.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie.
Dear Dave,
Thank you for such a quick response. I must add that many of the staff on the photograph on the Index page also taught me. I was in Guest House. I was never very sporty, but took part in several of the music activities including the school choir and madrigal group. Miss Carter was the music mistress. During my last year I assisted in the ‘props dept’ for the school production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. I will look for some school photographs. Don’t quite know how to let you have them however?
Best wishes,
Joyce
Dear Joyce,
The simplest way to get photos to the site is by email. Simply scan them, attach them to an email and send them in. They will scan as bitmap (.bmp) or jpeg (.jpg) files. Either are OK. If you have Photoshop, those files are OK as well. If the scans are too big for Yahoo to handle, I have another email address which compresses files automatically. If you are not happy scanning, post them to the site. I will let you have the postal address of the site. They will, of course, be safely returned.
Best wishes,
Dave
7. Peter Fisher 1945-52
Hi, Everyone,
Great site! I am trying to obtain digitized photos of the 1952 First XV Rugby Team also the Athletics team at Huddersfield Sports for the same year. Mine were destroyed long ago in a fire. Also pleased to hear from anyone who remembers me or thinks they do. Thanks for your help.
Peter
(July 2002)
Dear Peter,
Thank you for contacting the site. Our network of Hilmians is growing, so hopefully someone may be able to help with your request for the photographs. If you can let me know which House you were in at school and which years you attended, I will then be able to personalise your entry. If you have any memories or other photographs you would like to share with our audience, please let me have them for publication. In the 70s I worked for a year in Brantford. Nice part of the world. I wonder how you found out about the HGS site.
Dave McKenzie
David,
Thanks for contacting me. I was very impressed with your site, although I get the impression that it is for students later than my era but of course this may change. (As time progresses it should cover all years. Dave McK.) I enjoyed the photographs making up your home page recognizing some but no idea about others! I was in Holgate House and left the Hallowed Halls in 1952. I emigrated to Canada in 1966 with my wife Adrienne and two children, Mark and Jacqueline. Employed by the University of Waterloo in Ontario. I had a year off for good behaviour and spent it in Tasmania, Australia. Took early retirement in 1996 and since then I have been working on making my second million selling books on the internet! I still have a long way to go. During this time I have met several former HGS students and would be very pleased to hear from anyone who knows me or thinks they know me. I am also trying to obtain photographs of the 1952 Rugby First XV and the Athletics team same year. Mine were destroyed years ago in a fire. Any help would be appreciated. I was directed to your site twice in the last two days by Terry O’Marr who contacted me earlier this week from Friends Reunited and again earlier today by yet another Terry (what is it with Terry’s that they do like to help?), Terry McCroakam. I had just finished emailing Mac when your email came in. A thought I sent to him, I’ll send to you. We wrote and produced a Pantomime and put it on for the school one Christmas. I think it was called Cinderella but I am not sure about that. I played somebody called Sing Lo and Dudley Taylor played Sing Hi. We were the comics. How’d you guess? Where they come into Cinderella, who knows, but that’s panto! The point of the story is that Mr Combs, art teacher at the time, did the make up and also took individual photos of some of the cast. He made a collage of it which was framed. It used to hang somewhere next to the Prefects Room and the door leading down to the basement. Is the collage still around? I would expect not, but wouldn’t it be great to get a copy of that. Do you know it? Whats the odds on that one???
Just a couple of years ago, here in Canada in Mississauga which is part of metro Toronto, my wife and I were shopping. Inevitably, since we are booksellers, we are also book buyers, so everywhere we go we have to visit the local bookstores. In this particular store I could hear the man behind the counter talking to a customer. I said to my wife “This guy is from our neck of the woods.” Sure enough when we went to the counter.
He said “Where are you from?
We reply - Yorkshire.
Oh yes. Whereabouts?
Oh just a small place near Wakefield, Pontefract whatever. You wouldn’t know it.
So he says try me.
OK, South Elmsall.
No! Says he.
I went to Hemsworth Grammar School.
So did I!!
There followed a rendition of the School Song with an audience of his other customers wondering what was happening!! Coming to the last line Labor Ipse Voluptas (something like that) this was spontaneous and unreahersed as they say we both yelled out Labor Ipse WALLOP SASS! For those who don’t know there was once a teacher at Hemsworth called Dr. Sass who taught Esperanto and maybe Maths. Thus his name was always substituted for the last two words. We both remembered that part even if we had to la la hum hum some of the other ones. It turns out my singing partner was John Dixon. I could remember the name but not the face. I believe John was a year maybe two ahead of me. However, we did have a most enjoyable chat about the old school and we did know some of the same people... I must visit John again soon.
All the best,
Peter
A comment from Keith Vest
I also remember Doctor Sass, especially the way he glared around assembly to identify the uncouth youth who sang Labor ipse wallop Sass in their rendition of the school song.
8. Elaine Barker 1955-59
Dear Mac,
Good to hear from you. A real surprise to hear from Ruth after all these years also. We’ve had a computer a long time, but I have never used it before. I have some photos including some of a group of students who went to Italy in 1958, but I have no idea how to send them to you using a computer. Let me know how to get them to you. Hope you will contact me soon.
Elaine Berry (Barker)
(July 2002)
Dear Elaine,
Lovely to hear from you. Quite a gap in time. Fascinating to hear also from so many others of our year at school. I suppose as time goes on, the group will grow. On the Willowhem.... site, you will have seen that Ruth and I met quite recently. Great meeting - as it was with Helen Slater, Jean Tallett and Sheila Kelsall. We had lots to talk about. We all went our separate ways in life but now is perhaps the time to re-establish connections. The web site is for us to use as we wish. Please let me have any memories or anecdotes and I will publish them. The photos you mention will be a very good addition to the site. If you are not happy scanning, simply post them to me. They will be returned safely.
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
I was at H.G.S. from 1955 - 1959 and my house was Holgate. Looking back I had a great time at school although I did not always think so at the time. I worked really hard to get out of 1D and was thrilled to bits to get into 2A. I thought I was the brainiest pupil of the year. This idea was soon knocked out of my head when I was put in the desk in front of Wray Vamplew. It is no surprise he is writing a book!
Keep up the good work.
Elaine.
(August 2002)
9. John Connolly 1956-63
Hi Mac,
It’s funny. I was watching the Commonwealth Games swimming events 50 metres freestyle and thought of our mammoth race when I didn’t breathe racing you all those years ago! As you may have seen I live in Barcelona and have done for almost 20 years. I went to work for United Steel Companies and they paid me to go to Bath University. From there I went to NatWest and ended up in NatWest heading up the office here until they threw in the towel. I became a university lecturer in 3 universities as well as being an independent financial adviser and dealer in classic sports cars - not so much now because there’s no longer enough money in it. I don’t get back to Ryhill. I’m in touch with Judy Gunhouse too.
Hope you’re fit and well.
Cheers,
John
(August 2002)
Dear John,
Thanks for the contact after all these years. Swimming galas were fun. Frickley baths had cold, green water. If we were not in a race, we would probably have thought twice about diving in. The things we did for House points! One of the benefits was being able to buy hot Oxo to warm us up. If you can search your achives for material useful for the site, please do. Any thoughts about your time at HGS?
As ever,
Mac
10. Cynthia Hodge 1954-61
Dear Dave,
I attended HGS from 1954 to 1961. My forms were 1A, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A, L6A, U6A. I was in Guest house. I have several photos which I will try to send you.
Cynthia
(August 2002)
Dear Cynthia,
Thanks for getting in touch with the site. I hope you will find it to be of interest. You were just one year above me. Much of the present site content will be familiar to you. If you can contribute material to our site, please do. Text and or photos are always very welcome and much appreciated by our audience.
Dave
Dear Dave,
I have been reading more of the site today, and note that you have recently been in contact with Miss Ward. I was talking to my brother, Brian, also ex-HGS, and a colleague of yours at Willowgarth until his retirement, and we were wondering about Kath. He will be pleased to know she is OK. I have a little snippet about Mr. Hamilton after he left HGS. During my teaching career I had a one term “sabbatical” in 1975, when I attended Rolle College, Exmouth. I had heard that Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton had retired to Exmouth. On making enquiries, I found that they were living just round the corner from where I was staying. After contacting them I was invited to tea and we spent a pleasant afternoon reminiscing. I am not sure that he really remembered me. I am still working out how I can e-mail my photographs to you.
Best wishes
Cynthia Hodge
Dear Cynthia,
I was deciding whether or not you could be related to ‘odgy (as I used to call him) when your email answered my question for me. I spent many years teaching with Brian and Kath Ward. She will be glad to hear from him. If you would like to post your photos instead, let me know and I will give you the site’s address.
Lovely to hear from you again,
Dave
11. Alvin Bashforth 1956-63
Dear Dave,
I am at an age when the onset of nostalgia made me very pleased to come across your web site. Not many from my year seem to be involved to date, so I thought I would contribute something. One of the exceptions is Peta Adams who has supplied a lot of photographs. I remember going to parties at her house in Upton. I have school photographs somewhere in the loft and will look them out and send them to you if you give me an address. I remember a great many of the people on the web site. Dave Williamson and Margaret Birkin were Head Boy and Head Girl in my final year. Miss Ward taught me Geography for years and Miss Smith, French, for nearly as long. I kept in touch with Dave Freeman, Pete Cooper and Tom Wild from my year for a while after leaving school but that ended in the late 60s. I noticed my cousin, Les Bashforth, in the U-12 rugby team of 1959-60. I am afraid he died about 20 years ago. He was only in his 30s. Looking at the photographs on the web site gave me a funny feeling. The faces were so familiar and yet so strange at the same time. I have lived in the Shetland Islands for nearly 30 years and work for the Council here. I would be interested to hear from anyone who remembers me.
Alvin Bashforth
(Guest House 1956-63. Forms 1a thro to U6a)
(August 2002)
Dear Alvin,
Welcome to our site. It started life in March of 2002. Hopefully more of your year will get involved as time goes by. You mention Miss. Ward. I worked with her for many years at Willowgarth High School where she was the Deputy Head. A true professional. I spoke to her recently and she is just the same. Miss. Smith is more of a mystery to me as she never taught me at HGS. If your reflections can be converted to text, I am sure that many of our audience would be interested in what you have to say about your time at HGS.
Best wishes,
Dave
12. Linda Collingwood 1962-69
Dear Dave,
I was delighted to discover your site while looking for information about Shafton. I was in the 1962-1969 lot, who went through the 6th form during changeover to comprehensive. The site has brought back so many memories, which I will try and write about. I also have some form and choir photos which I will scan and send. I was in Holgate, and remember having to sing a solo every year to get points for the house competition. Miss Evans wasn’t very pleased, because we all turned up and sang a hymn for our solo, she almost begged each of us to sing something different. One of the few who had the confidence to was Louise Armitage, who now sings with the major Sheffield choir. I am in contact with several people from that year, so will direct them to the site.
Linda
(August 2002)
Dear Linda,
Hello and welcome. I hope you find the site interesting. Your suggestions about text and photo contributions will further strengthen this young site. It started out on March 20th this year to give a cyber presence to HGS. Perhaps you have read Terry McCroakam’s contribution concerning the HGS-HHS changeover? You must also have thoughts and experiences about that. Please interact with the site as you wish. I look forward to hearing from you.
Dave McKenzie
13. Christine Arrowsmith 1959-66
Just a quick hello! I have some memories that I would like to add to the site - how wonderful it could become! It’s pretty good now but obviously so much more history could be added. I have some photos but need to find them! Mention was made of Mr Bulley’s book - The History of Hemsworth. I believe he taught History at the school and lived up Mount Avenue. I think his daughter was called Gillian and attended the school at the same time as my sister 1962/67.
Will email again when I have more time.
Regards to any friends,
Chris
(August 2002)
Dear Chris,
Thank you for contacting the site and Welcome! We must have passed each other on the HGS corridors somewhere. Your point about the history content of the site is well made. I think that as time passes, more information will filter to the site and that it will become all the more interesting for it. If you can find those photos, they will make great material for the site - so too will your memories.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Hi,
HGS Variety Show 1962
Well, I was there, somewhere! I seem to remember dancing the Charleston while singing ‘Ain’t She Sweet’ along with several others. I think it was one of the few (if not the only) time/s the school had put on a variety show.
Chris Arrowsmith
(August 2002)
14. Judith Gunhouse 1956-63
Just got the site address today from John Connolly in Spain and it was great to see the photos and read the messages. As I live half the year in Australia it will be good to keep in touch. Reading the old school song brought a lump to my throat as I loved my days at HGS. Mr. Hamilton always said in assemblies that the more you put into life, the more you get out and I have always tried to live by that maxim. Hope we can have a reunion as I keep in touch with quite a few in the 1956-63 era.
Thanks Dave
Judith Gunhouse
(August 2002)
Dear Judith,
How very good to hear from you. Your positive remarks about HGS are well received. The last time we met - it must have been 1975. You had just come back from a Canadian teacher exchange organised by the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers. Did you exchange with Jim and Barb Elsworth? Jim was a History teacher in Paris, Ontario. Lovely couple. We spent a lot of time with them when they were over here. I actually first met Jim on a field trip in deepest, maple syrup Ontario - Mennonite country - back in March 1973. Keep in touch, Judith, and please send any photos and memories to the site.
As ever,
Dave
15. Dee Tyrrell 1955-61
Dear Dave,
Would you be interested in the official programme for the opening of the New Gymnasium and Science labs, 26 Oct 1957? It’s the only thing I can find apart from my green covered school report (which doesn’t make good reading!) If you give me an address I’ll mail it to you.
Dee
(September 2002)
Dear Dee,
Thank you for contacting the site and for the offer of material. I hope you have enjoyed your visit. The programme would be of significant interest to many of our audience. Terry McCroakam has submitted a photo of the buildings when they were under construction. I was there at the time and remember it well. Your item would complement the photo. Any comments you have would also be welcome. Perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to send it to me at my school. I will scan it in the IT Department and publish it on the web site. It will then be returned to you. Thank you very much for the offer.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Hi, Dave!
You do realise that this is all with the encouragement of Pete Kaye! I have searched some more because I am so sure that somewhere I have a copy of Mr. Bulley’s book about Hemsworth. Can’t find the book but I have found a couple of photos of the school and grounds so I’ll send you those, too. I came away from HGS with a lasting love of singing, having been encouraged by, I think, Miss Evans. I sing to this day, perhaps now more seriously than I have ever done!! I’ll continue the search and send you some stuff soon.
Love,
DEE
ps - Did you play for the school cricket team? When I saw your name on the website I pictured you in whites. Cricket was the only sport I ever took the slightest notice of. (Or if you want it in Arthur Walker’s correct English - cricket was the only sport of which I took any notice.!!!!)
Dear Dee,
Thanks for getting in touch again. Those photos of the school and grounds will be very welcome. Yes, I did play for the school cricket team. I visited Pete Kaye a couple of times in July and August. Lovely visit and very productive for the web site. It only seems a short while ago that you and I were in 3A together (1957/58!!). You mention Arthur Walker. I don’t think he ever taught me, but he was the first teacher many of our year ever saw at HGS as he supervised pupils coming into our first ever assembly. He looked very authoritarian.
Lovely to hear from you again,
As ever,
Dave
16. Joan May 1948-54
Dear Dave,
I started HGS in 1948 and Mr Lock was my form teacher (1D). I then went into 2A etc. I did one year of 6th Form and left. I was a member of Price House. Played in House and School teams also other activities. I can truthfully say that I enjoyed school. Two of my sisters also went to HGS Janet and Susan May. I have enjoyed looking at the website and found it excellent. I heard about it from Geoff Govier.
Joan
(September 2002)
Dear Joan,
Thank you very much for contacting this new site. I hope that you will continue to enjoy it as it develops. Geoff has been a significant contributor to the site and has suggested development modifications. You probably left HGS the year before I went to it (1955). Mr Lock never actually taught me but he was certainly there during my time. If you would like to contribute some thoughts, memories or photos etc, please let me know. I am sure that our growing audience would be very interested.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
17. Les Thomas 1949-54
Dear Dave,
I hope the old newspaper cutting which I have sent is clear enough for your viewers to recognise some of the participants in the 1954 Senior cross-country. I can make out the following; Ardron, Dillon, Riding, Peter and Alec Wall, Hudson, Poole, Secker, Trueman, Ward, Johns, Thacker, Thomas, Allsop, Long, Chivers, Donaldson, Holder, Shaw, Farnsworth and Longden. All ran along the North Walk, down the hill, under the railway bridge and round Sally Walsh’s Dam..........or did they? Somewhere in the house I have several Rugby photographs which I shall forward if and when I find them.
Les Thomas
(September 2002)
Dear Les,
Thank you very much for the newspaper cutting. That is now on the Gallery of the web site. I do hope you enjoy your visits to the site. The rugby photos you mention will make the site more complete. If you have any thoughts or memories about HGS, please send them in also. Original contributions are always welcome and are enjoyed by our growing audience.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
18. Joy Midgley 1962-69
Dear Dave,
Just wondered if you needed the names for the Normans form photo for 1962/3. Here they are:
Front row left: Carol Cavanagh, Glynis Glyn, Joy Midgley, Angela May, Mr Coare, Cienwyn Hughes, Carol Fletcher, Audrey Ashman, Linda Rollins
Next Row: ?, ?, Christine Sellars, Ruth Douglas, Margaret Nobes, Susan Arrowsmith, Lorraine Whittaker, Dorothy ?, Dave Barraclough, ?, ?,
Next Row: ?, ?, Chapman, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Darryl Watson
Back row
Donald Foster, Neil Bowmer, Michael Jones, ?, Alwyne Mills.
2A also.
Joy
(September 2002)
Dear Joy,
Thank you very much for contacting the web site. The photos’ details are much appreciated and will be added to the appropriate sections this evening. You came to the school just as I had left. Magaret Birkin would have been the Head Girl and Dave Williamson the Head Boy. So that I may personalise your entry, which house were you in? There may be other photos on the site which are of interest to you. Perhaps you could help us with names there? If you do have any photos or memories, please send them in. Many people will be interested in the seven years you were at HGS.
Please keep in touch,
Dave McKenzie
19. Roy Mason 1952-56
Dave,
Found the site thanks to a note left on the Friends Reunited site by Sheila Kelsall. Congratulations on producing such an excellent walk down memory lane. The frightening thing is that I could put names to many faces of 46 years ago. Having spent the last 36 years in Australia, I retained little memorabilia of the old days and this has brought back many happy memories.
Roy
(September 2002)
Dear Roy,
Thank you very much for contacting the site. Sheila and I are developing it through documents produced by HGS and memories and memorabilia contributed by former pupils and staff. We obviously have a long way to go, but time will take care of that. People seem to be gradually finding the site. If you do have any memories that you would like to make public on the site, please do. Just to complete the record, please let me know when you went to HGS and which House you were in.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
In the words of a good Australian G’day Dave,
Sorry if it seems to take a long time for me to respond but I have yet to set myself up on the Internet at home since it was never a necessity. However, now that I have achieved partial retirement I must get around to it. Anyway, in answer to your questions I was at Hemsworth from 52 to 56 and in Holgate. Like all trainee geriatrics I only have good memories of the school, even a couple of visits to the Head’s office for the requisite number of swats with his cane don’t seem as bad as they once did.
Just spent a happy half hour looking through the Sports and reading all the results brought back memories of probably the most consummate sportsman to attend HGS. Brian Moore was, to my mind, an athlete second to none at school, a great rugby player and equal to any cricketer we had at the school at that time. He had the ability to play tennis, soccer and almost any sport he cared to take an interest in. I was fortunate enough to train (more like try to keep up with him) with Brian for my last two years at school and thanks to that found the rigours of life as a Boy Entrant in the Royal Air Force almost a relaxation. Brian was the epitome of what we love in sportsmen to-day, full of self-confidence and a particularly nice guy. He refused to believe that anyone could beat him. In today’s more enlightened times, that attitude is seen as a pre-requisite for success and isn’t it strange how the harder you work at something the “luckier you get”. Unfortunately I lost contact with Brian when I left for Australia and Brian went off to Loughborough but I’ve often wondered what happened to him. Take care and keep up the excellent work on the site.
Regards,
Roy
20. Geoff Abell 1955-60
Dave,
I’ve been looking forward to a reunion for a few years now but as always just thought about it. Jean Hardcastle let me know about the reunion about a month ago. I had the pleasure of finding your website on Sunday the 15th Sept and enjoyed browsing through it. However, if you do decide that the reunion is a success and will be holding another one please let me know because I would certainly love to attend. Hope you all have a good time.
Best wishes
Geoff Abell (Guest House)
(September 2002)
Dear Geoff,
Thanks for getting in touch. I am very glad that you enjoyed looking through the web site. Putting it together so far has been a pleasure for me. It really is quite a time since we last met, so I will definitely let you know about the next get together. It is obviously very early days for the site. Hilmians will gradually find it and contribute material to it, so it should get stronger. There must be a lot of us still out there. If you can let other people know about the site, please do. Nostalgia seems to loom large for many people of our age.
Very best wishes,
Dave
21. Janet Thorley 1946-53
Dear Dave,
I was at Hemsworth from 1946 to 1953 and have very fond memories of my time there. It is interesting to read the comments submitted by other former pupils, particularly about the teachers that I knew.
I particularly remember Mr Lloyd who taught me Maths during some of my most formative years and inculcated a love of the subject which I still retain. Also Miss Wimpenny who taught me Applied Maths in the 6th form. I was recently able to contact her again after a lapse of many years. She is now retired and lives in Lowestoft but has lost none of her verve and spirit, leading a busy and active life. I also remember Mr Crossland (I think) who taught History and was Senior Master before Mr Collette. He was an inspirational teacher who was able to get across all the drier parts of English Political and Industrial History from the 19th century. He had no hang ups about political correctness (a phrase not known in those faraway days) and made sure that we all knew where his political sympathies lay. In fact they definitely coloured his teaching a very vivid blue!
I remember the boss, Mr Hamilton, as he strode down the corridor alongside the assembly hall with his gown billowing out behind him. As Prefects we had to take it in turn to read the lesson at assembly and had to wait for him outside Miss Smith’s office after everyone else had gone to assembly. We then trotted meakly after him down this corridor. Assemblies, in the school hall, also call back some vivid memories. Standing there on the first day of each new school year waiting for your class list to be read out and then departing with your classmates. On my very first day at the school I had to sit there through all the 700 or so names and was one of 3 small girls left over after everyone else had departed. I wonder if Jill Andrews and Marcia Gunhouse are out there somewhere as they were the other 2 girls. We were underage entries to the school and had not been allocated to forms. A quick glance at the numbers on the lists and Mr Hamilton allocated us to 1C. This was a stroke of luck for me as 1C’s form room was Room 3 (behind the Head’s study) and it was lovely to be in one of the older parts of the building in that first year.
I can also remember times when all the boys were kept behind after the girls left assembly. I believe this was to do with smoking and we were told that some of them were searched for cigarettes! There was no thought that girls might be indulging in a quick fag in those days. I have so many more memories of the school and it is nice to be able to write them down in a place where other people will read them with interest and where they may evoke other memories.
Good luck with the site. May you get more and more hits.
Janet
(September 2002)
Dear Janet,
Thank you for contacting the site and Welcome! You have sent such an interesting email. You will have grabbed the attention of many people immediately. They will be wanting to hear more of your anecdotes from your time at HGS. You left only 2 years before I went to the school. There will be many similarities and differences in our experiences. I look forward to hearing about them all. To complete the record, please let me have your House and if possible a photo from your school days. If the latter is not possible, please try to find your position on the 1947 and 1952 whole school photos on Index 3. I will put the best photo of you on the site.
Lovely to hear from you and thank you for your good wishes for the site which is now 6 months old. A final point of interest - today (24/09/02) Mr. W. Farrar, a Science Teacher who was at HGS during our time, came to my school and brought some memorabilia for the site. It’s great to have these links with the past.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
22. Avril Booth 1963-66
Hi,
Someone sent me details of this site and curiosity got the better of me! What a shock to see my picture on the screen!! Avril Booth - Romans - 1963. I have some pictures and probably some reports/school books somewhere but don’t ask me where!! I’ll have to try to find them for you. Do we all get nostalgic as we get older? I was at HGS from 1963-66 and remember quite a few of the names mentioned often wondering what became of them. I lived at Brierley and went to Shafton Two Gates School before going to HGS after passing my 11+. I left after my ‘O’ levels to go to Barnsley School of Technology on a Secretarial Course for a further 12 months. Some of my best friends were Helen Moxon, Elizabeth Pears, Elizabeth Gibson, Sheila Radford, Gail Lawton, Anne Wilson to name a few. I started off in Romans and followed through in the ‘B’ stream until leaving. Can’t remember what the House was called but I know the colour was red, anyone remember the name? (Guest, Dave)
Avril
Dear Avril,
Thank you very much for contacting the site. I hope you have got over the shock of seeing yourself on the screen! You sound as if you enjoyed your visit. You will note that there are some Romans photos from Phil Wilkinson where the pupils are not named. We could do with some help in that respect. If you could forward scans of the photos to the site I will publish them for others to enjoy. Specific memories are always welcome too. The picture of you above is not a good one. Can you help here?
Lovely to hear from you and please keep in touch,
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
