Emails to the website (1)
Years 2001-2002
Years 2001-2002
The very first email was from Margaret Birkin (HGS Head Girl 1962-63) who I knew quite well as she was in 2A and 3A with me.
Dear David,
I was very excited to find HGS on your website. I recognised many people in the photos. I have got lots of HGS speech day programmes and school magazines and photos. Are you interested? I manage to get back to Yorkshire about once a year and drive past HGS on the way to my sister's.
All the best,
Margaret Birkin
(November 2001)
Thank you for your email. It has spanned quite a time period. South Elmsall and Upton seem light years away. Sheila Kelsall also contacted me through the Friends Reunited site and we have exchanged emails. Thank you for your offer of material. It would be a simple matter to scan them and publish them on the school's web site for the benefit of interested Old Hilmians.
Dave
I was very excited to find HGS on your website. I recognised many people in the photos. I have got lots of HGS speech day programmes and school magazines and photos. Are you interested? I manage to get back to Yorkshire about once a year and drive past HGS on the way to my sister's.
All the best,
Margaret Birkin
(November 2001)
Thank you for your email. It has spanned quite a time period. South Elmsall and Upton seem light years away. Sheila Kelsall also contacted me through the Friends Reunited site and we have exchanged emails. Thank you for your offer of material. It would be a simple matter to scan them and publish them on the school's web site for the benefit of interested Old Hilmians.
Dave
2. Helen Slater (Daphne) 1955-56
Mac,
I think I can identify some of the Staff! 2nd row down, 2nd in Mr P.F. Collins who taught Maths, 3rd row down 3 in may be Mrs. Joan Blatherwick (nee Parkin) who taught PE, 4th in may be Miss J. Harrison, who taught Art, and 1st left front row, Miss M. McGlade (Needlework). On Sheila's photo of 1b, there was a Dickson, as well as Michael Dixon, and an Ibbotson, Alan Barker and Frank Poskett, or is it Poskitt? I hope this helps, but I also have vivid memories of Harewood Lane Infants and Junior School, before we moved to South Kirkby, and being the little girl who "talked funny" with my Welsh accent. I remember the last time I saw you, I think we were looking after your Mum at Southmoor Hospital, but I can't remember if it was before I trained as a nurse or after. Hope to see some more news from HGS,
Daphne (Helen)
(March 2002)
Thank you very much for your photographic contribution (180302). I have added these to the appropriate section of the site. Your identification of the Form Members seems OK to me. Please keep searching for those old photographs. It was great to meet you again. It is very easy to make the mental jump back to 1960 in one go. Counting back in ones tells me how long ago it really is, especially when one adds in historical events. Our school days even pre-date the Beatles!!
Dave McKenzie
Mac,
I think I can identify some of the Staff! 2nd row down, 2nd in Mr P.F. Collins who taught Maths, 3rd row down 3 in may be Mrs. Joan Blatherwick (nee Parkin) who taught PE, 4th in may be Miss J. Harrison, who taught Art, and 1st left front row, Miss M. McGlade (Needlework). On Sheila's photo of 1b, there was a Dickson, as well as Michael Dixon, and an Ibbotson, Alan Barker and Frank Poskett, or is it Poskitt? I hope this helps, but I also have vivid memories of Harewood Lane Infants and Junior School, before we moved to South Kirkby, and being the little girl who "talked funny" with my Welsh accent. I remember the last time I saw you, I think we were looking after your Mum at Southmoor Hospital, but I can't remember if it was before I trained as a nurse or after. Hope to see some more news from HGS,
Daphne (Helen)
(March 2002)
Thank you very much for your photographic contribution (180302). I have added these to the appropriate section of the site. Your identification of the Form Members seems OK to me. Please keep searching for those old photographs. It was great to meet you again. It is very easy to make the mental jump back to 1960 in one go. Counting back in ones tells me how long ago it really is, especially when one adds in historical events. Our school days even pre-date the Beatles!!
Dave McKenzie
3. Brian May 1955-60
Hi Mac,
Great site. Sent details to Len and Dicky. Keep up the good work.
Brian May
(March 2002)
Thanks for the Hilmians photo and player details, Brian.
Dave
Hi Mac,
Great site. Sent details to Len and Dicky. Keep up the good work.
Brian May
(March 2002)
Thanks for the Hilmians photo and player details, Brian.
Dave
4. Peter Kaye 1955-62
Your web pages urge action .... but why rush! We've waited 40 years! A super site Dave. I'm full of admiration! It is a strange situation to step back so far .. so fully ... so suddenly. How about a virtual reality bit!! Some fine memories have been stirred by the photos on the Willowgarth site. From the school you can see the house on Brierley Common where I spent all my childhood. I knew every inch of all the fields between Ringstone Hill and The Dell - a kind of Billy Casper but I had an Alsatian dog rather than a hawk. I almost taught at Willowgarth. Christmas 1966 I arrived home after 18 months VSO teaching in Borneo. I was frozen - but heavily tanned! I rang Wakefield (the good old West Riding Education Department) for a temporary job ... just for a few weeks. They offered me Willowgarth or Cudworth Secondary Modern! The flick of a coin took me to Cudworth - where I stayed for four years! My entire life coloured by that decision! I will post off to you in the morning a selection of material for the great HGS site. I thought there could be a danger that sport may be given too prominent a place (always an HGS tendency!) - so have sent you all the drama material I could find. I've added a few comments. I've created files which seem very large to send off by email - and I am relatively new to this technology stuff! I await your further instructions!! One last one to add if I can find it. Kath Ward and Mary Metcalfe taken at Monte Carlo. They were on the lookout for any old millionaire! Even the offer of the ice-cream didn't work! Let me know if the photos are any use to the site. Perhaps I should enclose a present day one of myself - just in case you want to create a further one of your opening page??? Well I have still got the hair - although the silver is a more recent addition!
Lovely to catch up with you again.
Best wishes to everyone!
Pete
(March 2002)
Thanks! You're doing a fine job, Dave. Does Kath ever get a look? The school bus section brought back a few nightmares. I was one of the few kids who went home on the Sheffield bus. It was always packed - and full of Bevan Boys who were doing some of their training at the Technical College. They wore great boots (and I know I was 6' tall) and I was terrified! Six feet tall and having to wear short trousers until the third form - and having lark legs! God! A wonder I ever recovered from school days! Have a good Easter break!
Cheers
Pete
(March 2002)
All part of the service! Kath had a look at the site around Xmas time I think. It's a bit different now. We keep in contact. I taught Geography with Kath from 1969 until well into the 1980s. A real character who could always be relied upon. We had some very enjoyable times on field trips around the country. It never felt strange working with my own geography teacher - quite the reverse.
Dave
Your web pages urge action .... but why rush! We've waited 40 years! A super site Dave. I'm full of admiration! It is a strange situation to step back so far .. so fully ... so suddenly. How about a virtual reality bit!! Some fine memories have been stirred by the photos on the Willowgarth site. From the school you can see the house on Brierley Common where I spent all my childhood. I knew every inch of all the fields between Ringstone Hill and The Dell - a kind of Billy Casper but I had an Alsatian dog rather than a hawk. I almost taught at Willowgarth. Christmas 1966 I arrived home after 18 months VSO teaching in Borneo. I was frozen - but heavily tanned! I rang Wakefield (the good old West Riding Education Department) for a temporary job ... just for a few weeks. They offered me Willowgarth or Cudworth Secondary Modern! The flick of a coin took me to Cudworth - where I stayed for four years! My entire life coloured by that decision! I will post off to you in the morning a selection of material for the great HGS site. I thought there could be a danger that sport may be given too prominent a place (always an HGS tendency!) - so have sent you all the drama material I could find. I've added a few comments. I've created files which seem very large to send off by email - and I am relatively new to this technology stuff! I await your further instructions!! One last one to add if I can find it. Kath Ward and Mary Metcalfe taken at Monte Carlo. They were on the lookout for any old millionaire! Even the offer of the ice-cream didn't work! Let me know if the photos are any use to the site. Perhaps I should enclose a present day one of myself - just in case you want to create a further one of your opening page??? Well I have still got the hair - although the silver is a more recent addition!
Lovely to catch up with you again.
Best wishes to everyone!
Pete
(March 2002)
Thanks! You're doing a fine job, Dave. Does Kath ever get a look? The school bus section brought back a few nightmares. I was one of the few kids who went home on the Sheffield bus. It was always packed - and full of Bevan Boys who were doing some of their training at the Technical College. They wore great boots (and I know I was 6' tall) and I was terrified! Six feet tall and having to wear short trousers until the third form - and having lark legs! God! A wonder I ever recovered from school days! Have a good Easter break!
Cheers
Pete
(March 2002)
All part of the service! Kath had a look at the site around Xmas time I think. It's a bit different now. We keep in contact. I taught Geography with Kath from 1969 until well into the 1980s. A real character who could always be relied upon. We had some very enjoyable times on field trips around the country. It never felt strange working with my own geography teacher - quite the reverse.
Dave
5. Bob Taylor 1955-60
I know who Fred Bloggins is, Sheila, because I sat next to him in 3A, and I watched as he signed the card! It's not his real name, you know --- it's just an alias, and I must admit that I was disappointed in him at the time. You were, after all, simply trying to preserve our names for posterity --- and he just could not resist spoiling it for you. I hope the culprit, [I am reluctant to give his real name because he now holds a responsible position on this web-site and I do not wish to undermine his authority], feels sufficient remorse as to compel him to beg your forgiveness of his own volition, now that he knows that there was a witness to his serious misdemeanour. I sincerely hope that he appreciates the fact that I have preserved his anonymity, on this occasion, and that he shows his appreciation by installing this note, unedited, on his web-site.
Bob Taylor
(March 2002)
I can remember Miss/Mrs Smith in the 1st Form (1955/56). She taught maths, but she seemed to "disappear" after that year. She had bleach-blonde hair and a bun at the back. Can anyone remember what happened to her?
Bob Taylor
(March 2002)
I've just been browsing through the HGS web-site for the last few hours, Dave, and I can't believe what's happened to it --- it was such a 'little acorn' about 6 months ago! I hope you realise that you're responsible for turning the spouses of old Hilmians into Computer Widows/Widowers! Don't bother responding to this message because you must be far too busy. I just thought I'd let you know that you've done a very good job. Where's it all going to end?
Bob
(September 2002)
I know who Fred Bloggins is, Sheila, because I sat next to him in 3A, and I watched as he signed the card! It's not his real name, you know --- it's just an alias, and I must admit that I was disappointed in him at the time. You were, after all, simply trying to preserve our names for posterity --- and he just could not resist spoiling it for you. I hope the culprit, [I am reluctant to give his real name because he now holds a responsible position on this web-site and I do not wish to undermine his authority], feels sufficient remorse as to compel him to beg your forgiveness of his own volition, now that he knows that there was a witness to his serious misdemeanour. I sincerely hope that he appreciates the fact that I have preserved his anonymity, on this occasion, and that he shows his appreciation by installing this note, unedited, on his web-site.
Bob Taylor
(March 2002)
I can remember Miss/Mrs Smith in the 1st Form (1955/56). She taught maths, but she seemed to "disappear" after that year. She had bleach-blonde hair and a bun at the back. Can anyone remember what happened to her?
Bob Taylor
(March 2002)
I've just been browsing through the HGS web-site for the last few hours, Dave, and I can't believe what's happened to it --- it was such a 'little acorn' about 6 months ago! I hope you realise that you're responsible for turning the spouses of old Hilmians into Computer Widows/Widowers! Don't bother responding to this message because you must be far too busy. I just thought I'd let you know that you've done a very good job. Where's it all going to end?
Bob
(September 2002)
6. Susan Marsh 1955-62
Dear Dave,
John Bulley, history teacher, wrote a history of Hemsworth. Perhaps someone has a copy. There will be something about the house in that. I came across Mr Hodson when my girls went to ballet in Pontefract. He had a daughter the same age. I've seen him around Pontefract at odd times. Remember Jock Kennedy? I met him when doing O.U. He was director of the summer school. For several years I worked alongside Eileen Tate in a special school in Pontefract. She is a mine of information on the school, staff and pupils. I will make an effort to collect the photos and information that I have and get it all to you.
Susan
(March 2002)
Dear Susan,
Thank you very much for the contact. It's only 40 years! Flown by. It does not seem more than 2 minutes that we were in Rimini (1960). Please feel free to send in any material that you have. I'm sure that you will crack the scanner technicalities. It will be good to gather our material together.
Dave
Dear Dave,
John Bulley, history teacher, wrote a history of Hemsworth. Perhaps someone has a copy. There will be something about the house in that. I came across Mr Hodson when my girls went to ballet in Pontefract. He had a daughter the same age. I've seen him around Pontefract at odd times. Remember Jock Kennedy? I met him when doing O.U. He was director of the summer school. For several years I worked alongside Eileen Tate in a special school in Pontefract. She is a mine of information on the school, staff and pupils. I will make an effort to collect the photos and information that I have and get it all to you.
Susan
(March 2002)
Dear Susan,
Thank you very much for the contact. It's only 40 years! Flown by. It does not seem more than 2 minutes that we were in Rimini (1960). Please feel free to send in any material that you have. I'm sure that you will crack the scanner technicalities. It will be good to gather our material together.
Dave
7. Wray Vamplew 1955-62
Hi Mac,
Once I get my book out of the way at the end of this month I'll be contributing to the site.
Cheers,
Wray
(April 2002)
Dear Wray,
Thanks for getting in touch. You must be very busy right now. When you have the time, please dig out whatever you have and send it in. Time travel via cyber space!
Mac
8. Jean Tallett 1956-60
Dear David,
I have been in touch with Sheila Baker and Daphne Slater. Daphne has informed me of "Friends Re-United" and has suggested that I E-Mail you for information and the address of the Grammar School site. I was actually in form 3A with you. Jean Hardcastle, Audrey Lynch and myself were the only girls in form 4S. You may be interested to know I have photographs of forms 1D and 2C as well as 3A. Daphne is coming to show me how to put these photographs on the computer. As I have only been on the Internet for a week, I don't really know what to do.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Kindest Regards,
Jean Tallett
(April 2002)
Dear Jean,
Thank you for the email. Please feel free to contribute to the site as you wish. Photographs and text are always welcome. The more people contribute, the more developed and cohesive the site will become. Our patchwork of school memories will become more complete. If Daphne can show you how to scan at a higher resolution, I can prepare better pictures of you and our classmates from your photos. Please type your thoughts about HGS and let me have them.
Dave
Hello David,
You asked about my thoughts of Hemsworth Grammar School. My most vivid memory is actually my very first day. I won a transfer scholarship from Kinsley Secondary School and commenced my years at Hemsworth Grammar School in January 1956. I walked through the enormous green gates into massive grounds that seemed to go on forever. As I walked tentatively up the drive towards the huge School Building, my feelings were a mixture of pride and absolute panic. I felt so alone, and very conspicuous in my brand new school uniform. Nearing the top of the drive, I saw a young girl who looked as anxious as I was, dressed immaculately, also in a new school uniform. I can't remember now who was the first to speak, but we soon struck up a conversation and walked into school," two new girls" together. That young girl was Ruth Ashley from Upton. Does anyone know where she is now? Can anyone remember Valerie Warwick? Does anyone know were she is now? I see Janet Marston quite regularly. We have been friends since our "Infant Days" and we still keep in touch. I have informed her of the excellent web site and she will be E-mailing you shortly, David. I used to see Marlene Hollingsworth quite regularly until I took early retirement from WMDC, were I was a Senior Housing Officer. Soon after my retirement I enrolled on an Art course at Minsthorpe College. On entering the classroom I immediately recognised Linda Taylor. After forty years we were classmates again. It's amazing where you meet up with former Pupils. I met Sandra Strutt coming out of Hemsworth Cemetery. At that particular time she was living in the Bradford area. Other pupils that I've come across quite unexpectedly are Pat Snow, Doris Sykes and Jean Hardcastle. Yes I do remember buying ice lollies from the New Block Tuck Shop!
Jean
Dear Jean,
Thank you for your informative email. You have mentioned some very familiar names which I and many of our audience will remember. Ruth Ashley is on the Friends Reunited site for 1959. Perhaps you know Kevin Dodd. He is an ex-pupil of mine at Willowgarth High School. I think he was involved in Housing locally. It would be great if all the girls you have mentioned could get in touch with the site and contribute their particular memories and possibly photos. I am sure that we all have a story or two to tell.
Dave
Hi David,
Thanks for telling me were to find Ruth Ashley. I was so pleased to hear from her. We have been in touch after all these years. Thanks to you and the Internet, e-mails have been flying back and forth. Ruth sends her thanks too.
Jean
Dear David,
Thanks for your e-mail. I am so glad that Ruth has been in touch with you. It was lovely to see her name and photograph on the growing former pupils' list. Your website is brilliant David. Each time I visit HGS there is something new for me to see and read. It's fascinating. I have a bit of information for you .... Sheila Baker was in Price House. I am in no hurry for my magazines and photographs. Take as long as you need to read and scan any relevant material. Have a well-earned Break.
Kindest Regards,
Jean (Tallett)
(June 2002)
9. David Haigh 1955-61
Dave,
Re: 1C photo. I think the good looking guy between Eddie Pickles and Keith Twigg is me!
Regards,
David Haigh
(May 2002)
Dear David,
Thanks for the contact and the correction. I do hope you enjoy our new site. It is now in its second month. My memories of HGS are very fragmented. Together we can create a clearer picture of those far off days.
Dave McKenzie (1C but I'm not on the photo!)
10. Janet Marston 1955-60
Dear David
I was told about your website by Jean Tallett who gave me your e-mail address. I don't know if you will remember me but my name was Janet Marston. I left school in 1960 after taking 'O' levels and I now live and work in Shropshire. I would very much like to hear more about your website and look forward to hearing from you.
Jan Taberner
(May 2002)
Dear Janet,
Thank you very much for your email. I certainly do remember you and would value any contribution you could make to the site. Memories and/or photos would be of great interest to our audience. Initially the audience is our year, but eventually this may become wider. This is the second month of the site's existence. I hope as many Hilmians as possible will contribute to piecing together those far off days so that we may develop a clearer picture of our experiences. If you know of any other pupils from HGS, please tell them of the site and encourage contributions.
Dave McKenzie
Dear David,
Jean has told me how much she enjoyed your meeting talking about the good old days. I have managed to dig out the following photographs which brought back some fond memories of my time at HGS: Form 2A with Mr Wall; Price House Athletics Team 1956 with Mr Manning; and HGS 2nd Hockey Team 1958 with Miss Walker. The final one is Price House Dramatics 1959, but I can't remember the name of the play. I think it was about Helen of Troy. Does anyone know? (1959 "The Wooden Horse" Results in % P77, H67, G64, T50. Price won! Dave)
Regards,
Janet
(May 2002)
Dear Janet,
Thank you for the photographs. They are now on the site.
Dave
11. Christine Slater 1964-71
My sister Daphne put me on to this - what a great idea! How lovely to talk about old times and see a few old faces! I do think it is a shame though that the High School's website didn't have room for the old Hilmians to join in. I left HGS in 1971, and have a lot of happy memories of my time there. It gave me a very good education, far more extensive than seems to be available now in the state system. Thanks for the opportunity to join you all.
Christine
(May 2002)
Dear Christine,
Thank you for your email and Welcome! The site is for us - Hilmians. Please feel free to express any views about the school as you knew it. Text created by the pupils who experienced the school first hand is a valuable commodity. So too are photos. If you do have any, please consider if they would be of interest to our audience. The web site is only in its second month, so we have a long way to go in terms of developing a structure to the site. At the moment it is more anecdotal from personal memories. You must have been at HGS under Mr. Hamilton and then HHS under Mr. Ablett. Your thoughts on the change over would be interesting to many.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
I was told that the insignia on the school shield were: Cross Keys of the County, Yorkshire Rose and the Bull's heads were from the coat of arms of the Holgate Family who had owned the land on which the Hall was built. The Yew tree is still in Hemsworth Church yard. It was traditional to plant one in the churchyard to keep away witches, and in the Middle Ages it was the law that men had to practice their archery, and they would make bows from the yew tree in the churchyard after attending services on a Sunday. This is what made the English Archers so good at the Battle of Agincourt!
Christine
12. Geoff Graham 1949-55
Dear Dave,
I have been given the url of your site by Sheila Kelsall who contacted me after seeing my contribution to F. Utd. I have just had a quick look at your HGS site and I am delighted to have found it. Someone asked about the Cross Keys on the HGS crest. They are I believe, part of the heraldic emblems of the Holgate (York) name. Born in Grimethorpe I attended HGS 1949/55 being taught by Miss Kathleen Ward. I made a Spitfire model for her which she told me she still had when I looked her up in the early 80's whilst visiting my parents in Grimethorpe.
Geoff Graham
(May 2002)
Dear Geoff,
Thank you for your email. The HGS site is very new (20/03/02) and we obviously have a long way to go in terms of its development. Any contributions would be very welcome. I have enjoyed reading your Friends Reunited entries. There is very little on the Internet about our old school. I would love to collate information about HGS and see what patterns develop. The fragmented nature of our individual recollections and memorabilia is the problem. By combining these centrally, we can develop a clearer picture of the school which we attended for up to 7 or 8 years. A site structure will gradually evolve. Kath Ward also taught me Geography and History at Hemsworth.
Dave McKenzie
I, like so many retired folk, have been extraordinarily busy for months and consequently had not visited your site. How nice to see it developing so well. Did I send you an image of a lino-cut print done I believe by Mr Combes for a school play programme? If I did not then let me know and I will send it. B&W of course but it is nice to have something done by that lovely man whose death was such a tragedy. It says something about the charisma of Messrs. Collette and Combes that they feature so profoundly in your pages. I have a couple of amusing and revealing anecdotes which show the endearing, less formal aspect of Mr Collete's nature. I'll try to pen them for your site.
Best wishes
Geoff Graham
(September 2002)
Hi Dave,
The attached file carries some very rosy memories. When I write about HGS, I just cannot remain objective. 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. The awful thing is that by the time I became an adult and had my own children, I had a deep rooted conviction that the avante garde educationalists were wrecking a precious system. Nothing has changed that view and I still recall the pain I felt as my kids had to attend a Comprehensive of 1200/1300 pupils in the early 1970's. You see, I know what a desert their years there would be whilst my own secondary education had been spent in a glorious garden. How sad that forty years went by before Governments seem to be trying to resurrect something that sounds like the same kind of system though under a different, less socially provocative set of titles. Anyway, I hope you like my notes and that they provoke others to dig out their own fond memories of the remarkable people who taught us.
Geoff Graham
(November 2002)
Dear Dave,
I revisit the HGS website every few months and I really must congratulate you Dave and every other correspondent. Browsing the site one learns what "bitter-sweet" really means. Aged 65 now, HGS was truly the event of greatest significance in my whole life. I remember it with such great affection.
Geoff
13. Elizabeth Stevens 1957-61
Hello Dave,
We have just been on the site and we enjoyed it very much. I remember Mid-Summer Nights Dream in 1958 - I played the part of Cobweb. I also remember Mr Swinbank. Any one else remember the same? Also Miss Hitchcock who taught Science and got married to another teacher while we were there. What was her married name? Any one remember? Can anyone let me know if Helena Gascoigne has an email address so that we can get in touch. Her sister was a very big friend of mine back in the sixties.
Thanks
Elizabeth Turner (Stevens)
(May 2002)
Dear Elizabeth,
Thanks for you very much for your emails. I'm glad that you found the site. I have a memory that Miss Hitchcock married Mr. B. Williams (Chemistry).
Mac
14. Avril Picken 1948-54
Dear Dave,
I have just located your web page through Brierley Village. I lived there from 1941 to 1966. I attended HGS from 1948 until 1954. My maiden name was Picken. I used to play the violin, play hockey and rounders for the school teams. I was also in the school orchestra. I would be interested in talking to Dorothy Jackson and Jean Edgeley. Any idea what happened to Gordon Burnett who was a teacher when I was there?
Avril
(May 2002)
Dear Avril,
Thank you for contacting the site. You left the school one year before I went there, so we will have similar memories. You were a busy person at school. If you have any photos or memories you would like to share with the site's audience, please send them to me. Remember that the site is for Hilmians, so please personalise it if you wish.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
It's good to read about people at school but most of them on the site are not from my time at school 1948 - 1954. I would be very interested in anyone who started in form 1D in 1948 ie. Hazel Hall, Renee Beckett, Margaret Roberts, Jean Edgeley, Colin Megson, Bill Greasley and Chris Gascoigne who was in a different class but we played the violin together in the school orchestra.
Avril
Dear Dave,
I have just been looking at the website and came across a picture of the Esperanto Club. I was in form 1d when Esperanto was taught (1948/49). The idea of the language was that it would be a universal language but they had not reckoned on the English Language being all powerful. I think the subject was dropped after that year.
Avril
(October 2002)
15. Ruth Ashley 1955-59
Hi Mac,
It's good to be back in touch after all these years, and congratulations on your HGS web site! Being able to access all my old school friends, teachers, and 'photo's is fascinating! Thanks for putting Jean Tallet back in touch. It was a lovely surprise to hear from her, and to read her memories of our first day at HGS on the web site. The unknown male teachers on the 1957 photo are; 3. Mr G.S. Willey 4. Mr C.H. Losasso and 5. Mr B. McWilliam. They all taught me sometime at HGS. Mr. McWilliam had a look of Tommy Steele who was very popular at that time, so all the girls [including me], had a crush on him! The 1957 female teacher could be Mrs M. Lumb, but I'm not sure. It doesn't seem that long since you were getting off the school bus at Upton with your school cap on one side, perched on all that lovely curly hair. [You were very quiet in those days!]
Thanks again for giving us back happy memories of HGS.
Best Wishes,
Ruth Scholey [Ashley]
(May 2002)
Dear Ruth,
Thank you very much for the cheerful, informative email. The years do seem to have flown as we look back. I hope we can keep in touch. Jean and I had two hours of non-stop talking when she came to my school recently - as did Sheila Kelsall and Helen Slater. Thanks for your compliments on the new site which was started 20/03/02. We obviously have a long way to go in terms of photos and other content but we have made a start. Please treat the site as your own.
Dave
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your reply, and for putting my E-Mail on the HGS website. I would love to keep in touch, for it will be interesting to see how the website develops, and how many more old friends reappear. I'll see if I can find anything useful that might be of help. It will mean going up in the attic and searching in an old suitcase!
With Best Wishes,
Ruth.
16. Neil Bowmer 1962-69
Dear Dave,
What a great web site!! I attended HGS from 1962 to 1969 and played for Hilmians Rugby from 1967 to 1973. I have inherited (from my late Mum) lots of school memorabilia - Speech Day programmes, press cuttings, Hilmians photos etc. You are certainly welcome to have them at any time. Hope to hear from others soon.
Keep up the excellent initiative.
Neil Bowmer
(May 2002)
Dear Neil,
Thank you very much for your positive email. Great to hear from you again. Glad you think the idea of the site is a good one. I suppose HGS has moved into history as a school. I would suspect the majority of us have good memories of HGS. It offered so much. Please send in any scanned images or text memories. If you would like the site's postal address instead, just let me know. As a Sixth Former, you must have experienced the change over from grammar school to comprehensive. Your views would be interesting to many I am sure.
Best wishes,
Dave
17. Gail Picken 1955-60
Dear Dave,
I attended HGS from 1955-1960. I was in the Hockey and Rounders teams, Orchestra and school and Madrigal choirs. I was in the rounders with Sheila Kelsall and Hockey with Ellen Toulson and would love to hear from either of these.
Gail
(May 2002)
Dear Gail,
Thank you for getting in contact with this new site. We started out Grammar School life in the same class - 1C (Miss Collins/Mrs. Podmore). A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then!! I spent some time in Ontario in the early 1970s. I worked at North Park Collegiate and Vocational School in Brantford teaching Geography and Geology. We definitely experienced the climatic extremes of your part of the world. I remember ice-fishing on Lake Simcoe. The sun was shining but the temperature was well into minus figures. I think it was too cold for the fish as well - but the Molsons and Labatts went down well.
Best wishes,
Dave
Hello Dave,
I do remember your name and I do recognize some faces to names on the photos of the first forms. It's a great web site and I usually go brouse on it almost every day to see if there's something new. I don't have any photos or contacts that I can find. I lost contact with everybody once I left school and went into nursing. I see Sheila Kelsall's involved too. I sent an e-mail to Brian May yesterday. I will keep in touch as I like to hear what is going on. It's great to go back in time! Do you ever get contact from any of the teachers? Carry on the good work.
Gail Picken
(May 2002)
Dear Gail,
Now that the site is underway and a few former pupils have found it, I hope it will continue to develop and remind us of our secondary school days. I have had little or no contact with our teachers. I spoke at length to Kath Ward last week on the phone and she will be contributing to the site presently. Kath is as busy as ever. It is through Kath that I became involved in Geography and eventually came across to Brantford. I took to your Canadian way of life like a duck to water. More of that later. If you can remember things from school, please make a note of them and email them to me at the site.
Lovely to hear from you again,
Dave
18. Geoff Govier 1950-52
Dave,
A newspaper dated 26th. June 1920 tells us that the West Riding County Council's Education Committee have 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 is the former residence of Samuel E. Leatham and it is estimated that a further £7,000 would be spent in adapting the Hall.
Nice site, keep it going.
Geoff Govier
(June 2002)
Dear Geoff,
Thanks for getting in touch and for the information. I went to HGS only three years after you left. I assume we will have had the same teachers for some subjects. It is very early days for the site, but I really would like to keep it going. As the years pass, it would be a great shame if the grammar school were to disappear without trace - all memories and memorabilia gone. Miss Ward, the geography and history teacher for 20 years at HGS (1948-68) will hopefully be sending some things through for publication e.g. staff photos. This could well include your time at the school. If you can add personal observations to the site, please do.
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
When you read the school magazines it makes you realise just how diverse the extracurricular activites were at HGS. This, of course, on top of all the sport played in school, for the school and house matches - Rugby, Hockey, Netball, Tennis, Rounders, Athletics. And what of the teachers, was it really for "nowt a yard?"
Geoff
19. Elaine Picken 1950-58
D ear Dave,
First visit to the site. Sheila Kelsall's enquiry re the two bulls' heads jogged my memory. They are the emblem of Archbishop Holgate of York. One of the School Houses was named after him. I was in Guest House, as were my three cousins, Avril, Meryl and Gail.
Elaine Picken
(June 2002)
Dear Elaine,
Thank you very much for checking out the site and for getting in touch. We were at the school together for three years (1955-1958) and must have some shared experiences and memories as must many other Hilmians. I will publish your information about the two bulls' heads. I do hope you will keep in touch and feel free to contribute your thoughts about HGS. If you do have any photos you would like to make available to our audience, please scan them and send them in - or simply post them. I can give you the postal address of the site. Any materials will be safely returned. Gail and Avril are already in contact with the site. Gail and I started out in 1C together in 1955 - just yesterday!!
Dave
20. Terry McCroakam 1950-57
Hi Dave
What a great web site. I found it through Sheila Kelsall. I can answer some questions. The hole in the wall repair was once the GREEN gate. There is a book about the House. According to Geoff Graham the ISBN number is 0 901 869 139. He mentions it on the memories page Friends Reunited. I met Mr Burnett (living in Leicester) about 8 yrs. ago at Miss Smith's funeral in Bradford. After leaving HGS in 1957 I went back to teach there for 25 yrs. with Kath Ward, Alf Swinbank, Ernie Atack... and many others. If you want an aerial photo of the school as it was in 1950, I can send you one.
Terry McCroakam
(June 2002)
Dear Terry,
Many thanks for contacting the site and being so positive. I hope you will keep in contact and give us the benefit of your knowledge as a pupil, Head Boy and teacher at HGS. The aim of the site is plain to see - a permanent record of a school which offered so much to so many people. My 7 years there were demanding but very satisfying. I received encouragement at every turn to make the most of what I had. Support from all the staff was excellent. Mr. Collette in particular became a rock for me. I worked with Les Tate for two years at Dinnington High School and with Kath Ward at Willowgarth High School for 16 years. Both were impressive in terms of commitment. I spoke to Kath at length on the phone recently and she will be sending material through for publication. As a Hilmian, please consider the site your own.
Dave McKenzie
Hi Dave,
I understand (02/11/02) that the War Memorial Lectern has been taken away and has been refurbished. It is to be used, apparently, in school for the forthcoming Poppy Day Assemblies. I will try to get a photo for the site asap. The article about Mr Crossland: Mr Percy Crossland, as we called him, died I think in 1950 and was succeeded by Les Collette as Senior Master and that is why Mr Collette is sitting next to RWH on the 1952 Panoramic photo. I will, when I get time, try to get a look at the local papers of the year, in Wakefield library.
Regards,
Terry.
(November 2002)
21. Phil Wilkinson 1963-69
My first look at the site brought all the old memories flooding back to me - some good, some bad, but all of them precious to someone whose memory is beginning to fail him! Thanks so much Dave for putting it together. I hope to be able to contribute items - as soon as I can remember where they are! I too was at the school when it turned Comprehensive . . what a disaster.
Phil
(June 2002)
Dear Phil.,
Welcome to the HGS web site. Thank you very much for your very positive comments and also for your contribution. Your suggested correction to the title of the site has also been attended to. Well spotted! I do hope you will continue to keep in touch. You went to the school one year after I left the Upper Sixth Form. The change from HGS to HHS is of particular interest to some of the site's contributors. Obviously the HGS site is still very new and we have a long way to go before it is in any way complete. A start has been made and it will be interesting to see how it develops. Pupil contributions and school publications will largely determine this.
Best Wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
Just a very quick email to "touch base" with you. Sheila Kelsall emailed me and pointed me in the direction of your HGS website and also sought permission to use the Romans '63 photo which I put on the Friends Reunited website. I have no problems at all with you using it. I have a list of the pupils shown on it somewhere and I will forward it to you. I have other stuff which may be of use to you and again I will forward it on to you as and when I can locate it! I am very impressed with its quality and content of the site and can only believe that it will go from strength to strength as news of its existence spreads. You've done a great job!
Phil Wilkinson (1963-69)
Dear Dave,
A few more photos for the site. These are from the school musical production of Toad of Toad Hall in December of 1965. Cast members included Toad - Dennis Jordan, Badger - John Covell, Ratty - Me. Sorry I can't remember the identity of Mole! Tony Horsfall was the front end of the horse (promoted from the rear end at the last moment I believe). The producer was Mr Walsh who did a fantastic job of making boys wear tights! The production wasn't without incident. On one evening the horses head fell off. On another the second half of the production was played with the house light up. (Very frightening and off putting for the cast!) The stage lights had fused and nobody could get them working again. Bring back any memories?
Phil (Ratty) Wilkinson
22. Tony Senior 1958-66
Dear Dave
Terry Mac kept telling me about this wonderful web site I should go and have a look at - why did I leave it so long? I have many memories and memorabilia that I could contribute to the site - I just hope I can still find them. It is a wonderful evocation of those days of my youth (where did it go?) done with just the right mix of sentiment and history. Well done Dave!
Tony Senior (1958-66)
(June 2002)
Dear Tony,
Thank you very much for getting in touch. Thank you also for your very positive comments about our HGS site. I think you were in the Fourth Form when I was in the Upper Sixth - it seems like yesterday. The site is becoming stronger as ex HGS pupils gradually find it. The potential for contributions is obviously enormous as we all have our particular memories which collectively can become an effective statement about a school which we hold dear. Please feel free to interact with the site as you wish. Published memories will give the site that touch of originality which I and many others find so interesting. Some of the many questions we all have tucked away can be answered.
Dave
23. Alan Ardron 1950-58
Hi Dave,
I have just discovered this fabulous site and I am anxious to contribute. Meanwhile: I was at HGS from 1950-1958 and was a member of that amazing 1st XV rugby team. My house was Talbot and my forms were: 1b; 2b; 3s (Miss Saville later Mrs Young); 4s; 5s; L6s; U6s. I have passed details of the site to my brothers Brian (who still lives in Hemsworth) and Keith who lives in Canada; both of whom attended HGS before me. More later. Keep up the excellent work.
Regards
Alan
(June 2002)
Hi Mac,
Once I get my book out of the way at the end of this month I'll be contributing to the site.
Cheers,
Wray
(April 2002)
Dear Wray,
Thanks for getting in touch. You must be very busy right now. When you have the time, please dig out whatever you have and send it in. Time travel via cyber space!
Mac
8. Jean Tallett 1956-60
Dear David,
I have been in touch with Sheila Baker and Daphne Slater. Daphne has informed me of "Friends Re-United" and has suggested that I E-Mail you for information and the address of the Grammar School site. I was actually in form 3A with you. Jean Hardcastle, Audrey Lynch and myself were the only girls in form 4S. You may be interested to know I have photographs of forms 1D and 2C as well as 3A. Daphne is coming to show me how to put these photographs on the computer. As I have only been on the Internet for a week, I don't really know what to do.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Kindest Regards,
Jean Tallett
(April 2002)
Dear Jean,
Thank you for the email. Please feel free to contribute to the site as you wish. Photographs and text are always welcome. The more people contribute, the more developed and cohesive the site will become. Our patchwork of school memories will become more complete. If Daphne can show you how to scan at a higher resolution, I can prepare better pictures of you and our classmates from your photos. Please type your thoughts about HGS and let me have them.
Dave
Hello David,
You asked about my thoughts of Hemsworth Grammar School. My most vivid memory is actually my very first day. I won a transfer scholarship from Kinsley Secondary School and commenced my years at Hemsworth Grammar School in January 1956. I walked through the enormous green gates into massive grounds that seemed to go on forever. As I walked tentatively up the drive towards the huge School Building, my feelings were a mixture of pride and absolute panic. I felt so alone, and very conspicuous in my brand new school uniform. Nearing the top of the drive, I saw a young girl who looked as anxious as I was, dressed immaculately, also in a new school uniform. I can't remember now who was the first to speak, but we soon struck up a conversation and walked into school," two new girls" together. That young girl was Ruth Ashley from Upton. Does anyone know where she is now? Can anyone remember Valerie Warwick? Does anyone know were she is now? I see Janet Marston quite regularly. We have been friends since our "Infant Days" and we still keep in touch. I have informed her of the excellent web site and she will be E-mailing you shortly, David. I used to see Marlene Hollingsworth quite regularly until I took early retirement from WMDC, were I was a Senior Housing Officer. Soon after my retirement I enrolled on an Art course at Minsthorpe College. On entering the classroom I immediately recognised Linda Taylor. After forty years we were classmates again. It's amazing where you meet up with former Pupils. I met Sandra Strutt coming out of Hemsworth Cemetery. At that particular time she was living in the Bradford area. Other pupils that I've come across quite unexpectedly are Pat Snow, Doris Sykes and Jean Hardcastle. Yes I do remember buying ice lollies from the New Block Tuck Shop!
Jean
Dear Jean,
Thank you for your informative email. You have mentioned some very familiar names which I and many of our audience will remember. Ruth Ashley is on the Friends Reunited site for 1959. Perhaps you know Kevin Dodd. He is an ex-pupil of mine at Willowgarth High School. I think he was involved in Housing locally. It would be great if all the girls you have mentioned could get in touch with the site and contribute their particular memories and possibly photos. I am sure that we all have a story or two to tell.
Dave
Hi David,
Thanks for telling me were to find Ruth Ashley. I was so pleased to hear from her. We have been in touch after all these years. Thanks to you and the Internet, e-mails have been flying back and forth. Ruth sends her thanks too.
Jean
Dear David,
Thanks for your e-mail. I am so glad that Ruth has been in touch with you. It was lovely to see her name and photograph on the growing former pupils' list. Your website is brilliant David. Each time I visit HGS there is something new for me to see and read. It's fascinating. I have a bit of information for you .... Sheila Baker was in Price House. I am in no hurry for my magazines and photographs. Take as long as you need to read and scan any relevant material. Have a well-earned Break.
Kindest Regards,
Jean (Tallett)
(June 2002)
9. David Haigh 1955-61
Dave,
Re: 1C photo. I think the good looking guy between Eddie Pickles and Keith Twigg is me!
Regards,
David Haigh
(May 2002)
Dear David,
Thanks for the contact and the correction. I do hope you enjoy our new site. It is now in its second month. My memories of HGS are very fragmented. Together we can create a clearer picture of those far off days.
Dave McKenzie (1C but I'm not on the photo!)
10. Janet Marston 1955-60
Dear David
I was told about your website by Jean Tallett who gave me your e-mail address. I don't know if you will remember me but my name was Janet Marston. I left school in 1960 after taking 'O' levels and I now live and work in Shropshire. I would very much like to hear more about your website and look forward to hearing from you.
Jan Taberner
(May 2002)
Dear Janet,
Thank you very much for your email. I certainly do remember you and would value any contribution you could make to the site. Memories and/or photos would be of great interest to our audience. Initially the audience is our year, but eventually this may become wider. This is the second month of the site's existence. I hope as many Hilmians as possible will contribute to piecing together those far off days so that we may develop a clearer picture of our experiences. If you know of any other pupils from HGS, please tell them of the site and encourage contributions.
Dave McKenzie
Dear David,
Jean has told me how much she enjoyed your meeting talking about the good old days. I have managed to dig out the following photographs which brought back some fond memories of my time at HGS: Form 2A with Mr Wall; Price House Athletics Team 1956 with Mr Manning; and HGS 2nd Hockey Team 1958 with Miss Walker. The final one is Price House Dramatics 1959, but I can't remember the name of the play. I think it was about Helen of Troy. Does anyone know? (1959 "The Wooden Horse" Results in % P77, H67, G64, T50. Price won! Dave)
Regards,
Janet
(May 2002)
Dear Janet,
Thank you for the photographs. They are now on the site.
Dave
11. Christine Slater 1964-71
My sister Daphne put me on to this - what a great idea! How lovely to talk about old times and see a few old faces! I do think it is a shame though that the High School's website didn't have room for the old Hilmians to join in. I left HGS in 1971, and have a lot of happy memories of my time there. It gave me a very good education, far more extensive than seems to be available now in the state system. Thanks for the opportunity to join you all.
Christine
(May 2002)
Dear Christine,
Thank you for your email and Welcome! The site is for us - Hilmians. Please feel free to express any views about the school as you knew it. Text created by the pupils who experienced the school first hand is a valuable commodity. So too are photos. If you do have any, please consider if they would be of interest to our audience. The web site is only in its second month, so we have a long way to go in terms of developing a structure to the site. At the moment it is more anecdotal from personal memories. You must have been at HGS under Mr. Hamilton and then HHS under Mr. Ablett. Your thoughts on the change over would be interesting to many.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
I was told that the insignia on the school shield were: Cross Keys of the County, Yorkshire Rose and the Bull's heads were from the coat of arms of the Holgate Family who had owned the land on which the Hall was built. The Yew tree is still in Hemsworth Church yard. It was traditional to plant one in the churchyard to keep away witches, and in the Middle Ages it was the law that men had to practice their archery, and they would make bows from the yew tree in the churchyard after attending services on a Sunday. This is what made the English Archers so good at the Battle of Agincourt!
Christine
12. Geoff Graham 1949-55
Dear Dave,
I have been given the url of your site by Sheila Kelsall who contacted me after seeing my contribution to F. Utd. I have just had a quick look at your HGS site and I am delighted to have found it. Someone asked about the Cross Keys on the HGS crest. They are I believe, part of the heraldic emblems of the Holgate (York) name. Born in Grimethorpe I attended HGS 1949/55 being taught by Miss Kathleen Ward. I made a Spitfire model for her which she told me she still had when I looked her up in the early 80's whilst visiting my parents in Grimethorpe.
Geoff Graham
(May 2002)
Dear Geoff,
Thank you for your email. The HGS site is very new (20/03/02) and we obviously have a long way to go in terms of its development. Any contributions would be very welcome. I have enjoyed reading your Friends Reunited entries. There is very little on the Internet about our old school. I would love to collate information about HGS and see what patterns develop. The fragmented nature of our individual recollections and memorabilia is the problem. By combining these centrally, we can develop a clearer picture of the school which we attended for up to 7 or 8 years. A site structure will gradually evolve. Kath Ward also taught me Geography and History at Hemsworth.
Dave McKenzie
I, like so many retired folk, have been extraordinarily busy for months and consequently had not visited your site. How nice to see it developing so well. Did I send you an image of a lino-cut print done I believe by Mr Combes for a school play programme? If I did not then let me know and I will send it. B&W of course but it is nice to have something done by that lovely man whose death was such a tragedy. It says something about the charisma of Messrs. Collette and Combes that they feature so profoundly in your pages. I have a couple of amusing and revealing anecdotes which show the endearing, less formal aspect of Mr Collete's nature. I'll try to pen them for your site.
Best wishes
Geoff Graham
(September 2002)
Hi Dave,
The attached file carries some very rosy memories. When I write about HGS, I just cannot remain objective. 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. The awful thing is that by the time I became an adult and had my own children, I had a deep rooted conviction that the avante garde educationalists were wrecking a precious system. Nothing has changed that view and I still recall the pain I felt as my kids had to attend a Comprehensive of 1200/1300 pupils in the early 1970's. You see, I know what a desert their years there would be whilst my own secondary education had been spent in a glorious garden. How sad that forty years went by before Governments seem to be trying to resurrect something that sounds like the same kind of system though under a different, less socially provocative set of titles. Anyway, I hope you like my notes and that they provoke others to dig out their own fond memories of the remarkable people who taught us.
Geoff Graham
(November 2002)
Dear Dave,
I revisit the HGS website every few months and I really must congratulate you Dave and every other correspondent. Browsing the site one learns what "bitter-sweet" really means. Aged 65 now, HGS was truly the event of greatest significance in my whole life. I remember it with such great affection.
Geoff
13. Elizabeth Stevens 1957-61
Hello Dave,
We have just been on the site and we enjoyed it very much. I remember Mid-Summer Nights Dream in 1958 - I played the part of Cobweb. I also remember Mr Swinbank. Any one else remember the same? Also Miss Hitchcock who taught Science and got married to another teacher while we were there. What was her married name? Any one remember? Can anyone let me know if Helena Gascoigne has an email address so that we can get in touch. Her sister was a very big friend of mine back in the sixties.
Thanks
Elizabeth Turner (Stevens)
(May 2002)
Dear Elizabeth,
Thanks for you very much for your emails. I'm glad that you found the site. I have a memory that Miss Hitchcock married Mr. B. Williams (Chemistry).
Mac
14. Avril Picken 1948-54
Dear Dave,
I have just located your web page through Brierley Village. I lived there from 1941 to 1966. I attended HGS from 1948 until 1954. My maiden name was Picken. I used to play the violin, play hockey and rounders for the school teams. I was also in the school orchestra. I would be interested in talking to Dorothy Jackson and Jean Edgeley. Any idea what happened to Gordon Burnett who was a teacher when I was there?
Avril
(May 2002)
Dear Avril,
Thank you for contacting the site. You left the school one year before I went there, so we will have similar memories. You were a busy person at school. If you have any photos or memories you would like to share with the site's audience, please send them to me. Remember that the site is for Hilmians, so please personalise it if you wish.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
It's good to read about people at school but most of them on the site are not from my time at school 1948 - 1954. I would be very interested in anyone who started in form 1D in 1948 ie. Hazel Hall, Renee Beckett, Margaret Roberts, Jean Edgeley, Colin Megson, Bill Greasley and Chris Gascoigne who was in a different class but we played the violin together in the school orchestra.
Avril
Dear Dave,
I have just been looking at the website and came across a picture of the Esperanto Club. I was in form 1d when Esperanto was taught (1948/49). The idea of the language was that it would be a universal language but they had not reckoned on the English Language being all powerful. I think the subject was dropped after that year.
Avril
(October 2002)
15. Ruth Ashley 1955-59
Hi Mac,
It's good to be back in touch after all these years, and congratulations on your HGS web site! Being able to access all my old school friends, teachers, and 'photo's is fascinating! Thanks for putting Jean Tallet back in touch. It was a lovely surprise to hear from her, and to read her memories of our first day at HGS on the web site. The unknown male teachers on the 1957 photo are; 3. Mr G.S. Willey 4. Mr C.H. Losasso and 5. Mr B. McWilliam. They all taught me sometime at HGS. Mr. McWilliam had a look of Tommy Steele who was very popular at that time, so all the girls [including me], had a crush on him! The 1957 female teacher could be Mrs M. Lumb, but I'm not sure. It doesn't seem that long since you were getting off the school bus at Upton with your school cap on one side, perched on all that lovely curly hair. [You were very quiet in those days!]
Thanks again for giving us back happy memories of HGS.
Best Wishes,
Ruth Scholey [Ashley]
(May 2002)
Dear Ruth,
Thank you very much for the cheerful, informative email. The years do seem to have flown as we look back. I hope we can keep in touch. Jean and I had two hours of non-stop talking when she came to my school recently - as did Sheila Kelsall and Helen Slater. Thanks for your compliments on the new site which was started 20/03/02. We obviously have a long way to go in terms of photos and other content but we have made a start. Please treat the site as your own.
Dave
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your reply, and for putting my E-Mail on the HGS website. I would love to keep in touch, for it will be interesting to see how the website develops, and how many more old friends reappear. I'll see if I can find anything useful that might be of help. It will mean going up in the attic and searching in an old suitcase!
With Best Wishes,
Ruth.
16. Neil Bowmer 1962-69
Dear Dave,
What a great web site!! I attended HGS from 1962 to 1969 and played for Hilmians Rugby from 1967 to 1973. I have inherited (from my late Mum) lots of school memorabilia - Speech Day programmes, press cuttings, Hilmians photos etc. You are certainly welcome to have them at any time. Hope to hear from others soon.
Keep up the excellent initiative.
Neil Bowmer
(May 2002)
Dear Neil,
Thank you very much for your positive email. Great to hear from you again. Glad you think the idea of the site is a good one. I suppose HGS has moved into history as a school. I would suspect the majority of us have good memories of HGS. It offered so much. Please send in any scanned images or text memories. If you would like the site's postal address instead, just let me know. As a Sixth Former, you must have experienced the change over from grammar school to comprehensive. Your views would be interesting to many I am sure.
Best wishes,
Dave
17. Gail Picken 1955-60
Dear Dave,
I attended HGS from 1955-1960. I was in the Hockey and Rounders teams, Orchestra and school and Madrigal choirs. I was in the rounders with Sheila Kelsall and Hockey with Ellen Toulson and would love to hear from either of these.
Gail
(May 2002)
Dear Gail,
Thank you for getting in contact with this new site. We started out Grammar School life in the same class - 1C (Miss Collins/Mrs. Podmore). A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then!! I spent some time in Ontario in the early 1970s. I worked at North Park Collegiate and Vocational School in Brantford teaching Geography and Geology. We definitely experienced the climatic extremes of your part of the world. I remember ice-fishing on Lake Simcoe. The sun was shining but the temperature was well into minus figures. I think it was too cold for the fish as well - but the Molsons and Labatts went down well.
Best wishes,
Dave
Hello Dave,
I do remember your name and I do recognize some faces to names on the photos of the first forms. It's a great web site and I usually go brouse on it almost every day to see if there's something new. I don't have any photos or contacts that I can find. I lost contact with everybody once I left school and went into nursing. I see Sheila Kelsall's involved too. I sent an e-mail to Brian May yesterday. I will keep in touch as I like to hear what is going on. It's great to go back in time! Do you ever get contact from any of the teachers? Carry on the good work.
Gail Picken
(May 2002)
Dear Gail,
Now that the site is underway and a few former pupils have found it, I hope it will continue to develop and remind us of our secondary school days. I have had little or no contact with our teachers. I spoke at length to Kath Ward last week on the phone and she will be contributing to the site presently. Kath is as busy as ever. It is through Kath that I became involved in Geography and eventually came across to Brantford. I took to your Canadian way of life like a duck to water. More of that later. If you can remember things from school, please make a note of them and email them to me at the site.
Lovely to hear from you again,
Dave
18. Geoff Govier 1950-52
Dave,
A newspaper dated 26th. June 1920 tells us that the West Riding County Council's Education Committee have 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 is the former residence of Samuel E. Leatham and it is estimated that a further £7,000 would be spent in adapting the Hall.
Nice site, keep it going.
Geoff Govier
(June 2002)
Dear Geoff,
Thanks for getting in touch and for the information. I went to HGS only three years after you left. I assume we will have had the same teachers for some subjects. It is very early days for the site, but I really would like to keep it going. As the years pass, it would be a great shame if the grammar school were to disappear without trace - all memories and memorabilia gone. Miss Ward, the geography and history teacher for 20 years at HGS (1948-68) will hopefully be sending some things through for publication e.g. staff photos. This could well include your time at the school. If you can add personal observations to the site, please do.
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
When you read the school magazines it makes you realise just how diverse the extracurricular activites were at HGS. This, of course, on top of all the sport played in school, for the school and house matches - Rugby, Hockey, Netball, Tennis, Rounders, Athletics. And what of the teachers, was it really for "nowt a yard?"
Geoff
19. Elaine Picken 1950-58
D ear Dave,
First visit to the site. Sheila Kelsall's enquiry re the two bulls' heads jogged my memory. They are the emblem of Archbishop Holgate of York. One of the School Houses was named after him. I was in Guest House, as were my three cousins, Avril, Meryl and Gail.
Elaine Picken
(June 2002)
Dear Elaine,
Thank you very much for checking out the site and for getting in touch. We were at the school together for three years (1955-1958) and must have some shared experiences and memories as must many other Hilmians. I will publish your information about the two bulls' heads. I do hope you will keep in touch and feel free to contribute your thoughts about HGS. If you do have any photos you would like to make available to our audience, please scan them and send them in - or simply post them. I can give you the postal address of the site. Any materials will be safely returned. Gail and Avril are already in contact with the site. Gail and I started out in 1C together in 1955 - just yesterday!!
Dave
20. Terry McCroakam 1950-57
Hi Dave
What a great web site. I found it through Sheila Kelsall. I can answer some questions. The hole in the wall repair was once the GREEN gate. There is a book about the House. According to Geoff Graham the ISBN number is 0 901 869 139. He mentions it on the memories page Friends Reunited. I met Mr Burnett (living in Leicester) about 8 yrs. ago at Miss Smith's funeral in Bradford. After leaving HGS in 1957 I went back to teach there for 25 yrs. with Kath Ward, Alf Swinbank, Ernie Atack... and many others. If you want an aerial photo of the school as it was in 1950, I can send you one.
Terry McCroakam
(June 2002)
Dear Terry,
Many thanks for contacting the site and being so positive. I hope you will keep in contact and give us the benefit of your knowledge as a pupil, Head Boy and teacher at HGS. The aim of the site is plain to see - a permanent record of a school which offered so much to so many people. My 7 years there were demanding but very satisfying. I received encouragement at every turn to make the most of what I had. Support from all the staff was excellent. Mr. Collette in particular became a rock for me. I worked with Les Tate for two years at Dinnington High School and with Kath Ward at Willowgarth High School for 16 years. Both were impressive in terms of commitment. I spoke to Kath at length on the phone recently and she will be sending material through for publication. As a Hilmian, please consider the site your own.
Dave McKenzie
Hi Dave,
I understand (02/11/02) that the War Memorial Lectern has been taken away and has been refurbished. It is to be used, apparently, in school for the forthcoming Poppy Day Assemblies. I will try to get a photo for the site asap. The article about Mr Crossland: Mr Percy Crossland, as we called him, died I think in 1950 and was succeeded by Les Collette as Senior Master and that is why Mr Collette is sitting next to RWH on the 1952 Panoramic photo. I will, when I get time, try to get a look at the local papers of the year, in Wakefield library.
Regards,
Terry.
(November 2002)
21. Phil Wilkinson 1963-69
My first look at the site brought all the old memories flooding back to me - some good, some bad, but all of them precious to someone whose memory is beginning to fail him! Thanks so much Dave for putting it together. I hope to be able to contribute items - as soon as I can remember where they are! I too was at the school when it turned Comprehensive . . what a disaster.
Phil
(June 2002)
Dear Phil.,
Welcome to the HGS web site. Thank you very much for your very positive comments and also for your contribution. Your suggested correction to the title of the site has also been attended to. Well spotted! I do hope you will continue to keep in touch. You went to the school one year after I left the Upper Sixth Form. The change from HGS to HHS is of particular interest to some of the site's contributors. Obviously the HGS site is still very new and we have a long way to go before it is in any way complete. A start has been made and it will be interesting to see how it develops. Pupil contributions and school publications will largely determine this.
Best Wishes,
Dave McKenzie
Dear Dave,
Just a very quick email to "touch base" with you. Sheila Kelsall emailed me and pointed me in the direction of your HGS website and also sought permission to use the Romans '63 photo which I put on the Friends Reunited website. I have no problems at all with you using it. I have a list of the pupils shown on it somewhere and I will forward it to you. I have other stuff which may be of use to you and again I will forward it on to you as and when I can locate it! I am very impressed with its quality and content of the site and can only believe that it will go from strength to strength as news of its existence spreads. You've done a great job!
Phil Wilkinson (1963-69)
Dear Dave,
A few more photos for the site. These are from the school musical production of Toad of Toad Hall in December of 1965. Cast members included Toad - Dennis Jordan, Badger - John Covell, Ratty - Me. Sorry I can't remember the identity of Mole! Tony Horsfall was the front end of the horse (promoted from the rear end at the last moment I believe). The producer was Mr Walsh who did a fantastic job of making boys wear tights! The production wasn't without incident. On one evening the horses head fell off. On another the second half of the production was played with the house light up. (Very frightening and off putting for the cast!) The stage lights had fused and nobody could get them working again. Bring back any memories?
Phil (Ratty) Wilkinson
22. Tony Senior 1958-66
Dear Dave
Terry Mac kept telling me about this wonderful web site I should go and have a look at - why did I leave it so long? I have many memories and memorabilia that I could contribute to the site - I just hope I can still find them. It is a wonderful evocation of those days of my youth (where did it go?) done with just the right mix of sentiment and history. Well done Dave!
Tony Senior (1958-66)
(June 2002)
Dear Tony,
Thank you very much for getting in touch. Thank you also for your very positive comments about our HGS site. I think you were in the Fourth Form when I was in the Upper Sixth - it seems like yesterday. The site is becoming stronger as ex HGS pupils gradually find it. The potential for contributions is obviously enormous as we all have our particular memories which collectively can become an effective statement about a school which we hold dear. Please feel free to interact with the site as you wish. Published memories will give the site that touch of originality which I and many others find so interesting. Some of the many questions we all have tucked away can be answered.
Dave
23. Alan Ardron 1950-58
Hi Dave,
I have just discovered this fabulous site and I am anxious to contribute. Meanwhile: I was at HGS from 1950-1958 and was a member of that amazing 1st XV rugby team. My house was Talbot and my forms were: 1b; 2b; 3s (Miss Saville later Mrs Young); 4s; 5s; L6s; U6s. I have passed details of the site to my brothers Brian (who still lives in Hemsworth) and Keith who lives in Canada; both of whom attended HGS before me. More later. Keep up the excellent work.
Regards
Alan
(June 2002)
