This is at Guildford County School which was my senior school.
The structure of the school was interesting, almost back to the days of Grammar Schools. We had a headmaster, Mr Smith who is on the front row, the 5th teacher in on the left. next to him on his right is his deputy head, who was called Mrs Davies. A fairly fierce lady, who had a heart of gold and taught physics. To the left of the head master was the senior master, called Mr Tanner. His son is also in this photograph. Next to Mrs Davies was another Mr Smith, (no relation to the head). He was the head of the year and taught history. The other teachers there were Mr Oliver who taught music, not to me, he realised it was pointless! A lady whose name I can not remember, she taught French, another lost cause I am afraid and then Miss Francis who taught PE and geography. The teacher on the end was the young Miss Fay, who the boys teased dreadfully.
Mr Tanner taught English Literature with such a passion. His combination of the books with the history of the setting as I was preparing for my O level History was without a doubt a help to my achieving a great understanding of the books and decent grades. He is also responsible for my love of the writings of George Orwell.
This photograph is taken in the main hall and up onto the stage. Each teacher here was a class tutor, apart from the head, deputy and senior masters. Mine was, as we called him Young Mr Smith! We had full assembly in the mornings and special events at the end of term and end of year with commendations. I still have those that I received. We had to wear those apple green shirts and on our last day our friends wrote all over them. I still have mine! There were 120 people in the year group.
Happy Memories!
See if you can spot me.
You are too good, Julie. I can see that you have a life-long passion for history, stories and photo records.
ReplyDeleteMy mom really wanted to complete her family history, perhaps I should make it a goal for me to.
My dad still has all the old school photos in the loft :-)
Thank you Lesley. I have always kept a daily journal, well since I was about 12 and recorded all sorts in there. I was very lucky and grew up visiting elderly relatives - my Grandfather's family mainly and they were always happy to chat about the old days. That branch of the family was in your neck of the woods - Puttenham, Wanborough, Godalming and Guildford, which is my home town.
DeleteLikewise I have always collected.I was about 3 when my Grandfather gave me a 1p stamp in a matchbox, which I still have 40 years later. Now as we are starting to downsize I am rather cursing my collecting nature!
As to researching your ancestry. Oh yes! You will meet lots of like minded people all happy to share knowledge and friendship, especially in the world of Blogging. The West Surrey Family History Society has a regular meeting at Guildford and I really recommend them - been a member since 1986 and has many members who live in the area but perhaps do not have Surrey roots.
Teachers really do affect us in fundamental ways don't they? Though of course they're hardly responsible for those of us (eg you & me) who are not musical, or even not even able to get our tongues around French.
ReplyDeleteI don't envy you the downsizing exercise ;-)