Old Boys, Girls and Teachers Guestbook

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Welcome to the Guestbook
Feel free to add messages relating to the site and the school. The only rules are: real names only, no personal attacks and no unrelated messages (inappropriate messages may be edited/withdrawn without warning).

It would be appreciated if you gave an email address, where you now live and said when you were at the school, but you don't have to.

Plase note that if you click on an email address below you will need to replace ~DOT~ with . and ~AT~ with @ in your email program. The Guestbook presents these this way to avoid email address harvesters collecting your email addresses from the page. I know it's a pain, but it's very much better than the alternative.

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There are 500 messages in the guestbook
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Viewing messages 221 to 230

alan wightman | aconlan111~AT~gmail~DOT~com

I refer to my era of 1951 - 1958. Those were the days!

Wed 29-Sep-2021 18:42 - south shields

alan wightman | aconlan111~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hi! Mike,

I'd like to add my thanks for your work on our behalf. I'm visiting the now Harton Academy next week by kind invitation. Hope I can recognise something of our past era which was special!

Wed 29-Sep-2021 18:36 - South Shields

Bruce Graham | bsgraham~AT~btinternet~DOT~com

I was disappointed that this years Great North Run was forced (by Covid limitations) to adopt an "in and out" route from Newcastle depriving me of my annual view of South Shields and occasional glimpses on the TV coverage of our old school site.

I suspect that this contribution to the Visitor Book will be one of a dwindling number as there seems to be little or no interest among the younger (Like 50 years of age) generation in keeping information flowing.

Shame, but there it is. I realise that today's students regard our generation as being part of history though whether they are taught history as such is another matter.

"non illegitimi vos carborundum"

Thu 16-Sep-2021 19:49

Alex Patterson, 1946-1951 VUA | ad1935ap~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hello Mike and other readers and contributors,
I was surprised not to see my annual Christmas letter for 2020, it was obviously pilfered en route...so Merry Christmas and Happy New 2021. We have spent the last 15 months or so like most people, trying to stay safe and keeping away from crowds and spending much more time at home. We have a newish great-granddaughter that we haven't seen in person yet, but hope to in the next year or two (because of Ontarios mishandling of the vaccine roll-out). We've had one shot eight weeks ago but have no idea when or if we'll ever get another!!
Mike, I refer to an earlier letter regarding 'John Rex'. Perhaps it was the artist's version of 'King John'. Also in the same email, the 'South Shields Boulevard' was named after John W. Shields, a local Oklahoman realtor and developer. I was glad to read letters from Neale, Eric and Bruce to see that they're still around and as erudite as ever
Regards, from a COVID hot-spot in Toronto,
Alex.

Wed 5-May-2021 05:59 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Bruce Graham | bsgraham~AT~btinternet~DOT~com

Just when you thought you had covered all of the information on subjects that interested you!!!

I was refreshing my memory concerning the history of RAF Usworth - given my own RAF career, not surprising. On reading the Wikipedia entry I found that after the station was re-opened in 1932 it was the home to 607 squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force under the command of Walter Runciman, one of our school's famous Old Boys. As the RAuxAF were known as "weekend flyers" perhaps it isn't surprising that this aspect of Viscount Runciman's life isn't mentioned in his "Famous Old Boys" entry but it adds another aspect to his life.

Usworth had closed as an RAF station before I entered our school but as a young boy I remember that you could see the layout of the airfield from the top pf Cleadon Hills.

So the Nissan Qashqais etc flowing off the production line today occupy the space of some interesting action going back to WW1.

Interesting stuff.

Fri 30-Apr-2021 16:16 - ruskington lincolnshie

Bruce Graham | bsgraham~AT~btinternet~DOT~com

Couldn't agree more.

I am reminded of the meaning of the word "education" from the Latin "to lead out of". I think that was what we got all those years ago.

Thu 15-Apr-2021 21:16 - ruskington lincolnshie

Neale Backhouse | nealebackh~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Thanks Robin for your Reference to Professor Gray on the Marketisation of Education.The curriculum at the High School in the forties was well rounded and, I felt, had our best interests at heart . I certainly didn't feel that we were being marketised. Of course Professor Gray has the present state of affairs in education in mind. Also on Utube Professor Noam Chomsky, in an interesting talk on the Purpose of Education, parallels Professor Gray's line of thinking. I particularly like his remark, that a student should not be concerned about what a course covers but on what he discovers.
Cheers, Neale.

Sat 3-Apr-2021 01:58 - Victoria BC

Robin Leslie | robin~DOT~leslie~AT~yahoo~DOT~com

John Gray Emeritus Professor of philosophy at oxford recently gave a very enlightening article on YouTube on the marketisation of Education and he mentioned that he had been to the Grammar School(SSHS)

Thu 11-Feb-2021 12:51

Neale Backhouse | nealebackh~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Thanks Eric for your kind thoughts. Glad to hear that Doreen and yourself are keeping well in these hazardous times.
Liz and I are doing OK too, and managing to avoid any run-ins with the pesky virus. I must say that here on Vancouver Island we have been more fortunate than other parts of the country, when it comes to overall case numbers snd fatalities. We have also avoided any of the lockdowns, which the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario have experienced. They really have had a rough time. You in the Uk,of course, know exactly what having a rough time really means. We have followed your situation with alarm. Let's hope that the arrival of the several vaccines which are becoming available will mark the beginning of the end of this scourge.
I must not end without a continuing thank you note to Mike, who provides us with this link to our old school and classmates. Thank you, Mike, we really appreciate it. Stay safe everyone. Neale.

Tue 19-Jan-2021 04:04 - Victoria BC

Eric Moyse 1947 to 1953 | eric~DOT~moyse~AT~sky~DOT~com

Happy New Year to Mike and all contributors, especially Neale and Alex. Doreen and I are alive and well and living by the Thames. I have just caught up with emails back to this time last year when we were discussing the possiblity of a reunion . Let's hope it is possible this year.
Stay safe
Eric

Sat 16-Jan-2021 10:52 - Reading Berkshire

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