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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only rules are: real names only, no personal attacks and no unrelated messages (inappropriate messages may be edited/withdrawn without warning).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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Viewing messages 1 to 10

Neale Backhouse | neale1447~AT~gmail~DOT~com

It's great to be retired, so much time on our hands!
Humour amongst the Staff. Not much I agree Bruce. But a fair amount of sarcasm would pop up now and then.
I remember Scratcher(a prime candidate) asking someone in his Physics class what were his future plans. "To be a marine engineer sir." "You mean a fitter at Readheads?" said Scratcher. Charming, right.
In my case in GED drawing, Mr Jefferson, on viewing my progress on a drawing, remarked, "What did you do for homework, rub it out?" (I'd say funny, not sarcastic)
With respect to Harting and Cleading,
Liz still needs to remind me, on occasion, that she is from Cauldwell.
not the Sutton Estate! She's nice most of the time.

Tue 5-Aug-2025 21:21 - Victoria BC

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

Nice one Alex!

Curiously, thinking back I don't recall any of the Teaching staff in our era having a particularly strong sense of humour.

However when it came to corporal punishment there were several very active individuals.

These days they would all be up incourt!!

Tue 5-Aug-2025 19:31 - ruskington lincolnshie

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

Oooooops, I should have said, "Are you for Harton?"

Mon 4-Aug-2025 01:40 - North York, Ontario, Canada

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

Eric that reminds me of the old dad-joke; Lady to driver of horse drawn carriage, "Excuse me, but is this carriage "for Harton?
"No Ma'am, it must be the horse!"
Sorry,
Alex

Sun 3-Aug-2025 20:57 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Eric Moyse 1946 to 1952 (Boys) | eric~DOT~moyse35~AT~yahoo~DOT~com

Ah, yes. Cleading and Harting.

Sun 3-Aug-2025 07:33 - Reading, Berkshire

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

Accents.

It's interesting that our colleagues from the Dominions should have retained a recognisable accent from all those years ago.

My brother, Douglas, school 1945-50, always known as "CD" in an A form with three Grahams, lived most of his working life after qualifying in industrial chemistry as an expatriate. First in Mexico, where he became fluent in Spanish, working for an American company where he acquired a pronounced Yankee twang. Then in Spain, Cincinatti, and Belgium so he had a real mixture of influences. Curiously in his latter days, by then retired to the south of France, there were signs of his origins emerging in his speech.

For myself, having completed an apprenticeship in the Royal Air Force where I was surrounded by young people from all over the UK and gradually changed the way I spoke I entered an era where pronounced regional accents were not seen as positive attributes in ambitions to progress. Thank goodness those attitudes have now changed (I think).

So Pam Hedley would now be proud of me having tried all those years ago to instil "proper pronunciation" with little effect. My father equally as he always insisted that words ending in "ing" should be enunciated properly.

Fri 1-Aug-2025 19:32 - ruskington lincolnshie

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

Hi Neale et al,
It's good to see a little more life in the GB. With reference to our immutable Geordie accents, I must relate a story going back a few years when my girls were in their early teens, 40 plus years ago, they brought one of their friends home after school. I found out later that she thought my accent was "so hot", that she thought I should follow the lead of other parents in the school, and address the class about my schooldays. Which I did, and I must say my talk was well received, particularly my party piece, Sonnet 29, which I will recite at the drop of a hat. Apparently my Geordie accent intrigued some of them enough to come up to me afterwards and asked me to pronounce different words or their names. I also remember talking about Pan Hedley.
Your letter, Neale, prompted me enough to dig out my copy of "Hills of Holborn" again to analyze my accent...it's still there but not as grating as it was before I went to SSGTSFB. Something else to be thankful for. I'm off to Cottage Country for the next few weeks, family reunion time.
As Tommy Handley would say, "TTFN",
Alex, from a stot and hicky North York

Sun 27-Jul-2025 16:15 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Neale Backhouse | neale1447~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Come come you two, wallowing in that grizzly Geordie accent. Pan Hedley will be turning in his grave when he recalls his efforts to have us pronounce our long vowel sounds. It must please you Alex to hear your daughters speak in their accentless (well almost) Canadian voices. I certainly do with my lot. Not that it applies to me, although I try hard enough. After sixty two years in this erstwhile Colony I was in a walk-in clinic for minor repairs recently, when the doctor said to me, "You must be from the North of England." Nuff said.
Cheers,Neale.

Sun 27-Jul-2025 04:33 - Victoria BC

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

Hello Eric,
ChatGBT is an AI site too...their comments are similar, bit this is why we have to be careful and not to accept their responses as gospel. I use ChatGBT frequently but never for anything personal or important and never even enter my name. There are enough cautionary tales about the internet, let alone AI, to make us ultra careful about what we add.
Good to see you and the others back on line. It's 4:55 PM and 31C in beautiful North York. Off for my evening sit out before supper is served. I'm doing my third round reading of Ian Rankin's 26 'Rebus' books and enjoy them more at each reading. One of my daughters gave me a copy of his very first published work, "The Flood" not a Rebus book. So that's something else to which I can look forward to reading.
Regards to all,
Alex

Fri 25-Jul-2025 22:03 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Eric Moyse 1946 to 1952 (Boys) | eric~DOT~moyse35~AT~yahoo~DOT~com

Sorry, Alex but this is Artificial Intelligence so it must be right:

AI Overview
"Ha'way" is a Geordie (Newcastle/North East England) term that generally means "come on" or "hurry up". It can also be used as an expression of encouragement, particularly in the phrase "Ha'way the lads", often heard at football matches. The term is thought to have originated from "have way" or "hold away".

Fri 25-Jul-2025 10:40 - Reading, Berkshire

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