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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only rules are: real names only, no personal attacks and no unrelated messages (inappropriate messages may be edited/withdrawn without warning).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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Mike Todd | old~DOT~boys~AT~boyshighschool~DOT~co~DOT~uk

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
I've had some major problems with the site and have had to take the contact register offline until it's fixed.

I'm hoping that the rest of the site,including the Guestbook will continue to work successfully.

Sun 26-Nov-2023 14:47

Ian Reid

Dipped into your excellent archive over the last couple of years and delighted you still manage to keep going. I’m in the archive from 13+ to Prefect (Chairman of the Reception and Stewardship Service Group) early seventies. Great to be reminded of old friends and acquaintances.

Thu 16-Nov-2023 06:44 - Tynemouth, UK

Eric Moyse | eric~DOT~moyse35~AT~yahoo~DOT~com

My good friend Joyce Howe nee Williams has sent me this extract from a History of Appleby Grammar School, which some of you might find interesting.
One of the immediate consequences of the outbreak of war was the evacuation of schoolchildren from potentially dangerous areas ; Appleby received its quota from South Shields. Instead of some twenty five new boys, over fifty were admitted in the course of the year, and the number on roll rose to at least one hundred and fifty. As the raids which had been anticipated did not materialise and “the phoney war” dragged on, many of the High School boys returned to South Shields, and by the summer of 1940 numbers were almost back to their normal hundred and thirty-five. They had shared the use of the lab., woodwork shed and playing field, but had little other effect on the normal working of the school.

The situation was very different in the Autumn term. Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the first of the strategic bombing raids brought not only the South Shields boys back to Appleby but Wagon Repairs Ltd., a large industrial concern from Birmingham as well. Their headquarters were Bongate Hall and Eden Grove (Bolton) but families found temporary homes in Appleby and several of the surrounding villages. School numbers shot up to a hundred and eighty-three, continued to rise, and reached an all-time high of two hundred and seventeen during 1942. Additional accommodation had to be found, and both the Sands Chapel schoolroom and Bongate Institute were pressed into use as extra classrooms. The fifty-three boarders could not all be housed on the premises, so ten were found billets with families living near the school. All required a midday meal, as did a large number of day boys, and Mrs Budden, matron and cook displayed tremendous ingenuity and foresight in their attempts to provide adequate fare. The trenches on the field were strengthened and roofed over, the rest of the premises received its cladding of sandbags and corrugated sheeting, and the swimming pool remained empty of water.

At the end of the summer term, 1944, the boys from South Shields, together with their master, Mr Hall, returned home.

Tue 14-Nov-2023 11:29 - Reading Berkshire

Eric Moyse | eric~DOT~moyse35~AT~yahoo~DOT~com

How I came to do A level German. Towards the end of first year the decision was made as to which of us should do Latinand which German. I had opted for Latin. Pablo/Dopey Dunston, who taught Latin, took my form (111B)for English and one day he told us how hard it was compared with German. He went on so long about it that I thought that he did not want me there so when the time came I went to the German class instead of the Latin. Pablo vaguely asked where Moyse was and when told, he merely said "Oh." I stayed with German and went onto achieve a very shaky A Level under the tutelege of Mr Romanis.

Fri 10-Nov-2023 10:44 - Reading Bekshire

Mike

Sadly not, Alex - Guestbook is text only.

If you wanted to share it though, send it to me old.boys@boyshighschool.co.uk and I'll put it on the server and link to it.

Thu 19-Oct-2023 19:52

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

Hello Mike et al,
We’ve been coming across bits and pieces in our recent move, and one of the items was a pencil, which is still in its original condition, unsharpened and unused. It is stamped “WAR DRAWING” and hardness ”H”. It was made by Geo.Rowney & Co.Ltd. I’m trying to remember when we got them. I’m sure it would have been in grade school while the War was still ongoing.
So I contacted the company, now known as Daler-Rowney, in London and I was very surprised to receive a reply by return of email. The respondent with the evocative name ‘Holly Birmingham” was very interested in the pencil and asked if I could send some photos. Which I did and soon had another reply with scads of links to read the story of the ‘war’pencils. Apparently there were thousands of such pencils distributed, some called Utility pencils (memories of CC41) and they were made by many companies, Rowney being one of them.
I wonder if any of our other readers received a pencil like this, perhaps in grade school. I thought I might make a fortune by putting it on EBay, but no such luck…in any case one of my grandsons has laid claim to it.
…..Question for Mike. Is there any way we can send photos to the site?
Take care everyone,
Best wishes from North York on a bright shiny day,
Alex

Thu 19-Oct-2023 19:30 - North York,Ontario, Canada

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

Hello Mike and all the thousands of readers,
I think Bruce’s mystery Latin teacher may have been F(Frank) W. Dunstan, a.k.a. Pablo, Dopey or The Dreamer. I know he was Head of Department of Latin and Classics while I was in the school, but I can’t remember ever having him for any classes.
We have just completed our move into our new retirement home and just got there in time for a Covid lockdown and for me to contract Covid for the second time. So we were in isolation for the prescribed 10 days and Marjorie was Covid free throughout. She ascribes it to being a teacher and building up an impenetrable immune system.
If you are thinking of downsizing…start it now!! Don’t hang about!! We were lucky in that we had three daughters to do the bulk of the work and I used my draughting experience to illustrate what furniture we would have room to accommodate and then to prepare a plan for the arrangement to give to the removal company to know exactly where to put it. Our Ukrainian/Italian mover, Alex, was pleased with the plan as we were later in the day when everything was in place.
But the problem was all the small stuff that we collect. Even though we thought we had downsized enough, we still had too much left over to put on display. So don’t forget, start it now!!
Does anyone remember Syd Miller? I think he was a year younger than me so he’d be at the school 1947 to 1952/55ish. If my memory serves me right, I think he ran the mile in 5 minutes at the annual sports day. He lived on the Lawe top not far from the Roman Fort. I’ve mentioned before how I would like to read about the lives of our contemporaries and learn what took them to where they are today. I’m still hoping. So anyone who reads this, please add something to the contributions…some of us are interested.
Best wishes from a cool and sunny North York,
Alex

Wed 18-Oct-2023 17:17 - North York, Ontario, Canada

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

Hi Bruce. No response,so far, to your request for clarification concerning matriculation requirements.
I can only add that our fifth form (1951) was the first to encounter the new "O level" approach ,which marked the end of the era of school leaving certificates, which I presume required the pupil to achieve a minimum number of passes. I remember Mr Lucas,on announcing this fresh approach to us,expressing his disapproval of the change, feeling that it was of lesser value than what had been in place. We could now leave with a certificate showing only one pass.
On reflection,I would say that it is better to receive such a certificate than to leave after five years of study with nothing.
Certainly, the school seems to have gone from strength to strength over the years with the new system in place.
Local Secondary schools seem also to have flourished and have established streams for over achieving pupils to gain
University entrance.
This is certainly the case here in BC where all high schools follow the same curriculum.

Wed 11-Oct-2023 21:29 - Victoria BC

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

To stir the pot one more time. I wonder if any of the "oldies" contributors recall the difference between matriculation and the other qualifications that preceded the GCE "O" and "A" levels that I was subject to?

By the by can any of you remember the name of the senior Latin teacher of that era - whose name I cannot recall - who persuaded me the Virgil and I were a lost cause.

Sat 23-Sep-2023 19:32 - ruskington lincolnshie

Mike Todd | old~DOT~boys~AT~boyshighschool~DOT~co~DOT~uk

I think that there are two main reasons why only a quarter of the school evacuated to Appleby.

Initially, the evacuation zone was only Gateshead and Newcastle but South Shields protested and was eventually included.

But, as far as I can recall, the evacuation zone was limited to those children living close to the river - and since the Harton school was outside that zone, not all pupils were evacuated.

And it was only a voluntary scheme, of course.

Mon 11-Sep-2023 10:59

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