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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only rules are: real names only, no personal attacks and no unrelated messages (inappropriate messages may be edited/withdrawn without warning).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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There are 501 messages in the guestbook
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Viewing messages 161 to 170

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

Hello Mike and other O.Bs.,
In Garwood Street backlane there were four to a team in Loppakitty. One who stood with his back to the wall, who cradled the second person’s forehead in his hands against his stomach. The third and fourth persons formed a line behind the second supporting him like in a rugby scrum. Girls weren’t allowed to be the wall person. The other team then jumped onto the backs of the scrum as close to the Wallman as possible until the scrum collapsed. Three collapses changed the teams; a ‘no collapse’ won the game. The first team with three wins were the champions. Other games were “Tiggy” and “Killer” (a game involving marbles, a gutter, and a drain cover), whoever was nearest to the drain without losing the marble was the winner. I always tell my girls, “ I lost my marbles years ago.”
Bruce, I was at RAF Locking for GCA Training and RAF Kinloss for the balance of my service and I share your brother’s sentiments about ‘boyhood to manhood’.
Best wishes from a snowy North York,
Alex.

Mon 28-Feb-2022 06:02 - North York, Ontario, Canada

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

Correction. That should have read 2202.

Sat 26-Feb-2022 15:43 - ruskington lincolnshie

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

Further to Alex's numerology it occurred to me that this year is unique in another way. The roman numerals for 2022 are MMXXII - this double digit coincidence will not occur again until 2211 - MMCCII and not again in this Millenium.

Just a thought.

Sat 26-Feb-2022 15:15

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

Alex

No my brother was CD Graham - one of three Grahams in the A Form one year ahead of you. Relating to National Service my brother always said he "went in like a boy and came out like a man".

Lopakitty. How many were in each team? I think it was ultimately banned at the school as being too dangerous -reflecting on your experience.

You mentioned Weston Super Mare in your National Service experience. After "O" levels I began an RAF Apprenticeship at RAF Locking near WSM that led on to a very diverse career around the world.

Fri 25-Feb-2022 18:47

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

Good morning, Mike & Everyone,

Specific to `horror welcome´ and `Basic Training at Catterick Camp!

`You raised me up to walk on stormy seas
To more than I could be.
The `legacy´ of an Army,
Memories of 6 a.m. Reveilles!

`Sandancer´- `Geordieland´.

Thu 24-Feb-2022 11:48 - south Shields

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

Hello Mike et al,
With reference to Alan Wightman’s (AKA Sandancer) letter about the ‘2’s’. First, I notice that he has covered all the 2 words, viz, ‘to, too and two’. Well done Alan, and second, having ‘National Service’ and ‘horror’ in the same sentence surprised me. I was in the R.A.F. in Weston-Super-Mare and Forres in Scotland and had two wonderful years, which had positive impact on me and I look back on those two years with great pleasure. Perhaps I was one of the lucky ones.
Eric, I played ‘Loppakitty’ in the backlane of my gradparents in Garwood Street, to the strains of “Loppakitty, loppakitty, one, two, three. Off, off, off, with a “Whee, whee, whee”. I once overshot the mark and leapt headfirst into the back yard wall…and the Ingham.
Bruce, were you related to John Graham the giant long plunger? I don’t see him on any of the school photos. His name crops up in The Atom a couple of times, but not in the list of names. All I remember of him was his size…I thought he was a teacher and I’m not mistaken he ended up on stage at one assembly being admonished by Mr. Lucas for some misdemeanour.
Back to the ‘2’s’. The numerologists have been going crazy here about the palindromic date this week, 22022022, which only works of you insert 02 for February. But I’m sure it won’t be included 200 years from now when the corresponding date will be 2222222, when the same people or I should say their descendants will go ballistic.
Best wishes to all and for peace in Ukraine,
Alex Patterson

Wed 23-Feb-2022 20:36 - North York, Ontario, Canada

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

Good Morning `2´ Mike & `2´ everyone,

From 2 years 6th. Form directly `2´ Catterick Camp for 2 years National Service & the `horror´ proved `2´ true!!
Anybody else?

`Sandancer´- `Geordieland´.

Tue 22-Feb-2022 11:16 - south Shields

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

Good Morning, Mike & Everyone,

Heart-warming to see so much effort by `The Few´ to vindicate my choice of pseudonym.
However, I concur with Mike: `How the people from South Shields got this nickname is a total mystery - nobody really knows´.
Perhaps the need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer?

`Sandancer´.

Mon 21-Feb-2022 10:27 - south Shields

Eric Moyse | eric~DOT~moyse~AT~sky~DOT~com

Is no one interested in Loppakitty? Oh well -- Sandancers.
A few years ago I was at the Roman Fort and asked the guide why we were called"Sandancers." His explanation was and,he must of course be right,that in the 60s the pits in the west of Durham were closing, so the miners from there were bussed into Westoe Colliery. Banter ensued: the locals called the incomers "Hillbillies" while the incomers replied by calling their hosts "Sandancers." I always thought this was appropriate, considering South Shields' miles of golden sands and the Arab community of which we were pretty proud (I remember Harry Said as a grand lad). The sand dance performed by WK&B strengthened the idea, even though it was meant to be Egyptian while our Arabs had originated in Aden, Yemen. WK&B was a brillianty funny act, which I had the pleasure of seeing at the Sunderland Empire at least once.

Sun 20-Feb-2022 11:24 - Reading Berkshire

Neale Backhouse

Hi Bruce,
I know I said I was done with this subject, but here I am again with another nugget.
I just discovered, in a drawer in my bedroom,a whimsical little volume called "Passport to South Tyneside" by Scott Dobson,(1980). I'd forgotten I had this.
In it he reports in an article called The First Shields Ferry, that the Romans brought in a special unit from the Middle East to man this military ferry, who could well have been the first Middle Eastern people to settle in South Shields and subsequently become the oldest and best integrated community of that origin in Britain. Since 600 or thereabouts it became Muslim and indeed the oldest Muslim community in Britain, which has today a fine little Mosque in Laygate. I'm not sure whether this information is still current (the pamphlet is dated 1980) nor do I know whether Scott Dobson's research is accurate.(I must admit it does sound a bit hairy). Anyway, more grist for the mill.
Cheers, Neale.

Sun 20-Feb-2022 01:15 - Victoria BC

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