Memories of Greenfield Street Secondary Modern 1965-1969

Written by Steve Whitehead.

I attended " Greeny " between the above dates, having done my earlier schooling in the infants and juniors at the same school.

I was wondering if any visitors to your blog went to this school and if they remembered the teachers and the classes they took.

The Headmaster was a Scotsman called Christie and as far as I can remember, the only time he spoke to you was in his office if you were in bother : he possibly took a class now and the but I can't recall. His office was right in front of one of the two stairwells up to the classrooms. If you turned left here and past the cloakrooms you came to the classroom of Mr Williams who took History , but who sadly died , and then taken by a Mr Jenner who was crazy and looked exactly like the lead singer from Jethro Tull. Past this room was Mr Pickfords class which was RE or RK.

When you went back past the cloaks and past Christies office you came to several other classrooms and then the assembly hall/dinner hall. In these classrooms in no particular order were Robinson (maths ) Hindley (English ) Mr Howes who took Geography – we called him Howsie.

There was also a class taken by a Mrs Monks but I can't for the life of me remember what she took. Also on duty was a Mr Jones who never seemed to do much apart from drop in on classes and do a talk on sex education (what do you need to know sir ! ) but I remember he had a vicious temper and used to chuck things at you – book , ruler , chair etc..

When you got to the end of this row you turned left and found a duplicate of the other end of the school with cloaks and offices and a small shop. I think one of the classrooms down her was for music , possibly taken by a Miss Bennett and a nature study class ran by Mr Nichols.

When you went down either of the staircases you came to the playground and on the other side was the gym - also ran by Howsie who was as fit as anything. Next door was the science lab - Beaky Mellor and further along woodwork which was another Robinson and metalwork which was taken by Hawkins or Attree. 

Lastly , on the far side you had tech drawing taken by Mr Wainwright who was the hardest caner ever , I think he even scared the other teachers !! Also in this small building was art which was a Mr Howard.

The other school sports area was at Walker Lane which we used to walk about a mile to , for eleven-a-side football and cricket and school sports days. The changing rooms were a bit primitive even then.

All in all I thought Greeny was a good school with a well balanced curriculum and fair preparation for adulthood. There were some really clever lads in my year and a couple of superb footballers (no names !! ). I hope the guys I knew felt as sorry as I did when the place was finally demolished a few years ago ..........

Ref the info I sent you a couple of weeks ago re Greenfield Street - I've come this photo which I think is the 4th year, and must be from about 1968/1969 - the teacher is Evans , don’t know if you recognise anyone else.

Steve

Brilliant Steve, alas I can't put a name to anyone only Mr Even's...  here's hoping others will be able to add name by commenting here.

Update

Can anyone fit these names to the lads in the picture:

Pete Howles, Richard Shepley, Nigel Boak, Mark Sutcliffe, Ian Fyffe, Rob Dixon, Paul Harrop and Stan Fox

Names given to me by Steve Daniels

Greenfield Secondary Swimming team

The following photo was sent to us by an old friend of mine, Norman Ovens, who now lives in Michigan, USA.

He writes
"I remember the races in Hyde baths, a place I used to live in as a kid. I can't remember who we raced against , it may have been within the school. Names I remember are on the picture".

Greenfield Secondary School Swimming Team 1977

If anyone recognises anymore of these little cuties please let us know. :D

Thanks Norman, much appreciated. 

I hope you and the family are well. x

An Evening of Music and Song

Below is an old programme from 1971. 

It is for an evening of music and song by 

Greenfield Street Secondary School. 

These evening were very popular throughout all the 

Hyde schools and were always well attended by 

proud parents.

School Report Time !

The following were sent to us by Peter Fallon.
They show his class photos and accompanying report cards.

I used to be so anxious when it was school report time - Mine always said I spent too much time talking and not enough time working !

Leigh Street Junior School 1949

Headmaster Mr Renwick. Teacher Mrs Andrews.

1st Row ? ? Alan Mills

2nd Row ???????????

3rd Row Myself, Barbara Bridgehouse, Mary Barber, Irene Buckley, Kathleen Stainrod, Alwyn Ashbrook, June Harding, Hazel Wadsworth, James Smith.

4th Row James Taylor, Peter Bardsley, Albert Armstrong, Alan Brimble, Donald Hampton, Alan Bonsall, Peter Marsland, Keith Hallas, Ralph Harris.

5th Row David Hirst, Roger Hirst, Geoffrey Warner, Peter Jepson, Peter Harrison, Tony Barton, Brian Crompton, John Brown, Glynn Wright.

 




Greenfield Street Secondary School 1952

February 1952 

Teacher Mr Cookson

Average age 12 yrs 4 months

Front row John Brown, Peter Warburton, ??? Myself, 

Second Row John Wilson, John Barton, ???????

Third Row ????? Kenneth Dane, ???

Fourth Row Alan Thomson, ???? Keith Alexander, J Whitehead.

Many thanks, Peter. :)
I wonder if anyone else is brave enough to send theirs in ?

Greenfield Secondary School 1953

 The following was sent to us by Colin Ridgway.



As the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II  approaches I thought it most appropriate to look up a school photograph taken in the Spring of 1953 of Form 4R at Greenfield Street Secondary Modern School.
As I recall, all the Hyde schools had class photographs taken to commemorate the Coronation.
The country was still recovering from World War II and the Coronation was to be a big event, to be held as a great morale booster for all. So, perhaps the enclosed photo may serve as a reminder of this momentous event.
I have appended a list name of the pupils on the photo; however, after 60 years I cannot recall everyones name !
Hopefully many thereon are "still around" and can remember this happy time in our lives.




Back Row
Jack Fitton, ?, Clarence Hulme, Peter Ridgway (no relation!) Keith Brookes

Middle Row
John Shaw, ?,  Michael Lees, Me (Colin Ridgway) , John Saville, Melvin Jones, ?, Tony Hunt, Teacher ?

Front Row
John Bateman, George Swindells, Keith Rider, Ian Stone, Jimmy Foden, Joe Wilde, ?

Seated
Neville Hulme, George Robinson.

Many thanks for your time and trouble, Colin.
Much appreciated :)

Memories of Greenfield Street School

Hello ex-Greeny-ites,

I have put together a list of teachers and pupils in my class in 1959.  
A big part of a lifetime ago...
Bill Lancashire, who previously made some comments, helped with some of the names.

 

The teachers over our 4 year period were as follows....

---BIRCH---BRODERICK--HARTLEY---HALLSWORTH---HORROCKS---JONES---FENTON---HOUSE---MELLOR---WAINWRIGHT---WHITTAKER---AND A LADY WE CANT REMEMBER WHO WE HAD FOR RELIGIOUS INDOCTRINATION. I had the feeling Brodders was keen on her !!

Classmates were as follows....

 ----ATKINSON---BALL---BUCKLEY---BELL---BOWKER---(MYSELF) MAX COLLINS---CROMPTON---COOPER---DEELEY ---DEWSNAP---DUFFY---EDWARDS---ELISS---FARRELL---FARQHUAR---FRY---HADLEY---BILL LANCASHIRE---LEWIS---MORRIS---NASH---NEEDHAM---ROBOTTOM---SCHOFIELD---SMITH---STONE---THOROGOOD---TINKER---TOON--- WILSON. ---PROCTOR---GARSIDE.

Those who no longer with us include RUSSELL COOPER---BRIAN LEWIS-- -BILLY MORRIS --- PAUL FARQHUAR.

Russell was crazy about Chemistry.. He had a fantastic lab at home. He was always mucking about creating explosives and nearly blew his mother up !!.
Billy Morris I remember having a bad time after getting a dart in his eye.
Paul I remember as being a bit withdrawn.
I can't remember Brian Lewis Unfortunately.


Several remarks have been made about the amount of floggings by some of the teachers . All I know is I am sure I was flogged more than anyone else in the class. Some memories are still very vivid .
I got the pump off Birchy one day and as I went back to my desk he farted.. This was probably due to getting over excited whilst flogging . He tried to cover it up by saying that Max Collins had done a trump when he had the pump too Which I replied "No Sir, it was you" Which got me six more but this time he didn't fart.. :)

I took a heap of Love Heart sweets into Beaky Mellors class once. Most of them got crunched up all over the lab floor. The next lesson was Tech Drawing and there was a rapid appearance by Beaky in the classroom. ..He wanted whoever had made the mess or he would flog the whole class . So, John Nash and me stood up and got six of the best.  It was the hardest I have ever been caned and couldn't hold a pencil afterwards.
I never had any swastikas on my arse from Houseys pump though..   It was christened James size 11 !!

Another memory was with Peter Toon and myself  being stopped from bringing in conkers to school and selling them  They made too much mess in the playground apparently..
If anyone knows the whereabouts of Peter Toon, please contact the blog as I would like to know.

Whatever we got in corporal punishment I think was balanced by the fact that without any doubt the majority were very good teachers.

Some of you must have some recollections of Greeny. get them posted before we become no more than history - Time is getting short !!

 

I bumped into Baz Wainwright about seven years after leaving school and apparently he was of the opinion that we were an outstanding class.. My thanks to you, Brodders if you are still with us for what I was given by you regarding English.. Bill seems to have the same feelings for this too..

So, I'm hoping that a few others might post remarks - Who knows, maybe sometime in the future a few of us might have a pint together - The one with the most wrinkles pays ;)  !!
It'll probably be me. .

Bye for now.

Regards,
Max Collins

(Corrections to any of this invited).

Many thanks, Max, for taking the time and trouble to send these great memories in to us. :)

Greenfield Street Mural for sale.

Here is an unusual item that is for sale on ebay at present.
It's a mural which I can only assume was hung in Greenfield Street Secondary School.
It's a bit pricey for me but a one-off nontheless.

I have included the link at the bottom if anyone wants to look at it.
Wasn't DJ Robinson one of the teachers at Greenfield Street?



 

THIS IS A 8FT X 4FT OIL ON BOARD MURAL DEPICTING GREENFIELD ST  SCHOOL, HYDE CHESHIRE C1965/70 BASED ON THE FOOTBALL AND THE LOCO !IT DEPICTS THE SCHOOL, THE LOCALS OF HYDE AND THE LOCAL ARCHITECTURE - BEEN IN THE CELLAR OF A LOCAL VICTORIAN VILLA FOR 20 YRS OR SO  .ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED HONESTLY AND TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, NEEDS A BIT OF TLC TO SAY THE LEAST BUT A HUGE PIECE OF LOCAL HISTORY NONTHELESS !!!!!!!!!ARTISTS D.J ROBINSON, A BRAITHWAITE AND ANOTHER.

ebay description and link

Greenfield Street School

 Eric , one of our regular blog contributors, sent us these photos of Greenfield Street School the other day with this short message....

"Here are some photos of the school which you might be interested in.

 No doubt they will evoke a nostalgic tear or two or maybe a rousing cheer for those who hated their school days..."

 Old Greenfield St. School Art building in Water St. taken from Greenfield St.


Greenfield St school.


Greenfield St school later in Spring

Next are  3 photos from the start of the demolition of the school.


Going...


..Going...
.

Gone.

Many Thanks, Eric - Much appreciated ! :)

Water Street School

Here are two great photos sent to us by Marjorie Robinson.

They show different views of Water Street School.
This building was also the former Wesleyan Methodist School and the Art rooms for Greenfield Street Boys School at a later date. The upstairs rooms were the "dole office" aka social security office for "signing on" for benefits.
After the social security office moved to Beech Street sometime after 1978 it was also the home to Powerhouse Gym and Central Furnishing Company.

Marjorie also included this lovely story.

"After emailing you, I saw that it said Victoria Jubilee, Wesleyan Methodist Schools. My father was born in 1913 and often told me tales about the Headmaster, Mr Tickle. On one occasion, he came into the room and said to my father "What are you doing, Davies?" my father, who was not misbehaving at the time, replied, "Nothing, Sir." and was told "Come out. You should be working." He got caned for nothing at all and always thought it was unfair. Mary Tickle, the head's daughter, was on the same class. She taught me History later, at Hyde Grammar, and we kept in touch. She sent me a lovely letter when my father died.

I remember going in there with my mother when it was the dole office. It had that musty smell of old schools. I never knew it had been part of Greenfield St."

Front View


The Water Street side of Greenfield Street School shown to the left of the photo.


A photo  from the Jubilee Wesleyan School era

Many Thanks Marjorie. Great photos ,as always :)

Greenfield Street Brass Band

Here is a photo of Greenfield Street Brass Band from approximately 1979-1980.
The band are pictured with Deputy headteacher Mr Evans.
It was sent to us by Rob Heywood

If anyone can recognise any of the band, please contact us.



Many Thanks,  Rob !

Greenfield Street School photo

This is a photo we received from John Kenyon via email. 

It shows Greenfield Street School in 1960.
John has also sent us a list of the boys names which is very helpful !



Top row Left to right John Cooper. John Kenyon. Trevor Heywood. Duncan Hollows. Eric Headock. Brian Oldham. Barry Rothwell. Peter Crawford. 

3rd row left to right Eric Wildgoose. Adrian Kershaw. John Webb. ? Wilkinson. Sam Mills. Michael Robinson. Malcolm Sutton. Barry Gaskell. Lincoln Delve. 

2nd row left to right Brian Simpson. ? Richardson. Stuart Day. Stuart Taylor. Andrew Garvey. Michael Allan. James Dunlop. Roy Collins. Bill Mills. Alan Hodkinson. 

1st row left to right Ken Holt. Alan Oldham. Alan Morton. Peter Lomas. John Mason. Brian Wainwright (teacher). Raymond Clark. Alan Norgrove. Bob Shires. Martin Gould. John Hallam. 

Missing from class photo are John Fawcett and Trevor Grimshaw.  

Thanks John, much appreciated ! :)

Greenfield Street School around 1948

Picture from Fred Booth





Can you name anyone? 

Greenfield Street Archery Club

These budding Robin Hoods from the late 1960's are shown here in the school playground.. the building behind the target was the metalwork room. The teacher is Mr Wainwright, the tall lad in the middle is my older brother John Wigley, and the lad next to him with the school badge is Steve Downhill . I can not put a name to the others.

This is my first post since I was taken ill 3 weeks ago.. I suffered a heart attack and I'm now on the mend and doing as well as can be. Thank you all for your concern and words of kindness. I hope to be back posting regular very soon... thanks go to Nancy, Paul and Dave for keep the site running.. what a team.
Tom 

Greenfield Street cross country team

Hi Tom /Nancy ,Just to make a change from Leigh street pics here's one from Greenie. It's of the cross country team about 1979/80.It was made up of different years so cant remember all the names.



Back row --?-- --?-- Derek Poland --?-- --?--
m/row Paul Cleary, Derek Casey, Dean Panter, Tuna Mia, Riza Mohammed, Graham Casey, Mike Yeats,Andrew Derbyshire.
f/row --?-- ? Young, --?--, --?--, Steven Fekete.

Sorry to anyone whose name is spelt wrong. regards Ceecee

Greenfield Street School Demolition

The following photographs and commentary were sent in by Steve:-

Here are some photos of Greenfield Street School when it was demolished - to make way for the new Asda store. (circa 2000)? They actually let me go round the school and take these pictures as it was a bank holiday and there was only the security on One is the date stone off the front of the school, one is the huge bell tower off the top of the school and one is the upstairs corridor looking from the hall to the secretarys room .

Thanks Steve :)

Greenfield St School for Boys. UPDATE

This post just keeps on going
We will update as we get pictures and such like sent in.  

The above picture as been sent to us by John T. it's from around 1960,... ten years before I first walked through the school gate.. when I was a first year, I was one of only two wearing short pants.... I had more fights in the first two weeks than the rest of the years put together..  John's picture is also of interest as it shows the House Badges.. Anyone care to name them?

HOW THE SCHOOL LOOKED

December 12th 1929 saw the opening of Greenfield St School for Boys in Hyde. This was the school where the boys from Hyde, who were not going to Hyde Grammar School, usually went. Sadly, all that remains of the school are stories & memories. It was demolished to make way for the new Asda Store which was built around 2001 ,after Hyde Technology school was favoured as the school to send boys aged 11-16 to. A new Greenfield Primary School opened on Queen Street for children aged 4 -10.

The school motto was ASPIRE!

Great posting Nancy... here is a list of a few of the teacher that I can remember... it would be good to here any story's about and from them.

Mr. Christy Head Master
Mr. Evans Deputy Head Known as Grasshead
Mr. Pangbourne R.E.
Mr. Jenner History
Mr Howes Geography
Mr Wainwright Technical Drawing
Mr. Robinson Woodwork
Mr K.G. Jones Spent his days between the class room and Gus Demmy Book Makers
Mrs Casey English ( Cheers Duncan ) ;o)
Mr Swouter Maths .. Postmaster Gee Cross
Mr Hawkins Metal Work Peter & Paul Hawkins dad... and my uncle. Rough File, Smooth File, Draw File Polish.

Mr Grabner P.E. Played for Hyde United..... I used to go to watch him play so I could call 'HIM' useless for a change.

Mr Partridge P.E Ronnies Gradners Sidekick.
Mr Mellor Science
Dr Doom...? Science However he never killed someone is beyond me. Mr. Wedster
Mr Grimes Music Known as Porky Grimes
Mr Beasley English Drank in the Bush Inn
Mr Peace Art I thought he was great and I've had a drink or two with him since.

There was a lanky blond chap who was very fond of a sly and not so sly drink... Another English teacher who was excellent but his name escapes me.. he also taught at Strangeways Prison. ( Before you ask.. Yes he did teach me there )

I'm sure there's others I should know but can not think of at the moment.... It would be great to hear some storys about and from them..

Greenfield Street School Football Team.

Nick Hunter. Kong. Ian Gembelzyk(gemmy) Frank Fekete. Stuart Wainwright

2nd Row Brian Burgess, Graeme Morris. Neil Laxton Tony Leigh.Mick Frankish,

Front Row Graham Hancock. Gary Drabble.Sebatiano Rubicondo (RIP)

(Cheers John For the names.. )

Some old faces on here ..see who you can spot.



We have been lucky enough to have been sent this 1976 3rd year football team sent in by Peter Maugham....

Peter has this to say... " I've attached a pic of the football team, pretty sure this was the 3rd Year, probably taken in 1976. The lad with the question mark I remember now, he was called Roland Evans."