Since leaving HP in 1958 I went to work in a freight forwarding company and I am pleased to advise that I am still employed in the same field, though not with the same company, having survived the change from conventional shipping to containerised cargo during this period.
On a final sad note, I now know of two Old Paviors who are no longer with us.
The first was Robert (Tilly) Huyton who was very high-
Also my old boyhood pal, Ian (Pip) Jones who was my left-
Gerald Taylor writes:-
Two photographs are attached, which you are welcome to add to the collection on the website. One shows the 1970 or 71 staff 2nd cricket team, which I presume played a pupil 2nd team. Back row: unknown, Squadron Leader T. L. Thompson, Mr. Birch (?), Alastair (Big Al) Summers.
Front row: Mr. Skidmore (?), Mr. Mouncer (?), unknown, T. J. Hamer, Jeffrey Robinson.
Mr. Robinson was the Nottinghamshire tennis captain. I seem to recall that in a tournament at The Park he was in a doubles match against Arthur Ashe.
The other picture is the Senior Cricket XI of 1971. Back row: unknown, unknown, Merv Morrell (?), Steve Kettlewell, Jeff Tyler.
Front row: Chris Gidney, unknown, Clive Swinn or Swinney, Nick Aske, Gerald Taylor, unknown.
I have a feeling that Clive Swinn(ey) distinguished himself highly in rugby.
This team, which was, with many changes over the years, the 1st-
We were well provided for in bowlers, Steve Kettlewell and Chris Coles (not pictured) being the openers for the City Schools XI. In batting, too, we were strong, Chris Coles and Roger Bainbridge (also not pictured) being the opening batsmen for the City team, I think, and Nick Aske coming in at 3 for them. I myself got no nearer to such high achievement than to be first reserve for Nottingham Primary Schools. However, I used to open for High Pavement, though rather in the shadow of a lot of batting talent. Still, I did have one unique claim to fame, and it was as a bowler in the sixth year. We were up against a Bilborough Grammar side that contained Antony Page, captain of England Schoolboys. I did not usually bowl, but on this occasion was given the honour of opening, the hope being that sheer speed would do the trick where skill and science might fail, since at least I was considered to be faster than anyone else. I put so much effort into one delivery as almost to fall and sprawl ingloriously, face down in the grass, after releasing the ball. Perhaps the batsman was put off by this unorthodox and, except for its inelegance, somewhat gymnastic follow-
Ian Wright writes:
I attended High Pavement from 1951 to 1960. I was captain of School House and Vice-
I enclose some photos.
Award winners 1958. I am on the extreme right and Lance Wright is above me to the left, my best fried Robin Towle is circled centre left.
Award winners 1959. I am top left and Robin Towle is just below me.
World Refugee Year. Peter Bleasby is top left, below him is me and John Walsh(?). On the extreme left is Ian Watson. I think the year is 1960.
School Play 1960. I am behind Peter Bleasby ( black robed priest sitting in chair). I remember Trevor Dawn and David Bland also.
I enjoy looking at your website and remembering good times at High Pavement.
Clive Doody (High Pavement 1952 -
I was sorry to read of the death of Don Varley, Scoutmaster to the 121st Nottingham High Pavement Senior Scout Troop in the 1950s, and Musical Director of the Gang Show. He was a wonderful mentor and taught us a lot about maturing from the age of 15.
The above led to me discovering the High Pavement Society website, and the Scout Troop photos in the "Memories" section.
I can add to the identifications in the 1952 picture, of which I also have a copy :-
I attach a photo of the 1958 Senior Scouts at Nottingham Victoria Station as we set of for a 3 week camping jaunt by rail and sea to Belle-
2. Bob Poyser (Poiss) 3. "Big" Dave ? 4. Ashley Cooper(?) 5. John Bainbridge(Ben/Benbow) 6. Ian Park (Chalmers)-
8. Bill Stanesby. 9. myself, Clive doody (Eky). I seem to remember one other was "Nipper" Allen, but I can't say which.
Nottingham Post Obituary here
Sax Jarritt writes:-
My grandmother, Marion Campbell Hargreaves (1885 -
Career notes:
Manchester High School for Girls
Owens College (Manchester Uni) 1902-
Assistant teacher, Broomfield School, Manchester
High Pavement School 1909 -
Head teacher of Wesleyan High School, Grahamstown, SA 1914-
Married Dr GF Brockless, musical director, Central Hall, Westminster
Tony Whelpton 1944-
I was just looking at the HP Society website, and saw references to Jack Archer, and also a former pupil named Stinchcombe. Jack Archer was not only a pupil at HP, but he also returned to the school in 1946 to do a period of teaching practice (I was in the 3rd form at the time). That year he became the European sprint champion. Two years later he was a member of the silver-
As for Stinchcombe, there is another Olympic connection. Your correspondent mentions a connection with ice hockey’s Chick Zamick, which is correct. But while Chick Zamick was playing for Nottingham Panthers, the team coach was Archie Stinchcombe, the father of the boy who went to HP, and he was a member of the Great Britain ice hockey team who won gold at the 1936 Olympics, beating Canada and drawing with the USA on the way. By a curious coincidence, his predecessor as Panthers coach was Sandy Archer, another member of that Olympic gold team, but not, I believe, related to Jack.
Phil Cotterill (1964 – 1971) writes
Having read a copy of The Pavior on the internet recently, and in particular an article by my old mate Ged Taylor, I sought out the attached Hockey 1st XI team photo and thought it would be of interest. I have named the players in the team as best I can (the memory is fading a bit after 42 years), but perhaps others can fill in the blanks. As I recall, the 1st XI went the whole season unbeaten (albeit we were not in a league), with one memorable victory over Loughborough University who boasted some of the best players in the country. The LU team had a habit of turning up with one or two players short to make games more competitive, and on this occasion made the mistake of turning up with only nine players and ended up on the end of a 5-
Coaches – 1 ? 2 ?
Players
Back Row -
Front Row – 8 Roger Caunt; 9 Steve Kettlewell; 10 Nick Aske; 11 Adie Woodward; 12 Phil Cotterill; 13 ?
I also attach a couple of action shots of yours truly (white shirt) purely for the views – I played left wing – and you get a good view of the old school with the Science Block on the right. As you can tell from the conditions, we were not averse to playing in freezing conditions and snow!
Marauding down the wing….
Shot on goal…
All the best to my old classmates.
Alan Poultney writes:-
I was going through old family newspaper cuttings and came across a clip of a High Pavement school photo taken in 1908 when my grandfather, Harold Hancock, was 15. I’ve attached a copy of the cutting and am wondering if you can shed any light on my grandfather’s attendance there. I’d appreciate any insight you can offer.
Webmaster :-
Following the death of Stanley Middleton, members wrote:-
Richard Maslen 1946_1951 writes: I've just seen the obituary for Stanley Middleton in today's Telegraph. I presume that there will be a note in the Pavior. He was a favourite teacher of mine, encouraged my earliest writing and enjoyed success among the three Nottingham novelists, DH Lawrence, Sillito and himself. I still enjoy the novels.
Noel Gubbins writes: Although Stan is fondly remembered by us Old Paviors as a very able & respected English Master he will also be remembered by the general public for his distinctive style of novel writing having had published forty four books at the rate of one a year during his career as an author. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1998 but turned down an MBE in 1979 because he thought he didn’t deserve it. He had a disarming modesty.
Alex Rae recalls: Stan was Head of English throughout my time at High Pavement (1966-
Geoffrey Oldfield remembers Stanley as a fellow scholar at Stanley road in the 1930s. They were both in the school choir which stood in separate ranks from the multitude during morning assembly. Stan was a year or two older and stood at the back ‘to keep order!’
Colin Salsbury remembers Stan as a sixth form teacher at Stanley Road in the 1940s, soon after his return from the army. He accompanied ‘He who would valiant be’ to a new tune specially written for the Speech Day concert and sat at the Albert Hall’s grand piano, playing with such a flamboyant style that the singers often forgot to watch the conductor’s baton. Nearly sixty years on, it was good to meet Stan Middleton again at one of the Society’s Annual Reunion dinners, and feel honoured to have an opportunity to shake hands with him.
Finally, Lance Wright writes: I remember my encounter with Stan Middleton on my first day at HP, He selected myself and a friend called Handley to carry a double bass in its case from the school to his house in Sherwood, more than a mile away. It was an unusual introduction to music in the school.
Mike Scholey (HPGS 1958-
I attach a photograph taken in the main hall of the HPGS 1963-
L-
(front) Mike Scholey, Martin Lawson, Derek Perry, ???.
(Derek Perry had a fatal accident on his honeymoon in, I think, Tunisia in the early 1970s, when he was electrocuted by a hotel pool pump, according to my memory of a conversation I had with Mike Hancock in 1973.
Can anyone supply more names?
Derek Wroughton writes:-
I read with great interest Jerry Morris’s article remembering music and musical productions at High Pavement, times which I too remember with great fondness. Jerry, Stan (Middleton) and Bill (Gray) were each in their own way inspirational to me and I have much to thank them for. My career in music is coming towards retirement, I suppose, since in 2018 I will reach the ripe old age of 70. Time then to go with a ‘bang’ conducting Berlioz’s great Requiem – “Grande Messe des Morts” in Symphony Hall, Birmingham, with a combined universities choir of c.300 accompanied by the wonderful Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra plus extra percussion and brass! Should be an exhilarating occasion – Saturday 24th February 2018; tickets are now on sale via Symphony Hall Box Office!
Derek Wroughton
GBSM, ABSM Piano Teacher, ABSM General Musicianship, Cert.Ed., MISM, MBCA
Senior Lecturer, Music Tutor & Choir Director
Room MC011
Newman University
Genners Lane
Bartley Green
Birmingham
B32 3NT
Robert Tullis writes:-
I was a pupil from around 1961 to 68 and I agree that the English department was quite brilliant, as led, of course, by Stanley Middleton.
He was a great influence on anyone who had a love of language and literature.
But the teacher who I guess had the biggest influence on me ( I later went on to work in magazines and the media) was Bill Gray, who was eccentric, irreverent, funny and, above all, passionate about teaching.
In addition to the usual curriculum I remember he would bring in records by (to us) obscure American comedians and humourists, declaim opera in the corridors (he appeared one morning still painted red from a stage appearance as Mephistopheles) and was always larger than life.
But despite the odd socks and the laid back lifestyle (I recall he had a flat above a pub and would live in various parts seasonally so as to avoid too much cleaning!) he always got the message across and made English something to savour and enjoy.
I often wonder what happened to him; whether he stayed at High Pavement and whether he became more ’respectable’ with age. Hopefully not!
If anyone knows more about him (Is he still alive?), I would love to know.
Robert can be contacted through the Webmaster.
Steve Wilkinson writes:-
I was in 1H to 5H and then the 6th Form 68 to 75.
I just read Jeremy Morris's account in one of the 2012 Pavior magazines.
We knew him (affectionately) as "Mad" Morris.
After a performance in assembly one day, in reaction to applause he said "don't applaud, throw money" to his instant regret.
I vividly remember the Albert Hall speech days, Polovztian Dances and Aida.
Bill Gray was an "artist" (you know what I mean) and inspirational to me in English Lit.
EWN Smith was known as "old compass face" (I'm sure you can deduce why).
Bob Pannell was my form master one year -
Longman's audiovisual French with Jean-
Geography (John?) Spencer.
Physics -
Chemistry by John Preston and "Noddy" Skidmore.
PE Dick Milne
Russian by Mr Criddle -
Others... Beaky Billington, "Albert" Brown (although I seem to remember always referring to him as "Ma" Brown), Ray Coulter (?) (Woodthorpe house master), Pete Aldwincle.
Most famous Old Pavior I am aware of? Mick (Mirek) Wilkojc (With a name like that we were classroom neighbours for 5 years). Mick was in Radio and was a producer for Steve Wright in the afternoon in the eighties and a member of Steve's "Possee". To contact Steve, email the webmaster.
Clive Bagshaw writes|:-
I am Clive Bagshaw, known as "Baggy". In one of the photos above, I am third from the right on the front row. Unmistakeable with one ear sticking out further than the other. It was taken in my first year at HP in late 1956.
My introduction to the rugby team was simply, "You're a big lad, -
My fondest memory of High Pavement was undoubtedly that of my English Teacher Stan Middleton. He lived on Cantrell Road Bulwell at that time and used to walk through "Marble Arch" from Hucknall Road, down Andover Road and up Teviot Road to Gainsford Crescent and High Pavement which had just moved from Stanley Road to this new building. I lived on Andover Road and invariable met Stan at the junction of Andover Road and Teviot Road and would walk up to school with him. What an incredible man he was. We would talk all the way of many subjects. He was such an incredible encourager and he had had a most interesting life. His love of the English Language brushed off on me and I always chose to be articulate like him and to write. I have penned many poems over the years and written many articles that have won me some credit but I don't think I would ever have done so had it not been for him.
We got on very well together and from time to time he would invite pupils to tea at his home where we were warmly welcomed by his lovely charming wife. One evening on such an occasion, as we sat having tea one summers evening, with the French windows open to his garden, lightning struck a tree in the garden close to the patio. It was awesome. We could hear the air being rendered apart with an extremely loud hissing and crackling sound as the strike hit the tree. The noise, the flash and the bang were amazing and quite frightening I might add. Sadly I don't recall the name of other pupil who was with me. Age dims the memory somewhat.
One of the colourful characters in our class was Ken Butt. The mischievous ones were "Moose" Fenton and Stevo.
I must pay tribute to my old school. It was indeed an incredibly good school with phenomenal teachers of the highest calibre. I recall Mr Williamson the music teacher trying to find an instrument I could play in the school orchestra. He pulled out a violin and gave it to me. I stuck it under my chin and he shook his head saying "that's no good. it's far too small for you". He then disappeared under the stage in the hall and a few minutes later came crawling out dragging a cello. It had two broken strings and a missing bridge and one of the string adjuster pegs was also missing. He sent it off to be repaired and so on its return, the cello restored to full splendour, I became a cellist, of sorts, in the school orchestra. People who heard me practising were never too complimentary. My love of music has never left me though and I still love the rich mellow tones of the cello.
For what it is worth, I went into telecommunications and then electronics and have had the pleasure and joy of always working on cutting edge technology. I quickly found myself in technical management jobs and worked for ten years at Plessey, initially in Lenton then the main factory in Beeston where I was test operations manager until I was made redundant when GEC took over in a hostile takeover bid. Lord Weinstock of GEC was furious at his engineering team who could never make a dent on our seven year technical lead we had over the rest of the telecomm's industry worldwide. We introduced the first ever computer controlled digital telephone exchange that could not only transmit voice but for the first time, data as well. With it, the digital era was born. It brought about emails and the Internet and what a phenomenal resource it has become.
The demise of Plessey UK coincide with the time of the great recession and three more redundancies followed before I went self employed as a technical consultant. That led to an ex-
John Jalland, a member of the committee, has pointed out errors in the identification of some of the people in John McKenzie’s picture up the page!
We are happy to publish the corrections.
John Kenny writes from Australia:-
My name is John Kenny, a past pupil of High Pavement, leaving in 1959 to move to New Zealand with my sister.
I am in the cricket team photograph supplied by David Newitt (1953 -
I was a poor batsman and even worse as a bowler, my only ability being captain of the rowing team for which I was awarded my school colours.
When I left school five classmates presented me with an engraved pewter pint tanker (very appropriate) and their faded names appear to be R.Skelton, D.E.Smith, P.J(?)atham, J(?).Gibling and C.L.Hinsley. Any information on those classmates would be of great] interest.
I founded my own engineering business in NZ, which was taken over by a Public Company in 1980 when I moved to Australia where I now live in retirement on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
I found the website most interesting, bringing back many memories of my early days in England.
Regards, John
Gerald Taylor (1964-
Alan Cecil wrote to the Society to enquire whether anyone remembered him. Well, I do. He tells us he was a member of the 1st XI for hockey, which would have been in 1970-
(back row) unknown, unknown, unknown, Henryk Jegarow, Jules Teeman, Merv Morrell, unknown, Nick (Henson?), Graham Moulds (in black)
(front row) unknown, Gerald Taylor, Steve Lux, Adrian Woodward, Steve Caunt, Chris Gidney (?), unknown
Mr. R. P. ("Rip") Graves was the manager/coach.
Perhaps Alan is one of the regrettably large number of players whose names I have to confess myself unable to recall.
There is already a hockey team photograph in the section devoted to Memories. It was sent in by my old friend Phil Cotterill, who identifies some of the players for us. I can add the following to what he tells us:
4 = Henryk Jegarow
6 = Nick Henson?
13 = Merv Morrell
I think 8 was Steve Caunt (not Roger)
The groundsman on the left of the picture was Mr. Collins
David Knowles writes:
Well…..I have just discovered this site and looked in vain for mention of Ron Crossland -
I think he retired when we moved from Forest Fields to Bestwood and his retirement was a Great Occasion which overshadowed all other end of term events. The Head Boy officiated, Taff Davies having left him to it [I often wonder if he and Croc got on] and the rest of the staff congregated at the back of the hall to watch the fun. The Prefects gave him a new walking stick which became his proudest possession -
Happy memories, best wishes to all,
David Knowles
1951 -
More information about Ian Wright’s photo above.
Fred (real name Gerald) Rawling writes:-
I followed Ian Wright's MO but circled myself (NB: this is NOT a vanity project). I went up to Trinity, Cambridge, in 1961
I believe I correctly identify the following:
1. Alan Wood -
2. Jim Wakely (sp ?) who got in to a Cambridge college but who i believe died (vehicular accident ?) before he could go
3. "Evo" (full name Anthony John Robert Evans) -
4. I believe this is "Manc" (don't ask me how or why) Mortimer who, rumour had it in 1967, had gone to Hong Kong to join the Police Force there and was rising in rank
and
5. I believe this is Ian MacPherson who went up to Trinity a year ahead of me, so he did in 1960 v.a.v. my 61 ...... which makes me think this photo could be 1960's 2nd year 6th form (if you, Ian Wright, have 1958 written on the back -
6. I looked hard for David Stevenson (with or without pads) but did not see him -
After Trinity I worked at BNS [British Nylon Spinners, aka "the Nylon" in Welsh vernacular] in Pontypool for 3 years then at John Player for a year before going to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, as a TA/RA for four years in the Department of Geography. Never did write a dissertation/thesis so left with an ABD. For the rest of my working life I essentially did performance analysis in/of transportation (public and private) and logistics, wrote no small number of tech papers and was a 'talking head' at multiple conferences and the like.
My alter ego is "Coach" and or "Ref" -
I retired from work and that particular (footy) playground over 2006-
As an unreconstructed train spotter -
so .... before the period bell rings .... salve discipuli Paviores !!!!!
Fred* (real name Gerald) Rawling
p.s. * I entered HP in 1956 (came from Blackpool) and on (arguably) the first day Gerald Ward said to me, very graciously, "I'm Gerald; do you have any other names ?"
p.p.s. I sometimes describe my life as the inverse of the traditional domino theory, as in I started with all my dominos flat and one by one they got stood up, by accident or design. Going to HP was one of those accidents and the presence there of a rookie Geography teacher (St, Cat's, Cambridge, which was in those days the geography college) called Stevenson was a compounding accident
Our Secrtetary, Colin Salsbury has sent the following from the 1948 Senior School Photo prepared by the late Peter Bentley.
Despite your webmaster’s best efforts, I am as yet unable to stitch them together!
Graham Wybrow writes:-
Thought you might be interested in the following Video:
The 1960s. Scenes from High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham. -
I would be grateful for any guesses at names of featured individuals particularly the adults (eg 01:47 John Dodd etc). I can recognise Doug Slater, John Dodd, Mr Thompson (Physics), Mr Bloom (possibly ??), Eric Shepherd. . I was surprised by the number of females given film 1966-
Accompanying documentation, provided by a “P.G. Brown” states:
High Pavement Grammar School, Bestwood Estate, Nottingham. My school from 1962-
Standard 8mm double run, film at 16 fps. Mostly shot on Ilford Colorcine and latterly on Kodachrome II. No sound in those days. My technique gradually improves, not least because I had more money to spend on film.
Cameras:
Kodak 8. f/1.9 lens, manual aperture setting, clockwork (wind up) motor.
Bell & Howell 624EE Autoset; 10mm f/1.9, auto or manual aperture setting, clockwork (wind up) motor with single frame facility.
The music:
A jolly 1952 song from the film ‘The Story of Robin Hood’, sung by Elton Hayes. With no connection to the school. The last couple of minutes is a rendition of the school song Carmen Paviorem which was recorded well before my time on what sounded like a disc recorder.
Suspect “PG Brown” was the photographer. Does the name mean anything to anyone ?
Bulwell Pond sequence seemed to feature Doug Slater.
For completeness (if you haven’t already seen it):
Forest Fields Primary School, Mon 9 Feb 15 -
Roy Johnson writes:-
Regarding the High Pavement on video, you asked if anyone remembers Russell Munn, Paul Belshaw, Vince Quinn and David Rydeheard. Well they were all 1966 starters and in my class (designated P). I was at HP from 1966 to 1971 although some of those lads would have stayed on until 1973 for A levels. Alex Rae will also remember those names. Other boys in the P form were Howard Hewitt, Pete Sadler, Paul Dudley, Clive Swinn and Neil Faulconbridge. Alex will remember many others but I'm afraid my mind has gone a blank!
Godfrey (Goff) Gleadle writes
I was a pupil of High Pavement from 1952/3? till 1960. I had I believe one or two years or at the old victorian school which I remember well. My first year was in one of the older buildings across the road from the main hall. The second year the classroom was a temporary building in the same area. I particularly remember we had no playing field and were bussed to Strelly for rugby. We also had to walk over the hill to a an old chapel which was our canteen. It was awful as was the food, brought in and heated up.
It was wonderful therefore, to move to a brand new school at Bestwood with playing fields all around it and a proper canteen. I lived on the Broxtowe estate and at first had to catch a bus right into the town centre and a second out to Bestwood, but then I got a bike and was able to ride in and out each day (just under 3 miles).
I left in 1960 to Leeds University where I spent 5 years, finishing with an honours degree in agronomy and crop sciences.
After leaving university I lived and worked abroad for 10 years eventually settling back on the south coast.
I was shocked many years later on a visit to Nottingham that the school had disappeared and there was a housing estate in it’s place. Such a shame, a great school which got me from a council estate to university and onward. Only recently have I discovered it continues in the city and found this website.
Roger Horton (Sam) writes:-
I have just recently discovered you.
The photo is the school swimming team dated July 1949. I am fourth from the right on the front row. I can't remember the names of most of them but I think that the second from the left on the second row is Pete Bryan, and the one at the right of that row is Peter Taylor, who eventually became the national schools 100yds breaststroke champion. I was at the school from 1947 to 1954. John Bird was in my class in the first form. I also taught in the school (very badly) from 1961 to 1966.
Roger Horton (known for some reason, long forgotten, as Sam).