Old
Foresters
We would very much like to hear from "Old Foresters"
who would like to publish their letters on our web site.
I
started at the wonderful Forest School in 1938 when I was 5 years
old, under the Miss Cleggs. Keep
up the good work. |
| I
was a pupil at Forest School, following in my brother Ernest's footsteps,
from around 1943 to 1946. This was the era of Big Miss Clegg, Miss
Scott, Miss Ashevere (sp?) and Little Miss Clegg, respectively in
charge of Mimwood, Jordan, Chorlton and Kersal (which was 'my' house).
I remember racing around the pathways in the garden playing Spitfires
and Hurricanes (once in a while you had to be a 'Messy' [Messerschmitt]
since there was no-one to shoot down otherwise. The pathway formed
a square, in the middle of which was an air raid shelter - I never
remember going down there, and cannot believe it would have accommodated
many of our four or five classes!
When summer came around, we used to be marched
down to the tennis court (grass then, but I think tarmacked over
as a playground not many years later) to practise for school sportsday,
a splendid occasion, involving egg and spoon races, sack races and
a fathers' race among other events - some parents were always recruited
to help with timing and holding tapes etc. One criterion for a parental
invitation might have turned upon the splendour of the blazer a
father could produce - I can still see one in my mind's eye belonging
to a Mr Hodkinson which was of particular distinction - as was he,
in my eyes, since he bowled spin for Timperley Cricket Club, which
was the height of my own ambition at the time. All the grounds were
well maintained by a gardener whose name I have been struggling
to recall - he was definitely known only by his surname, which was
something like Calderwood. (Any Old Foresters who could put me straight?)
I recall with especial pleasure playing netball in the yard between
the buildings as you came in to the school (boys as well as girls
played) and walking down to Timperley Cricket Ground where we were
allowed to play on the outfield - the beginning of what has been
a lifelong passion for me.Our chasing games based on World War 2 combat
in the air took a rather more immediate form in my case. One Sunday
afternoon in early February, 1945, as I was reading The Knockout
Fun Book lying on the settee after lunch, a Barracuda light aircraft
from RAF Ringway (now Manchester Airport) crashed into our house
on Park Road, demolishing the front of it entirely. My mother, father
and I, incredibly, escaped without a scratch; the poor pilot died
upon impact. My brother was at bible class in Hale, and came home
on the bus to discover his home in ruins - but with my mother running
towards him at the bus-stop to assure him that his family were all
safe.
From Forest, I went to Sale High School. My form mistress there
was a sister of the Misses Clegg - she was always known at Forest
as 'Manchester Miss Clegg', since Sale was linked to Manchester
Grammar (though you still had to take the entrance exam to get in
to MGS!). That was where I went next and then, after National Service,
to Oxford to read English literature. I subsequently returned to
teach at Manchester Grammar for most of the sixties, apart from
a year as an exchange teacher at Newton High School in Massachusetts
which, by a fortunate chance, led to a summer working in teacher
education for Harvard. And that is what much of the rest of my life
has involved - working with student teachers and teachers at both
Secondary and Primary levels, based in the School of Education,
Exeter University. I've been exceptionally lucky and thoroughly
enjoyed my career. I worked abroad on many occasions, from Outer
Mongolia and Brazil to rather more conventional surroundings in
Canada, the States, Australia and Poland. I've written a fair amount
- my special areas of interest have included drama and children's
literature, and in early retirement I retained some of my interests
- so that nowadays I still work in those fields, both as an enthusiast
and as a paid role play actor (training medical students, for example,
when I have role-played patients with pretty well every illness
known to human kind) and as a teller of traditional tales in schools.
Manchester and Timperley seem a long way from the cob and thatch
cottage on a Devon hillside where I live now, but my memories of
Forest School, its pupils and its teachers, are all positive ones.
I was delighted to discover the website - not least to see the children
playing lacrosse, which was another sporting passion throughout
my life.
With very best wishes to the school,
Geoff Fox
|
Forest had a very special visitor last week. As part of our Remembrance Day assembly, Mr. Burman, an ex- Forester came to talk to the children about his duties as a Royal Engineer during the Second World War. After assembly, Mr Burman visited the classroom with his photos taken during the war.
|
|
I attended
Forest School, leaving in 1965. My home was in Hale at the time
- this meant two bus journeys!
After a short time as a trainee Quantity Surveyor I decided to join the police and after two years in Lancashire Constabulary, stationed at Blackpool, I transferred to Greater Manchester Police - where I ended up as a Chief Superintendent in charge of the Learning and Development Branch. I retired in October, 2005, and as well as engaging in consultancy with police forces in the UK and Europe I have spent a great deal more time on chainsaw carving. I
am married with three children and live near Rostherne, Cheshire.
I
have memories of Major Lilley, who taught various subjects - and
cricket! And Miss Cready who was there for a short time. Finally
I recall Mr and Mrs Hooperwerth were the Headteachers at the time.
Very
fond memories - lots of new facilities but all the older classrooms
seem smaller than I recall!
Tim Burgess
|
| Hi,
|
Graeme