Memories

Contributed by Harry Hesketh.

I was delighted to receive this short memoir from Harry, who must be this website's Senior Contributor by quite a wide margin. [But see NOTE at foot of page.LD]

Harry's note paints a picture of a time when teachers conducted themselves like professionals and were respected for it. The dedication that was so apparent in those days contrasts sharply with the strident shop-floor militancy of many of today's 'chalkface workers.'

I also wish to make it clear that the views expressed in the preceding paragraph are my own.

"I entered the school in 1933, left in 1939 and managed one year at Bristol before volunteering to join the navy. These jottings were written after my daughter asked me to write about my life some years back. I liked the way you wrote about the old school because I reacted in a similar way when, about nine years ago, I passed the site and saw only railings.
The change to the grammar school meant going out of the village, collecting a uniform, and travelling daily by bus. Looking back from this distance I do not remember being threatened by the change and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the wide range of boys and girls who, along with me, were intent on making their way in the world. This was at a time when a large percentage of the working population had great respect for education and for the teachers who molded many of us into scholars.
We were not afraid of competition in the classroom. Homework was set regularly and marked promptly, and all the marks were added up each week to provide a class order. This was no mean feat by the form teacher as we were thirty in a class. (I should add that after the war I spent my life in schools in Kenya and the U.K.)
Class discipline was of little worry but Mr, Wilson (the Head) and Miss Westwood kept everyone in good order. The timetable was very full, taking in Woodwork (first two years), English, History,Geography, French, Latin, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Art, P.E. and games. Throughout school, games played a large part in my life. Cricket and soccer were the major team games but I also played tennis, badminton and fives.
Mr Hill and an old boy, Archie Ingham, were prominent in the soccer world and Mr. Western drove us all over the Manchester area to play fives matches. Ken Wolstenhome kept goal, H.B Seed played in the forwards, and Ken Ashton, Freddie Lister and Stan Harrop played cricket."

NOTE: That wide margin didn't last long. Within days of adding Harry's memoir to the website I heard from Norman Alcock, who also started at FGS in 1933. Norman sent no fewer than seventeen splendid pre-war photographs, which are now in Wrinklies' Corner.
P.S. (June 2004): We've now been able to add a profile of the late Sydney Beech, who was at FGS from 1928 until 1931. Sydney was a journalist who spent much of his working life in Tasmania; you can see a selection from his weekly feature column here, together with the reference written for him in 1931 by James McCarter, who was Headmaster at the time.

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