Ex Holgate / Grammar School Pupils

Jack Livesey was my form master and Maths teacher in my first year. I was also taught by Prooth. My brother told me that in one lesson some boy whispered under his breath, referring to the bespectacled Norman, "Blind as a f***ing bat!", to which Norman responded: "Yes, but not as deaf as a post", and promptly dished out an appropriate punishment.

 

You were probably in the same year as my uncle then, Dave Waddington.

 

Two ways of getting out of having to do any work in Mr. Jarvis’s lessons.

1. “Sir, do you reckon the Reds will win on Saturday?”
2. “Sir, what was it like during the war?”

Then sit back and listen for 25 minutes!

 

Weird that! I enquired about is shortly after the building had been demolished. Soneone told me it had been relocated to Cooper Art gallery: Was that not true or was it a temporary thing?

I started at Holgate (2nd year) moving to Barnsley from Blackpool the same year 'Smithy' became the new head. 1967-72
Hated every minute!! Me and Vince Prooth had a hate/hate relationship. Threw me out of a lesson in teh 6th form once when he rambled on about making tea and why we stirred it (to cool it in his opinion. I said in a stage whisper " I always thought it was to make sure the sugar dissolved"... he went crackers and sent me to the library (for the umpteenthg time) I wen into teh library and the teacher on duty (I forget his name) looked up and simply said " Mr Prooth... I nodded and he just said... " find a space"
EDIT: The teacher on duty was Norm Goddard!! (History?) Great bloke. Saw him a few times after I had left. Never had any 'run ins' with him at school.
When I passed my English Lit A level and we went into the head's study to get our A level result Vince looked at me an looked at my result (B) and said " I have a good mind to query that result (bearing in mind we had 4 different English teachers over the A level two years). I just smirked at him. Vince was a ****!
As an adult I came to realise almost all of the teachers were actually OK and just doing the job they were paid to do. Oh and special mention for 'piggy' Bacon who also went to Broadway was a **** as my wife (who went to Broadway concurs. He used to pick boys up by their sideburns or ears if their hair was too short! Not as bad as Vince though.
We had Mr.Hunt for form master one 6th form year. he was quite diminuitive and used to wear a double breasted blazer and looked a bit like a sailor. So when he arrived after lunch one day half a dozen of the form lined up with recorders and 'piped him aboard' We thought it was hilarious. He..err...did not! Best teacher was 'Wes' Hall.. Economics. Once condoned one of my classmates using Playboy centre fold as an example of 'supply and demand' based on size of said centrefold models chest measurements. That said he bombarded us with pages of banda- master notes (remember them) every week. Used to put my back out carrying them home. By the time we finished teh 2 years A level studies we were practically at degree level. I think he ended up at LSE....?

 

And his classic...

'I want you to go down to the caretaker, get a shovel, go up to the playing fields and bury yourself lad! BECAUSE YOU'RE NO BLOODY USE TO ME!

 

I started in 63. I was in Holgate house.

 

I started at Holgate in 1993 and took part in the reading of the names from the board in a special assembly that was held every year.

Although I attended Holgate many years after the majority that have commented in this thread it was still a place that had many characters and wasn't for the faint hearted.

We had teachers such as

Mr Round - always insistent on watching you in the shower "I've seen it all before boy" and would occasionally crack you on the backside with a wet towel!

Mr Manderson- great teacher, had a nickname for everyone and an uncanny ability to scare the sh## out if you with just a stare!

Mr Lewis - The RE teacher that was nicknamed Buddah, I think he had a breakdown and stopped teaching.

Mr Whittington - woodwork teacher, apparently he didn't like being called Dick!

Good Times that set you up for life

 

I love that one!!

 

Ah! thanks for clearing that up.

 

I remember that. Would you believe it was all about Russian domination of the Balkans!
Familiar.

 

Some would undoubtedly but the new school opened in early 1912, so why the memorial wasn't in the new school I have no idea.

 

Mr. Prooth, pretty good with a foil or epee. Scary that, letting him loose with a weapon. I collected my A-Level results in '79 and the afore mentioned approached. I expected some form of congratulations for my A grade, instead he stood in front of me, looking up, of course, then with his cockney twang very evident, as it was when perplexed, little bit of white spittle evident in the corner of his mouth, as it was when perplexed, blurted out "******* hell Shaw how did you manage that". At least Spot was more convivial about my B.

 

I went to Wilthorpe too, then Holgate. Rarely went to the infants, as I was a really ill kid, waiting for an operation for hole in the heart. I had that when I was 7, so pretty much did the full terms there. Mr Rushworth was head.

 

After finishing o levels in 69 a few of us wanted to leave a few days early to go away on holiday so had to see Headmaster smith. He said we could if we all had our hair cut.Agree with earlier post that you didn’t realise how good it was at the time.eg Going to Germany playing football at 14 and the introduction to alcohol.

 

Too true. Went to Belgium in 76, football and bierre. Mr. Mellor in charge.......halcyon days.

 

.Horace and Norman usually attend the Holgate Old Boys annual dinner every January.
They don't look any older than when I left in 1963.

 

Was that the same whittington we had at "the Oaks" in the 70s?

 

Mr Round was there in late 70s. He was exactly like you say, obsessed with making sure everyone had a shower.
I broke my collar bone once in one of his games lessons and according to him it was a dislocated shoulder so he had a go at popping it back in the daft b*****d, pretty painful I can tell you!
Mr Lewis was also there in my time.