Former pupil Anthony Oliver shares some memories ...
I came to the Grammar School in late 1959 after leaving my old home city of Sheffield - my father had taken a job at Selleck Nichols, the architects company owned by English Clays.
After being accepted by the school I was taken to meet the headteacher and look around before my first real day at the school. I remember entering Mr. Brinkworth's office with my father and glimpsing a cane leaning against the wall in the far corner - it was one of those traditional types with curled-over handle - just as you would have seen in the comics of the day. What a first impression - and whilst my father was greeted with a normal 'Hello Mr Oliver', the first words from Brinkworth to me were 'Take your hands out of your pockets you slovenly boy'. You can imagine what was going through my head at the time!! I can't imagine what my father was thinking. Nevertheless that was probably my first wake up call for entering somewhere that turned out to be special to me and where my heart still flits to now and again.
I came to the Grammar School in late 1959 after leaving my old home city of Sheffield - my father had taken a job at Selleck Nichols, the architects company owned by English Clays.
After being accepted by the school I was taken to meet the headteacher and look around before my first real day at the school. I remember entering Mr. Brinkworth's office with my father and glimpsing a cane leaning against the wall in the far corner - it was one of those traditional types with curled-over handle - just as you would have seen in the comics of the day. What a first impression - and whilst my father was greeted with a normal 'Hello Mr Oliver', the first words from Brinkworth to me were 'Take your hands out of your pockets you slovenly boy'. You can imagine what was going through my head at the time!! I can't imagine what my father was thinking. Nevertheless that was probably my first wake up call for entering somewhere that turned out to be special to me and where my heart still flits to now and again.
I wonder too if anyone else remembers the great friendship of Mr Farnham-Flower and the French teacher Mr. Wareham (his nickname was 'Fluff'). One studied at Cambridge, the other at Oxford. Their houses were close to each other and were painted in either Cambridge or Oxford blue!
I still remember Mr Govier's mnemonic of the fantasy south sea island of SohCahToa of which he claimed to sail around during his navy days (Sine= Opposite/Hypotenuse, Cosine=Adjacent/Hypotenuse, Tangent=Opposite /Adjacent). If nothing else I learned a bit of maths at StAGS.
I still remember Mr Govier's mnemonic of the fantasy south sea island of SohCahToa of which he claimed to sail around during his navy days (Sine= Opposite/Hypotenuse, Cosine=Adjacent/Hypotenuse, Tangent=Opposite /Adjacent). If nothing else I learned a bit of maths at StAGS.
And speaking of John Nettles. Here's an early review.