Brimington Secondary Boys 1957 To 1961

A Memory of Brimington.

I went Brimington Boys School, off Springvale Road, from Sept 1957 to July 1961. I must say that I enjoyed my secondary education, made loads of friends, and liked most of the teachers, apart from Thrack Kelly the Headmaster, who was a bit like Hitler but taller. At least there was disipline in those days, not like today. There was Bob Bailey - Tech Drawing, if you were unruly he would teach you about tangents, straight line touching a circle, and in his case it was a lump of wood touching your backside. Mr Leaning - Geography, Mr Fisher - English, Nobby Clarke - Maths, Terry Canon - History, Rubin Crofts - Gardening and things , Mr Seal -Science, Mr Lewis - RE & Drama, Mr Wilkinson - PE, Peter Staniforth - Art, Chiseler Wood - Woodwork, Mr Smith - Metalwork and we had a trainee teacher, Mr Henry - who was like one of the boys. We also had great school dinners, cooked on the premises in the kitchens, it was real food, and from about 11am onwards my mouth would be watering with the smell. At Christmas, the last PE lesson would consist of the game of pirates, whereby all the equipment would be put out, and the aim of the game would be to avoid touching the floor at all costs, so you would climb the ladders and ropes, swing onto the horse and forms to try to avoid being tagged. Can't see the Health and Safety do-gooders putting up with that these days. I always remember as well, if a fight took place in the playground, and the teachers found out, it was taken to the Gym where the culprits were fitted out with boxing gloves and told to sort it out. We also went on some great trips, I had 2 weeks in Devon, staying at a boarding school in Newton Abbot, and 2 weeks skiing in Switzerland, I remember Terry Cannon & Mr Henry going on that trip. We also used to make slides in the playground after it had snowed, can't see them doing that either now. In autumn we also played conkers. There was an evening youth club at the school, I think 2 nights a week, which we all went to.