Whittlebury memories
Here are memories of Whittlebury and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Whittlebury or a Whittlebury photo.
Frog
I was a student (ahum...) at Whittlebury from 1963-1965. I remember the Jaffa brothers (one was a prefect). Also the maths teacher, "Sooty", whose green Mini was once found on the gym stage, with wheels removed, before morning assembly. I raced old bangers around the grounds with other rowdies. One very cold winter, we went skating daily (instead of rugby) on the lake. Lots of fishing there too. Nurse "prick" also lived up to her reputation, mine remembers. Cross country runs afforded the possibilty of watching Jim Clark, GT 40s etc at the Silverstone circuit. I am out of touch with any old acqaintances I had at Whittlebury and quite honestly, I don't remember any of them. Does anyone remember me? I would love to hear from you!
Whittlebury School
The Old Boys, hope there are plenty still around. Got dumped off at the main entrance during 1956, Trunk and Tuck Box which immediately was commandeered or used as a bribe to get a decent bed. I remember being shut out on the balcony most of a very cold night. There were three houses at the time, Ewart,Chester and Sheldon. Also the Sunday night Cinema in the same room as the Tuck Shop, was only given 2/6d a term to spend in it. Run by Mr & Mrs Shelton. Head was Major Meager, his wife was Belgian I believe and his son Anthony was at the school (pupil). Making Canoe's in woodwork classes to use on the lake. They were promptly sunk by having the canvas cut from under water. Remember Will's who used to play the piano for morning and Sunday service. Plenty of Escape's only to be dragged back a few days later. Remember the lovely Miss Brooks and the three Irish Girls to whom I used to... Read more
Whittlebury School
Ah, the memories. I am the Miss Brooks mentioned and I remember well Christopher Thurston, music teacher and Willoughby Johns with whom I went to a "do" at Cambridge. Also, Elizabeth, Major Meager's secretary who married Kingsley Thompson (I was bridesmaid). I wonder if these people are still alive. What was the name of the "man of all trades" who took care of the grounds. I can remember having to help cook hundreds and hundreds of eggs because the kitchen help had left. and washing clothes because the laundry staff had gone.
Happy Days at Whittlebury School 1953-58
I have been trying to remember the School House names. I think there were 4, one being Ewart, the head's Christian name. I was a member of both football and cricket teams. I was also a House Captain, the phrase Poachers turned Gamekeepers comes to mind! One of the boys, Andrew Graham, owned/leased a farm on the circuit of Silverstone which enabled 6 or 7 of us to spectate at very close quarters. In the grounds was a fair-sized lake, very cold which we used for occasional swimming but this was stopped after several of us emerged with nasty creepie-crawlies in our nether regions!
Whittlebury Lodge College
Hello, I have just found this site, and has brought back many memories. I was at the school from 1961 to 1965, I remember that I was in Clare House, eventually being its house captain in 1965. Reading the entries already shown above, nigel's expulsion I certainly remember and also an incident that he and I enjoyed together, namely one Saturday we were both enjoying a late visit to Northampton, and on our return while hitch-hiking back to the school, we were picked up by none less than Meager himself, needless to say that as we were both in a bad way it was a very quiet trip home. It would be good to hear from anyone who remembers me, particularly those who frequented the art room, with first Mr Johnson and then Peter Welsh, the only masters that had a significant effect on my life and career. Some of the names that come to mind are as follows: Terry Sladden, Austin Martin, Paul Edmunds, Mike Walker, John Keyser and the... Read more
Whittlebury School 1960-63
Ah Whittlebury! Always knew that infamous dump would surface on the www sooner or later. A regime model for any totalitarian state, I still remember the oppression and dehumanisation that prevailed there, where the only way out was up (join the oppressors) or out (escape to brief freedom before the police picked you up and you were seamlessly reinserted). I remember only half-jokingly forming an escape committee, and the boy who cunningly concealed himself in the deer park for a week, in a bramble thicket, to whom we smuggled out supplies of food filched from the kitchens before he chose to walk back in. Also recall liberating saws from the woodwork room one freezing night in '62 and sawing off antlers from the frozen stags in the moonlight. I took three O levels with a 'select' group when I was fifteen and then virtually gave the whole thing up as a con, spending most of the time in the Art room under the genial eye of Dennis Johnson. Then went... Read more
Whittlebury School Reunion ?
Is there an interest in a reunion of all the old boys from the school? I was thinking along the lines of a once only in say mid 2011, if I could have some feedback and see what happens. Contact is tim@cmmassoc.co.nz
Whittlebury School
Martin, I believe I remember you, and I also remember Phillip Sproughton. I would like to hear from you. What happened to Major Meager, and Miss Brooks? John Pink
Memory of School
Mr Thurston, music master. Mr Meager, Major Meager's father, also music teacher, remember him as a very old man, another master, Mr Pepper, I believe at the end of term whilst going home had a car accident, collided into a bus in thick fog. Do you remember Wells pupil, also John Luston. Jeffrey Watts, Pen A Pen B. Morris I can remember at Chicherly Hall, when they were making good on a new tuck shop, just before opening we were all queuing for food when somebody threw a boot over the top, hitting Mr Smith the English teacher, he came out and blamed Morris for it who had nothing to do with it. Hope to hear from you,
John Pink
Old Boys
I can remember pupils attending: Malcolm Airey, Clive/Bill Needham, Christopher Strother, Antony Meager, Pinkerton, Baxter, Kimberley, George Wallace, Ward, Philip Lacey, my brothers Stephen and Mark Pink. I am John Pink. Staff I can remember are Major Meager, Mr Rhodes, Mr Smith, Mr Burr, Mr Thurston, Mr Ryan, Major Hyde-Upward. The Matrons Mrs Smith, Miss Brooks. Mr Smith, master. Philip Sproughton, Mr and MrsShelton who were responsible for maintenance. Other old boys are Robert Sewell, Castle, John Bugden, Michael Hayes, Dampney. I wonder how they are all getting on.
Whittlebury Lodge College
I was a pupil at Whittlebury College 1962-1964 . The school was run by Major Meager and his wife as a sort of "crammer" for those of us who needed to get more help for O and A levels. The teachers were perhaps not the best in the county but did help many to get the O levels that were needed, including myself but not in my subjects as I was expelled before I could take three more O Levels. I was seen smoking a Woodbine in the coppice just north of the school and was reported by a prefect (who I did not get along with). Lester Piggott's (the well known jockey) son was a junior at the school and his mother and father were particularly upset to find their fine young son had taken a puff or two of a Woodbine or similar! Major Meager was quick to make a new rule that anyone caught smoking would be punished too the maximum extent! I had been caned before by... Read more
Memories of Northamptonshire
Dreams
Now living in Australia, when we think of England we think of the Brave Old Oak when it was kept by Tony and Sylvia Hackett. What a magical Inn, what a magnificient couple, they represented everything unique about English Innkeeping. Friends tell us it is now a pigstye patronised by yobs, a disgrace to a lovely English Market Town
6th Northwood Scouts go Hostelling
I remember staying at the youth hostel in Greens Norton with the patrol leaders of the 6th Northwood Scout Group. I was an ASL (Assistant Scout Leader) with the troop for several years and as I had always loved going to the YHA hostels I suggested a couple of days' cycling for the older boys. Maybe the other leaders knew more than me as none of them volunteered to come with me! So I finished up leading a party of half a dozen 15-year olds with their bikes. Money was tight - I think there was an economic recession at the time - so we availed ourselves of Kellogg's cornflake packet coupons which could be redeemed for free railway tickets. And so we obtained a handful of train tickets for the boys and their bikes for the 30th and 31st March. We took a train northwards, I can't remember just where now, and then practised our navigation with the local Ordnance Survey maps to get ourselves to the little YHA hostel... Read more
My Father: Italian Prisoner During The Last World War
Hello, I am the son of an Italian prisoner who spent a long period in Potterspury (according to my father's memory). I am in search of information on that period. My father worked there as a labourer on a farm, I don't know the name of that family, but I would like to thank those people and in particular the owner of that farm. I am looking for someone who met my father: my father's name was Carlo Crippa from Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Thanks a lot for any info. mail address : gianfranco.crippa@libero.it Gianfranco Crippa
St John's School
I remember the Sunday March to Tiffield Church from St John's School and return. I remember masters there - Betteridge, Faid, Wooley and the young lads 'lusting' after Headmaster's daughter!! The good teaching received there.
My 'friends' and our adventures on our 'Day Out', Sinnott jumping into the canal to give us an excuse for returning late to school ... whatever happened to them all??? 'Ricky' Richardson, 'Wiggy' Roberts and many others!! The friendly villagers. The 1st Tiffield Scout Troop at St Johns. My becoming Troop Leader. The trips to cinema in Towcester, Northampton. Cricket, football, played at school playing fields. Memories I have carried through my life. Returning from a 'Task' with RAF in late 1980s, I saw St John's empty, looking forlorn. No doubt a factory or housing estate now in 2008. What is Tiffield like now? Are there any persons 'Out There' who have similar memories?
I enjoyed my stay there, 1948/51. Then National Service called just as I returned home to Bristol. The 'Lads' came... Read more
Swimming Pool
Any of you remember the swimming pool that was built by the kids who where there, Mr Cliff was the instructor while that was being built, I got there just at the very end of it being built. After I was there for awhile I joined Mr Cliffs building class and became a bricklayer, and it served me good until 1976, then I got to the point I couldn't do it no more over here in Florida, as it was to hot. I did work on the new class rooms there and after placing the memorial stone in the first building I was allowed to go home.Thanks Tiffield.
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