School Opening

A Memory of Baildon.

I was a pupil when the school first opened and at that time it was known as Baildon County Secondary School West Lane. Three of my happiest years were spent at this school where the staff dedicated much of their time to extra curricular activities including football, cricket, athletics, cross country and many more sports. Especially enjoyable was a whole variety of outward bound pursuits lead by Mr Cogan who took us on numerous camping, potholing, climbing, YHA trips in the Yorkshire Dales and Brittany in France. Allan Crapper and myself even slept out in an igloo we built during one particular bad winter. Our cricket team won the Bradford Schools Cricket Trophy two years in a row in 1964 and 1965. We also had a successful football team that was runner up in one of the Bradford Football Sheilds in either 1964 or 1965. Mr Ogden was the headmaster, Mr. Turner for Science, Mr Davis for Geography, Mr Sid English for English, Mr Bill Morgan for History, Miss Myers for Music and Mr Randolp Overend for P.E. Unfortunately I cannot remember my math teacher's name but he finally got the "penny to drop" for me and this subject has become one of my favourites in my more mature years. They were all wonderful teachers that created a great bond with all their pupils. My class mates included Dave Whithead, Jimmy Kinsella, Nigel Wood, Philip Chester, Allan Crapper, Phil (Tweedy) Harris, Susan Booth, Susan Herity, Stuart Bairstow, Jeff Barstow, Geof Bailey, Lawrence Abraham to name but a few. I now live in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA but travel back to the UK fairly frequently and occasionally I take a trip down memory lane and return to Baildon where I enjoyed some of my happiest years.