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My Father At Doncaster Grammar School

A Memory of Doncaster.

My father John Granville Turner attended Doncaster Grammar School in the 1910s. He was born in 1904 so would have started in the early 1910s, I assume. He was for a time a boy soprano at the school. He also spent at least one Christmas at Shibden Hall but there is no record of him there so I wonder if he visited to sing, as I believe the owner at that time invited a choir to sing carols. If anybody has any knowledge which could confirm he attended the school or visited Shibden - or refute both - I and the rest of the family would be very interested. He died in 1964 and all his immediate family which lived in the Halifax/Tickhill area are now deceased. Incidently, he took my brother and myself to Shibden Hall around 1955 but my only memories are of being scared that the floor didn't look very safe, and of a bus which had crashed off whatever hill we climbing and was at lying on its side far below (to me). Any information would be most interesting.
Thank you.
Richard Granville Turner

Added 07 December 2008

#223332

Comments & Feedback

I lived in Bentley from 1938 to 1965. My understanding of Doncaster Grammar Schol at that time was as a highly respected secondary school so, unless it had changed, it is likely that your father would have attended perhaps 6 years later. My attention was caught by your reference to a bus crash. I mistakenly thought it might refer to one, a double decker which ran off the railway bridge linking Bentley Road to High Street. It crashed down the embankment on to waste ground in front of Austerfield Avenue, from memory it would be around 1946/49. My father heard the noise and phoned the emergency services. It's strange to remember that private telephones were not common at the time and we had one for the butchery business

By Norman Day on Tue Sep 24th 2019, at 9:09 am

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The school is now called Hall Cross School, it was renamed in about 1983. It's still at the old site in Thorne Road, Doncaster. That building in the picture is still there, and was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, who also designed St Pancras' station in London. They have an alumni association which is called the Old Danensians, with a website. Also the school have a large archive and at least one archivist who looks after all the material in it. I'm sure they would be happy to help research your father if you were to contact the school? Best wishes, Dave.

By davidodaly on Mon Dec 2nd 2019, at 9:52 pm

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