Miss Pett At Burgess Manor School.

Hello Susan, Miss Pett was my 1st year form teacher in 1960. Our class was in an annexe which was just for 1st years, I think it was a good idea as the main school seemed so huge after Junior School. She was a nice teacher, you've given a great description of her which brought many memories of her back to me. She taught us English and French. I'm sorry I don't know what happened to her though.

I don't remember those other teachers you mention but my other form teachers were Mrs November (3rd year) and Miss Borland (4th and 5th years), I can't remember who I had in the 2nd year. I didn't realise it at the time but I think it was a very good school.

The other teachers I remember are Mrs Fane - maths, Miss Kelly - typing and English, Mrs Andrews - History, and, of course, Miss Hurst the Headmistress, I kept out of her way. Did she have her chihuahua with her when you were there, she even had it with her in the dining hall, Diana

Hi there, I also went to Burgess Manor School from about 1965. I remember Miss Pett well too, she was our English/drama teacher. When some of our class left school we formed a drama group and used to meet up each week in Miss Pett’s Flat which was above Petchey’s garage I believe in Barking Road. Also remember Miss Borland,think she taught office practice and Miss Kelly. Mrs Fane and Mrs Andrews. Others that come to mind are Miss Gilbert (English,) Miss Hurley (R I,) Mr Chossack (Maths and Commerce I believe) as well as Miss Drury (French) and Miss Colley (music.) I loved it there and was sorry to leave. I lived in Altmore Avenue.

Carole P

Hello Diana and Carol. I was at the school from about 1963 - 67. The first form teacher i had was Miss Green, a young fluffy fair head teacher who was engaged. I remember Mrs Andrews and it's a mystery to me how i have loved history all my life as i thought her class very boring. Miss Borland for RI, Mrs Dewhurst HE Miss Andrews, English, Mrs Hayward, Needlework,We sometimes had Miss Night who wore a brown felt hat which looked like an upturned flowerpot with a flower in it. There was always talk about her feet, how big they were. Can't remember if it was my class or another that during a quiet time one girl crawled under Miss Nights desk and measured her feet with a ruler. Miss Alcott i mentioned was at the school for her first Teaching job. Some of the girls made her life a misery and she walked out in tears. I remember Miss Colley and Miss Drury although i didn't do French. Also a large lady whose first name was Leonora, could that be Mrs Fane? One of the Teachers i dreaded was Mrs Richardson, Art. She never seemed to grasp the fact that some of us were just not born to draw. She would swoop down with her bit of Charcoal and draw lines all over the drawing to demonstrate where the girl had gone wrong. Mrs West in the first year, Maths and Mrs Spencer choirs.The other teacher i disliked was the P.E teacher. Can't remember her name. Was very tall, short hair and seemed to be great friends with Miss Henry. Think she was H.E. Not sure i remember Miss Hurst having a dog. I remember her tinting her hair, pink, mauve etc and when i went to her office once she was sitting there with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Did Miss Pett ever talk about her life or mention it i.e where she came from etc Carol? Great to hear from you.
Susan

Hello again, must admit I don’t remember much about Miss Pett saying a lot about her life but will ask my best friend Linda who was in my class and came to drama club too. I also had Mrs West for maths and I think you are possibly correct about Leonora being Mrs Fane. I had Mrs Hayward for needlework too and vividly remember our first sewing task was to make our own P E kit, which was brown cotton shorts and a sleeveless yellow and white striped cotton top and remember one poor girl in the class using the machine and the needle went right through her finger! I can’t remember our PE teacher’s name either but your description sounds very similar and I also remember she had a Dalmatian dog she used to bring to school and leave in her car a lot of the time. History with Mrs Andrews I also found really boring, mostly learning dates and time lines etc but have also developed a love of history since leaving.
We used to call Miss Borland ‘Batty Borland’ as she was constantly batting her eyelashes which seemed to be littered with dandruff if I remember. I also remember a Polish Geography teacher called Miss Kensal and one day she was talking about the war and for some reason was berating England for something they did or didn’t do in the war. I can remember getting cross, standing up and singing ‘Rule Brittania’ at the top of my voice! I had to dodge a speeding board rubber for that and was sent to the head.......but the class thought it hilarious. We also gave student teachers the runaround and brought them to tears at times.....rotten weren’t we.........hee hee.

Ps........Miss Hurst did have a dog, it was one of those little papillon dogs, it was always in school with her.

Hi Susan and Carole, lovely to read your memories. I do remember always having so much homework every night, I really struggled when I started going out and then would be up till 1 finishing it. I think Burges Manor gave me a good start in life though, which I'm grateful for. I went to Lathom Infant and Junior School as did my sister Christine, but younger sister and brother went to Altmore.

I really liked Miss Borland when she was our form teacher, I thought she was nice, but I still see another girl from school who, I've only just found out, didn't like her at all because she slapped her for being late, the one and only time she was. I never knew that. My brother was at Langtons when Grammar and Secondary were joined together, said she was Deputy Head and was horrible, I was really shocked that he thought that.

Was Miss Dewhurst still there when you both started at the school, she taught cookery, and used to call us 'silly arses', I couldn't believe my 11 year old ears!!

There was an article on the Romford Recorder about Mrs Leonora Fane about 25 years ago with a photo, it said she was an opera singer who used to teach maths at senior school. I never knew that side of her. I remember being scared of her and not wanting to get my sums wrong. I also remember her being very strict, we all behaved ourselves.

Haha, I never saw Miss Hurst with a cigarette or pink hair, it was always short and steely grey and always looked stern, I never saw her smile, Diana

Hello. Nice to hear from you. I had Miss Borland for R.I and didn't like her much. In the first year we had a Mrs West who i think was Canadian. She used to walk slightly bent and many a child almost got caught 'taking her off'. My class spent a boring lesson while she went over bus time tables. I remember she was talking about an evening time of 7 p.m, she add ' just about the time you go to bed '. She was really genuinely surprised when we told her we went to bed much later than that. We couldn't understand how someone could think an 11 year old would go to bed at
7 p.m. Really liked Mrs Dewhurst although was very disappointed when one of our first lessons was to make a sandwich! The teacher i disliked the most was the P.E teacher. Can't remember her name but she was very masculine with short hair. When i did something wrong she was furious and said if i did it again she would ' lam? me one ' She was great friends with Miss Henry. Watching programmes about schools now they are so different.These schools all seem to have teachers that spend most of their time just talking over the children's problems. Nothing like that in my day. Susan.

Hi everyone I remember Miss Kelly as the teacher who had the most effect on my life, she encouraged me to run an art class for first years and involved me in the helping hand club and drama club. She was probably responsible for me winning the fourth year cup. I remember Miss Hurst and the French teacher who I remember was good friends with the music teacher. French teacher hated me, music teacher liked me ( I think!) as I was in the orchestra with my flute. I often wonder what happened to everyone. My friends were Georgina Rusz, Veronica Mobbs, Karen Avey etc. I left in 1970 and didn’t really stick around much after that. Good job I could sing as it took me off as I joined Mecca Ballrooms as a vocalist, married a musician and lived in Sussex. My daughters live in central London so I find myself back here often. Not sure if anyone would remember me as I was a bit of a loner. Met up with Ronnie a few years ago as she tracked me down in Mexico but sadly lost touch again. My name was Susan Extence although it seems strange to say it now as I’ve been Sue Harling for a lot longer.

Hello.
Nice to hear from you. We must have missed each other as i would think that i left as you arrived. I left in 67. Strange to say the name Veronica Mobbs does ring a bell. Girls in my class were Mary Shepherd, Susan Mills, Jeanette Baker to name a few. I was particularly friendly with Carol James and Stephanie Craddock. Stephanie lived in the sweet shop down a road at the side of the White Horse Pub. For reason's i can't remember we fell out and i later heard she and her parents moved to Devon. Stephanie suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis.I have over the years wondered what happened to her. Carol and i just drifted apart but we had some good times together. I remember she made me go with her to walk back and forth past a house in Charlemont Road just so she might have the chance of hearing the voice of a lad she fancied. He was Grammar school lad called Paul Atherton. I was often in trouble with the Teachers because i went to a dancing school which also did a lot of acting work and i was sometimes away from school to work as an 'Extra' although i preferred dancing. Danced on T.v a couple of times. May have gone on to drama school but woke up one day and decided i had, had enough.
Been married nearly 44 years, two daughters and live in Essex.

Wow, they’re all names I remember. I left in 1970, I’m 65 now, having stayed to do the exams. I can’t remember many names, it seems a lifetime ago. We lived in Caledon Road. I remember a girl whose surname was Yeo ( I think Carole) and a girl called Joanna whose family had a toy shop on the Barking Road, she had a friend called Maureen. Another girl I remember, her parents owned a stall/shop in the market. We went to a lot of parties back then in each other’s houses. I went to Hartley juniors and then transferred for just one term to Latham. Can’t say it was the best time of my life but definitely memorable. A lot has happened since then. I too have two daughters an actress and a cardio thoracic surgeon, both live and work in London. It was because of my experiences at school I opted for private education for them. Luckily my husband and I could do it. As I said my school days were very memorable. Lovely to hear from you, you certainly made me think back and remember, thank you xx Sue

I went to Burges Manor school and left in 1964. I remember my 1st year teacher was Miss Petit. She taught us French . We too was put in the classrooms under the clocktower. My second year teacher was Miss Lopez and third year Mrs November Music teacher and 4th year Miss Borland Typing. I was terrified of Miss Kelly. I left when I was 15 as I had my Typing and shorthand exams and got a job in the west end. I thought on the whole a good school. I hated Latham Jnrs. I live d next to the sweet shop in Caledon Road.

One thing of my friends was Lynne Ainsworth who later went and lived in the USA. Would love to hear from her

I've loved reading all these comments ! I used to be Barbara Baker and went to the school 1964-1969. I remember nearly all those names but particularly remember Miss Colley who was my form teacher who's friend was Miss Drury (we always wondered if they were more than friends!). Miss Hurst and Miss Drury (who I think was the Deputy Head) were known about and feared in my Junior School along with Miss Hoblin (I think it was who was the Head of East Ham Girls Grammar). Their reputations preceded them !!

I remember Miss Borland - she was the cause of one of my first ever fits of crying with laughter when the teachers put on a show one year on the stage Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. Miss Borland was only short wasn't she and therefore the last "thief" in a line of teachers in Ali Baba pots. She toppled over in hers and couldn't get out !! she was rolling from side to side until someone ran on and stood her upright again !! HA HAAAAA !! Does anybody else remember this?

I remember a young Northern teacher, think she was Miss Moore who must have taught us English. I have never forgotten her saying " why do you say off of?? I got off of the bus" You don't need the of - you just say I got off the bus ! and its never left me ! You see and hear that all the time and 50 years later I think of her. Wonder what happened to her in her life.

Mrs Andrews was the most boring history teacher ever. As someone said above, I've loved history all my life and no thanks to her !!!

Mrs Fane sent me home once because I'd forgotten my book (she was terrifying) and I got nearly home and realised I didn't have a key. Didn't DARE go back without it. We only had one of those big skeleton key locks then and I knocked on the door of a neighbour who used to take in lodgers to ask to borrow their key. One of the lodgers, an old boy called "Spider", had spent most of his life in prison and he lent me his key. My mum had a fit when I told her after school ! HAAAA! Next we knew we had a Yale lock !! Don't know why, we had nothing to pinch anyway !!!

I remember a PE teacher Miss Glen but she might have been in Napier Junior School and Miss Henry. Wow ! only young but could she control a class. Nobody messed about in her kitchen and she didn't even have to raise her voice !!

I remember when two male teachers joined us, little portly Mr Chossack and a tall, younger man who's name I can't recall.

Miss or Mrs Jarrold who I think taught Art. Remember Miss Pett's name but nothing about her. Miss Kurcell who was Polish I think and seemed very exotic !! :) Mrs West too.

I remember once two or three girls in a group were sent to stand at different points along the A13 to count the lorries and cars for a survey ! Can you imagine that today ??? 14yr old girls in school uniform with mini skirts standing near the A13 !! We got bored and left early, Lord alone knows where we went, but we got into trouble and had to see Miss Hurst.

Also remember being in the RE room, I'm sure it had tiered bench seating like a lecture room. If a girl played up the teacher used to get a small clump of hair and twist it til it hurt and rock their heads back and forth. They also used to throw the big blackboard rubber at you didn't they !! I never usually did anything wrong, was too scared of my parents if I got into trouble so its a wonder I left the A13 !!!!!

Lastly, I can remember teachers opening upstairs windows and shouting "Get off the grass" if you tried to cut across that big grass roundabout when you came in the gate.

I've got another tale about a ghost but won't go on in case no-one reads this mini novel !!!

Didn't know there was talk about Miss Colley and Miss Drury . Think people wondered about Miss Henry's and the p.e teacher. Although i can't remember her name i can picture her quite well. Very muscular, short hair and very bossy. Was my form teacher for a while. Someone in another post has mentioned a Lynn Ainsworth, think i remember her. Girls in my class were Mary Shepherd, Jeanette Baker, Susan Mills to name a few. I used to be good friend with Stephanie Craddock she lived in the sweet shop in the road down side of White Horse pub. As girls sometimes do we fell out and i think she went to live in Devon. Was very good friends with Carol James but lost touch after leaving school. I now live in Essex.