Westridge - End of term class photos

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

11 hours ago, Canny lass said:

I thought nr 16 might be the head girl. I remember the head girl as always having a 'sash' like the one she's wearing. She's also wearing the school tie which makes me think she's a pupil rather than a teacher. Just a thought.

Number 11 reminds me of George Mitcheson. Would that name ring a bell, HPW?

 

9 hours ago, James said:

No 13 is Bobby Cross. After completing his GCE, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was in a few movies.

Heh heh!....Spot on Lass! ....after you prompting me,I have a clearer memory of Davy Lees [Head Boy] and this lass,who as you suggest was Head Girl.[they were a year older than those in our class ]

She was a bonny lass,but a canna mind her name.[glaaky me thinking she was a teacher,cos she resembles my memory of Mrs Nicholson,who was a lovely teacher],[music].

Davy was so well-liked as Head Boy,a real inspiration to all the pupils,that Mr Epsley made a brass trophy,and chromed it in the metalwork class,cos he showed us in the class how it was done using Acid and other elements [Chromium Dioxide? ....] in a big chroming bath.

He engraved it with the title..."The Lees Trophy" and it was awarded to the House which gained the most house points each month.

Anybody remember it sitting on the little trophy shelves adjacent to each house shield? [I was in Bamburgh..never got the trophy that I can ever remember...it was always Dunstanburgh or sum other house!]

Some of the class have changed going into adulthood,that it's getting ti be a puzzle recognising them again after so long!

Would that be Davy Lees sitting next to the Head Girl,but I thought He left for college before I left...?..[I have a different picture of what I thought he looked like in my mind!]

George Mitcheson doesn't ring a bell Canny Lass.

No 13 .....Bobby Cross....?...hmm,he was in my class from 5 yrs old infants ,Whitley,and Westridge School,and was a bloody good actor!![I worked with his Dad..Bobby Senior.. who was an Overman at Choppington High Pit,a real nice fella,just like young Bobby ].....and I was so sure this was Ted Smout who was also in my class all my school life,so much of a resemblance, but after prompting....again! ..and scrutinising,and also referring to my class pic aged 5 yrs at the infants,with reflection,Ted had very fair hair,and Bobby was dark haired.

I have to agree it,s Bob![it's aaful wat aad-age does ti ya brain sumtimes!

Eggy,please re-name No 16 as Head Girl,till you have her name.

Many thanks for bringing back lots of other memories by seeing me old mates,Len ,Eddie,Micky,and Lorna...[she was also in my class all my school life,and a lovely lass all the way through till I left school.]

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

This was taken at the Bedlington Village Infants School which has just recently been demolished,in 1950 Class 2.

That's HPW [with the dimples!] top left,then Jim Hardy,[who has full credit for asking the "LEADER"  press editor to print it in the free press paper,a few years ago].

Next to Jim,is Jackie Hindmarsh,[3rd top left],then Tom Logan,Martin Nicholson..[think],Joe Hale,Brian Redpath,Tommy Hindmarsh,Tommy Tyler[think!],?,Norman Furness,Brian Richmond..[think],?,

Middle row....[L]..Alan Spowart,?,Jimmy Russell,Joan Henderson.[think],Ian Darling,?,Ronnie Leyland,Rita Wheallans,Raymond Barrat,?,Bobby Cross,Joan Bell..[think],?,Davy Kane.

Bottom row: Lorna Barker,?,?,Margaret Thackeray,?,Lillian Moore,?,Doreen Dagless,Maureen Dean,Rosemary Oliver,?,Sandra Short.

Three holding the Class board:?,Ted Smout, Eddie Simpson.

42 Pupils all well-behaved and under control at all times!...even on Nature Walks right down the black path to the Furnace Bank and back on summer and autumn days![with one teacher!]...and none of us "hyper".

Some have never changed in appearance,and are instantly recogniseable!

Alan Wilkinson should have been on this pic but wasn't for some reason.

Edited October 14, 2016 by HIGH PIT WILMA
add name

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

HPW - would you like me to try and find out, from Bedlington Facebook sites Bygone Bedlington & Bedlington remembered, any more names or do you want this photo to stay on this site only? Otherwise HPW might be identified!

Would you like the photo uploaded (when Admin sort out my current upload fault) into the 'Bedlington Village School' album on this site? If yes then with or without names added to the photo and No 1 labelled as H.P.W. ? 

Edited October 14, 2016 by Eggy1948

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi Eggy!

I  don't go on Facebook or any other place except Flickr,so why not label me as Hpw,and post it wherever,without any names and see who comes up with what...does that make any sense to you...I'm thinking of the other pupils,but some  are already named on the Westridge pics above!

I've always been wary of Facebook from horror stories from other folks![is that an unjustified way of thinking?!]

I really would be chuffed if we cud get all the pupils named for my own sanity!!....racking and racking me dumb brains!

Just about 9 oot o' ten of these kids were  my friends and next door neighbours at Hollymount Square,Millfield,Beatty Road,"The Parky Gang"..[from owa the park aside the Whitley School],and we went from class to class all the way through school actually sitting next to the same friend,and until recently,I used to be able to recall

who sat where  right across the class,but since that crash a year and a haaf ago,and noo on drrrruuuuuuggggssss[!],for me pains,a think my memory is being compromised artificially!

Thanks a lot for all the gud work ye dae Eggy!!

Much appreciated!

Yes to Bedlington Village School album![ I didn't know there was one!]

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Aa canna figure oot hoo they arranged the remove classes,cos haaf my mates,[lads and lasses] are in middle remove,when they were in my class from the infants school!! Yet some were brainier than me and I was in the upper remove,was it ti dae wi birth dates or wat?

Can anybody tell me please!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Aa canna figure oot hoo they arranged the remove classes,cos haaf my mates,[lads and lasses] are in middle remove,when they were in my class from the infants school!! Yet some were brainier than me and I was in the upper remove,was it ti dae wi birth dates or wat?

Can anybody tell me please!

[Vic Patterson]

Hi HPW, #21 your friend and now my wife Doreen (Dot Patterson) Dagless.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Aa canna figure oot hoo they arranged the remove classes,cos haaf my mates,[lads and lasses] are in middle remove,when they were in my class from the infants school!! Yet some were brainier than me and I was in the upper remove,was it ti dae wi birth dates or wat?

Can anybody tell me please!

HPW - George Mitcheson is a member of the Bedlington Remebered Facebook group and he has added some names to the latest photo. He did say that the photo was not Upper Remove as there are pupils from 4 different years on the photo. I replied to him saying I had no idea how the Westridge Remove system worked but had no further reply. Perhaps the answer is close to us - Bluebary or Canny Lass.

I will do my best to get some more names for the Village School photo and I will (when the system allows me) add the photo, with names, into the Gallery - Historic Bedlington -Bedlington Village School album. I could pass the photo to Brian Redpath's niece but I have no idea if her uncle is still around.

All the Westridge photos you have commented on, that have posted in various topics, plus a few from Facebook groups, have also been added to an album - Westridge School - End of term class photos. 

Update on the latest Westridge photo is - Allana that posted the photo is the daughter of No 9 Christine Sutcliffe. She says her mam has more photos so I asked her to post them :- 

 

Edited October 14, 2016 by Eggy1948

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi Eggy!

Two dates here!....and not 1959 unless it was taken after the summer holidays and two thirds of the class had left school!

It seems I was mistaken about Nos 9,13,and 17,and apologise for that although I would have staked my aad age pension on 13 being Lorna,and 17 being Lillian...

The likenesses are remarkable,my Wife even thought 17 was Lillian Moore,sadly now deceased..R.I.P Lillian.

Here is a list of my class in 1959,those that I remember,up to the end of term and the time to leave school at 15 yrs of age...which I did...among others!

Billy Brown , Trevor Hale ,Jimmy Scott, Ian Campbell,Eddie Hedley,Micky Lucas,Derek McGregor,Dennis Green,Bobby Cross,Len Thompson,Ted Smout,Billy Allison,Martin Nicholson,Barry [?][nicknamed "Barf"..smashing lad!],Derek Goodall,Lorna Barker,Pat Purcell,Lynne Hayes,Barbara Thornton,Isobel Bowman,Joan Henderson,Lilian Moore,Rosemary Oliver,I think Joan Hogg was in as well,and a red-headed girl called Sheila Miller?.

If we could get a pic from the end of that term,showing all these ,now that wud please the hell out of me!

Dennis Green went on to be a chief of the Police in Scotland years ago.

I often wonder how all the others faired,some I do know,but the majority I don't.

I do know Billy Allison went doon a dark wet hole,and craaled aroond in darkness like a Mole!

[Canny lass]

Could this be a group photo of the prefects together with the head boy and the head girl? That would account for the different ages.

As for 'remove classes' I vaguely remember Mr. Hemming visiting Junior Remove, within the first few days of my starting at Westridge, and explaining to us that it was a class which - if they worked hard - would be allowed an extra year of study in which to obtain GCE O-levels. At that time, the standard, compulsory secondary education lead to the Northern Counties Certificate of Secondary Education. Like the public schools he wanted "good achievers" to have a second chance and be able to obtain - by way of an extra year's work - the same level of examination success (O-levels) as pupils in the Grammar school. I don't know if it was his idea or if it was something happening in all secondary schools at that time.

[Vic Patterson]

HPW, Doreen has tried to fill in some of the missing names, do these look correct?

17,Ann Nicholson. 19,Brenda Wright. 21,Yours truly Doreen Dagless. 23,Eileen Shipple. 26,Derek Wales. 29,Issabell Massey. 30,Elizabeth Dinsmore. 32,Gladys Brown. 34,Freda Jones. 35,Ann Brown. 36,Joan Bell. 38,Ann Goodfella.

[Vic Patterson]

#10 Alan Wilkinson, #15 Joan Holdsworth, #23 Eileen Sherrif.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

16 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Could this be a group photo of the prefects together with the head boy and the head girl? That would account for the different ages.

As for 'remove classes' I vaguely remember Mr. Hemming visiting Junior Remove, within the first few days of my starting at Westridge, and explaining to us that it was a class which - if they worked hard - would be allowed an extra year of study in which to obtain GCE O-levels. At that time, the standard, compulsory secondary education lead to the Northern Counties Certificate of Secondary Education. Like the public schools he wanted "good achievers" to have a second chance and be able to obtain - by way of an extra year's work - the same level of examination success (O-levels) as pupils in the Grammar school. I don't know if it was his idea or if it was something happening in all secondary schools at that time.

CL your right - just got a response from Allana that posted the photo :- 'Hi there the photo is off the school prefects known as the fourteen club and if you look at the blazers there small badge .It was took in 1958 my mother said .'

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

18 hours ago, Vic Patterson said:

HPW, Doreen has tried to fill in some of the missing names, do these look correct?

17,Ann Nicholson. 19,Brenda Wright. 21,Yours truly Doreen Dagless. 23,Eileen Shipple. 26,Derek Wales. 29,Issabell Massey. 30,Elizabeth Dinsmore. 32,Gladys Brown. 34,Freda Jones. 35,Ann Brown. 36,Joan Bell. 38,Ann Goodfella.

 

13 hours ago, Vic Patterson said:

#10 Alan Wilkinson, #15 Joan Holdsworth, #23 Eileen Sherrif.

Vic - I've added the names to the photo and updated the entry in the album - Gallery-Historic Bedlington-Bedlington Village School.

If any of them have to be corrected or updated then just put a comment in the album and I will update.

[Vic Patterson]

4 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

 

Vic - I've added the names to the photo and updated the entry in the album - Gallery-Historic Bedlington-Bedlington Village School.

If any of them have to be corrected or updated then just put a comment in the album and I will update.

Thank you Eggy.

[Vic Patterson]

#25 Rita Whealan ?

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

On 14/10/2016 at 19:23, Vic Patterson said:

Hi HPW, #21 your friend and now my wife Doreen (Dot Patterson) Dagless.

 

22 hours ago, Vic Patterson said:

#10 Alan Wilkinson, #15 Joan Holdsworth, #23 Eileen Sherrif.

Er,Vic,21 is Rita Wheallans without a Doubt,my two little friends and neighbours [Doreen Dagless  and Maureen Dean],are nos 36 and 37 respectfully,with Rosemary Oliver sitting next to them on the right.

Alan Wilkinson is not on the photo,I sat next to him from day one,right through to Westridge,and went to his house after school,then away doon the woods!

 

Even as a kid,he always had his hair plastered with vaseline,[or butter!],crows wing and side parting,and combed it constantly!![check oot the Whitley School Football team Photo's wi Matty Hall on,that 's Alan wi the craa's wing,just as he always did!!]

I canna mind the other lassies names Vic!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Canny Lass I think you are right,but this pic wasn't taken in 1958!!

In 1958 we were 14 years old!,do these young lads and lasses look like 14 year olds?!

No,Len Thompson,Bobby Cross,Ian Campbell,Micky Lucas,and Eddie Hedley, were all in my class,and in 1958,none of them were Prefects!....nor was there a 14 club!

No disrespect ,and just for correctness,it couldn't have been any earlier than after the 1959 summer holidays,and I would still suggest 1960!

I have good personal reasons for disagreeing with 1958!

If I was to disclose what's going through my mind,it would only lower the tone of a fine discussion,as it involves one person on the photo,who,in later life,I often

wonder if actions in youth ever cross thier mind!![and if they do remember,it would be great if an apology and admittance were to come forth,cos I would certainly appreciate it!!]

The above comments are not directed to Canny Lass!,but in response to Allana's comments!!

[Canny lass]

HPW, now I'm confused. Are we talking about the same picture? I'm referring to the photo 11 posts before this one and labelled "WESTRIDGE - UPPER REMOVE - SUMMER 1960". That date, I think, is correct. It fits in perfectly with my time at Westridge and Robert Cross as head boy.

[Vic Patterson]

2 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

 

Er,Vic,21 is Rita Wheallans without a Doubt,my two little friends and neighbours [Doreen Dagless  and Maureen Dean],are nos 36 and 37 respectfully,with Rosemary Oliver sitting next to them on the right.

Sorry HPW, #21, I have had that "stare"more than once... Maureen (my sister-in-law) is a year older and assures us she was never it Dot's class.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Thanks very much me Canny Lass!

Ye've restored me sanity!....aav been oot wi LBJ, waakies,and gannin owa and owa in me head and thinking,could I be mistaken?[and I would apologise profusely if I was,and shut me gob!],but I just know that in ,1958,my class of upper remove,there were no prefects!there was no head boy in my class,that position was taken by David Lees,as aforementioned.

1958 Was a very significant year for me.

In February,that year,Buddy Holly was killed along with Richie Valens,and Thi Big Bopper,in a plane crash,in really bad weather,which devastated myself and all his true fans.We had no telly or radio,and I got the news off Pete Smith ,my neighbour and friend,as he caught me up at the vestibule entrance,late for school,but he stopped me to break the news after hurrying to catch up with me.

School didn't matter to me that day,I couldn't beleive such a terrible thing had happened.

Mr Johnson,Science teacher ,used to stay at school with me till after ten o' clock nearly every night,clarting on wi old radios,and building short-wave valve radios.

We put the play on,"Julius Caesar",under Mr Marley's Direction,and I stayed at school till late helping Mr Johnson with all the lighting rig cables that had to be wired up by hand...[Poly-pole couplings with a load of internal cores,and which took a lot of time to do.]..at 14 yrs old,I was trusted by Mr Johnson to carry out lots of electrical repairs on various appliances.

A  very close classmate and marra at home,borrowed a gorgeous green "Osmiroid 65" Fountain Pen,which had been a prize from the "Meccano Club" magazine,and had a lot of sentimental value,never returned it to this day,and he is now deceased.

I was bullied every day by certain people in my class,and never told a soul,I just put up with it,till one day in Metalwork,when Mr Epsley was out of the room,one lad kept on and on at me,goading me,till my docile self lost control,and I gave this lad an old fashioned bunch of fives straight in his ribs!...just then Mr Epsley walked into the room,as I was going to thrash this kid,and we both turned our backs to the bench and said nowt.

To his credit,he never reported me or said a word to anyone,so,being as diplomatic as I can!!!!!!,I think the lad in this pic ,if he had been a prefect,in 1958,would have had me in front of Mr Hemming,for the strap!!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

15 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

CL your right - just got a response from Allana that posted the photo :- 'Hi there the photo is off the school prefects known as the fourteen club and if you look at the blazers there small badge .It was took in 1958 my mother said .'

Eh,aav put this quote in the wrang place!Nivvor mind,it's done noo!

Vic!,aav got a vivid memory of Rita Wheallans picking a fight wi me,a divvent knaa why,cos a was a quiet shy bairn,Doreen should back me up on that!]

A canna mind wat it was aboot,but at five yrs aad,a had this little lassie screaming and trying ti hit me!aal me life,even doon the pit,a had people tekking the mick and trying ti bully me,a think it was cos a was a gud soft-natured lad,and a waak-owa for a bully...till a larn't ti turn like a lion and gaan for tha throats!!!that scared bullies off big-time,but a cudn't dae that when a was a young kid,a was timid.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Me thinks the recent photos, Westridge & Vilage school should be in topics on their own. The Bedlington Village School 1950s photo is now in the Gallery under the Album -         'Historic Bedlington - Bedlington Village School' and comments can be made there. I will add the latest Westridge photo + extracts from the latest comments into the Gallery Album under the - 'Historic Bedlington - Westridge School - End of Term class photos' as soon as I can and it might make identification etc. easier.

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

4 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

Me thinks the recent photos, Westridge & Vilage school should be in topics on their own. The Bedlington Village School 1950s photo is now in the Gallery under the Album -         'Historic Bedlington - Bedlington Village School' and comments can be made there. I will add the latest Westridge photo + extracts from the latest comments into the Gallery Album under the - 'Historic Bedlington - Westridge School - End of Term class photos' as soon as I can and it might make identification etc. easier.

 

Westridge photo loaded into the 'Westridge School - End of term class photos' album. 

So any updates please use the Album.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Sincere apologies ti ye, Vic,to Doreen and  Maureen AND Rita,for the confusion in my senile brain....I've had that pic for years,and always thought I had the lasses placed correctly!

That's a luvly pic o' "wor" Doreen!!!!

Eggy,AA was thinking last neet on the same lines as ye!..a just checked the gallery and ye dun a fine job!