| joan |
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When I was at senior school we were not allowed to go to the cinema during week days in the evening. We were subject to a lot of restrictions. A friend of mine went to the cinema in the week and crossing the foyer in the cinema came face to face with Miss Lomax, the Headmistress. The girl was very upset. I don't know what happened I imagine she was in big trouble the next day. The Stamford School boys had to wear their uniform in the week out of school and even into the sixth form had to wear their caps. I must say they looked a bit ridiculous when some of them were over six feet tall.
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| James Kudlinski |
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Not only did you have to wear your uniform, with cap, but you had to raise your cap if you saw a master or prefect. I seem to recall that we were at one stage banned by the school from going into Woolworths. The school rules were so numerous and petty that I remember being punished just after I started at Stamford School for eating crisps in the street. For this heinous crime I had to write 40 dates (copied from a sheet I had to buy from the school)on special paper which I had to buy from the school and also had my crisps confiscated.
Ed: Life was tough - who got the crisps?
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| john freear |
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Never mind a few crisps, can anyone remember Canon J.D.Day headmaster of Stamford School for many many years, a real Martinet and strict disciplinarian who subscribed to corporal punishment - as was accepted in those days (wholeheartedly and with enthusiasm) and being caught by him in All Saints St opening a parcel of chips to separate the two portions. The chippy was immediately next to The Wheatsheaf Public house and next to the gates to the Bluecoat school. The other participant of this exercise later became headmaster of a Stamford primary school but I will not name him!!!! The Year 1943.
Thanks John: I hope you did not suffer too much (with that other lad) for your indulgence in those two portions of chips! For those who may not know, the Bluecoat (before it moved to its new premises in King's Road) was at the top of All Saints' Street, in what is now The Masonic Hall. I can't remember The Wheatsheaf but I do remember the chippy. Can anyone else remember The Wheatsheaf or the chippy? I think we should get details of all pubs (there is a list already under the name Rog - more details needed) and a note of Primary Schools and their Headmasters/Headmistresses.
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| John Riley |
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I remember being caught eating in the street, too (just outside Brazenose House) - I didn't even realise it wasn't allowed! However, when I had written out my dates I didn't know who to give them to, as I didn't know the name of the prefect who had given them to me!
If we wanted to go out in the evenings after a certain time, we were supposed to have written permission from our housemaster. I don't know when these rules were relaxed.
Kate: Thanks for becoming a contributor John. Anyone else remember being caught eating in the street?
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| Roger |
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As a pupil at the Bluecoat in All Saints St, I remember both the Wheatsheaf and the chip shop which at the time had the name Mary Frisby (later Seamanda). I never patronised either of them though.
One of the problems with the Bluecoat was that there were 5 classes but only 3 classrooms. About 80 boys (this was before it became mixed) in the lower two classes, having assembled at All Saints St, then accompanied by their teachers had to walk to Barn Hill, crossing what was then the A1 in Scotgate. The "classrooms" were two huge rooms (one with a stage) in a building behind the Methodist Church
Don't ask about the toilet facilities!!!
I suppose I was lucky at Stamford School, when I started in 1961 the VI Form didn't have to wear caps and 2 years later when I became a "Senior" this privilege was extended to Seniors.
The 6pm curfew was considered ridiculous and outdated even in the early 60s. However i believe the following story illustrates the hypocrisy that went with these rules.
A friend was out after 6pm and at the time was smoking (I'm not sure if he was 16 or not) and was seen by a prefect. He had to report to his housemaster, who did not punish him for smoking in the street but did punish him for being out after 6pm!!!!
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| David Farman |
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I went to the Bluecoat school , I'm sorry to correct you but it was at the bottom of Recreation Ground Road opposite the old Derby and Joan hall and not in Kings road
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| Roger Partridge |
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As you say David, the Bluecoat School had the former St Michaels School premises on the corner of Recreation Ground Road and East Street as additional accom to All Saints Street until the new school was built in Green Lane.
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| Syd |
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Your memory is slipping David, St. Michaels at the bottom of Rec hill.
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| Andy Matthews |
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Ok Syd and David - now I'll explain the real story here and the fact you are BOTH actually correct - just different eras. The school at the bottom of Recreation Ground Road was originally St Michaels Senior School for boys. My father and his brothers attended there and I know Dad left there in 1942.
However, when I started school at 5 years old in September 1968, it was part of the Bluecoat School (St Michaels having already closed and Secondary School boys & girls going either to the Fane or Exeter Schools if they had not passed their 11+). Originally, the only site for the Bluecoat School was at the bottom of St Peter's Hill (now the Masonic Hall). However, the post-war baby booms had expanded the Bluecoat which then spread into the old St Michael's School on Recreation Ground Road and some classes were held in the North Street Chapel in the 1960s. By Autumn Term of 1969 the new Bluecoat School on Green Lane opened and the St Peter's Hill site discontinued (I believe St Gilberts then used it for a while) before it closed. Some Bluecoat Junior classes did continue running at the St Michael's School up until the late 1970s, after which it stood empty until it was demolished in the 1980s to make way for the retirement homes that stand on the site today.
So Syd, you are right - it was St Michael's School originally and David, you also are right - it was later The Bluecoat School!!!!!
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| Donald Clegg |
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Further rules in the '50s involved girls, and in particular, High School girls. My friend David Waring's sister went there (she was later head girl I think) and he was not even allowed to talk to her!
Another ban was coffee bars!
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| Betty Haddon |
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One morning assembly,late 50's,Miss Lomax drew attention to the 'reported fact' that certain girls were congregating near the High Street, ( Woolies Lane), No names,we knew who we were, the Grammar School boys being the attraction,she expected this behaviour to cease - and it did! There was an increase in the number of boys loitering on the 'gasworks' bridge after school though!
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| John Tyers |
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I met my wife when we both 14 and attended St Martin's Church. A couple of years later in 1950 along with another lad and his girlfriend from SS the four of us were walking through the spinney behind Burghley House and encountered the Marquess of Exeter. He took our names and reported the girls to Miss Lomax who raised merry heck, threatening dire punishments but us boys never heard a thing about the incident despite being apprehensive, to say the least! All this for an innocent walk and there were no privacy signs erected either! Some months later the choir and St Martin's Sunday School were invited to sing a peon of praise to the Marquess and Marchioness at their Golden Wedding celebrations in the grounds of Burghley House. Afterwards His Lordship shook our hands and when he encountered me, he smiled wryly and said "I think I have met you before!"
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| John Tyers |
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I met my wife when we both 14 and attended St Martin's Church. A couple of years later in 1950 along with another lad and his girlfriend from SS the four of us were walking through the spinney behind Burghley House and encountered the Marquess of Exeter. He took our names and reported the girls to Miss Lomax who raised merry heck, threatening dire punishments but us boys never heard a thing about the incident despite being apprehensive, to say the least! All this for an innocent walk and there were no privacy signs erected either! Some months later the choir and St Martin's Sunday School were invited to sing a peon of praise to the Marquess and Marchioness at their Golden Wedding celebrations in the grounds of Burghley House. Afterwards His Lordship shook our hands and when he encountered me, he smiled wryly and said "I think I have met you before!"
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