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Old Wallaseyans Worldwide Newsletter45 March 2006 for former pupils of Wallasey School, Henry Meoles, Oxley Schools & WGS Editor & Chairman: Tony Simpson
Secretary: Vic Green <vic.green@oldwallaseyans.co.uk> Deputy Chairman and Webmaster: Bob Bryans <robert.bryans@oldwallaseyans.co.uk>
Treasurer: Roy Swinbank <r.swinbank@tesco.net> www.oldwallaseyans.co.uk
The OWW 75th Annual Dinner will be held in the House of Lords , Cholmondeley Room and Terrace on
Thursday 26th October 2006
Dress will be lounge suits for gentlemen and informal evening wear for ladies. Our sponsor will be the Rt. Hon. The Baroness Chalker of Wallasey. Our guests will be Professor R.J.P.
Williams OW 37-44, Mrs Williams, OWC President Jerry Brace and Mrs Liz Brace, Mr R P Hughes, Deputy Head Teacher Wallasey School, and the Head Boy and Head Girl of Wallasey School. The cost
will be £ 60 per person. In order to secure your place(s) it is essential
that you send your £ 25 deposit per person with the preliminary booking form which can be found by pressing the link to the Events page. The balance of £ 35 per person will be payable when the
September Newsletter is published. If oversubscribed, those who have registered with Roy Swinbank will receive priority, and it will be necessary to have a waiting list. With best wishes from Tony Simpson. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our 74th London Dinner, held once again at the Royal Air
Force Club in Piccadilly, was said by many of those present to have been "one of the best." This year, the Dinner Committee decided to request that our Private Club Bar be opened for us at 5.30 instead of
6.00 pm for our pre-prandial get-together. This gave us all an opportunity to enjoy a longer chat with old chums before proceeding to table at 7, and the committee would like to think that this contributed to
the success of the evening. It was also the 2nd Dinner under our new title of Old Wallaseyans Worldwide and it was with great pleasure that we were able to welcome an Old Boy of WGS - Professor Frank
Brownlow of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts - who flew across the Atlantic to be with us. Frank discovered our website whilst, as they say, "surfing the net" - searching for a possible link to
his old school! He and I appeared in the School Play (The Admirable Crighton) in 1949, whilst Dr Peter Cochrane and Frank were old friends, and had attended each other's 21st Birthday celebrations. The three
of us enjoyed a special reunion. We really are becoming Old Wallaseyans WORLDWIDE! Congratulations are due to Bob Bryans, our "Webmaster", for the effort he has put into creating and running
our Website, which can be viewed on computer screens anywhere in the world. To have an Old Wallaseyan join us from overseas for our Annual Dinner is just the sort of result your committee has been hoping
for. We were also pleased to have with us Winne Roll from Berlin, who had taken part in an exchange visit between WGS and the Berlin Schadowschule in 1963. Graham Boston, President of the OW
Club in Grove Road and his wife Jan were welcome guests on their second visit, and we were once again joined by our other old friends from the Wallasey Club who made their annual pilgrimage to join us. The
full list of those attending is given below, and it was good to see all of them. Bob Bryans chaired the event splendidly with his usual humour, and our Chief Guest for the evening, Steve Williams,
O.W., President of the Royal Charted Institute of Surveyors, took us back to his days at WGS in a most amusing after-dinner speech. We were also treated to an account of today's school by Rob Hughes (Deputy
Head Teacher, Wallasey School) who was a very welcome guest. His short talk was light-hearted as well as informative. After the meal and the speeches, several diners retired to
the bar for a post-prandial noggin, and to continue chatting. It was there that I learnt from our guest, Steve Williams that he was taught to play the piano by my father back in the 1950s! Also that,
like me, he was a choirboy at St Hilary's, albeit some years after I had left the choir. We reminisced about members of the choir we both knew, and about our days as choirboys. This led to the discovery
the President of the RCIS very probably sang at my wedding! It is not often one meets someone who can claim that - nearly fifty years on!
Stan Lawrence O.W., Member of the RAF Club and Sponsor of the Dinner.
Attendees at the 2005 dinner: Douglas Addison 48-55; Prof John Bennett 43-52; Helen Bennett; Alan Berry 67-72; Jamila Berry; Brian Blacoe 43-49; Anne Blacoe; Graham Boston, President OWC; Jan Boston;
David Browne 55-62; Margaret Browne; Frank Brownlow 46-53; Andrew Bryans 57-64; Robert Bryans 54-61; Frank Carlyle 38-46; Brian Clay 42-50; Sheila Clay; Dr Peter Cochrane 44-53; Peter Doyle 51-55; Don Fraser 38-44;
Doris Fraser; Vic Green 31-40; Phil Samuel; Keith Howard 44-53; Robert Hughes, Deputy Head Wallasey School; Derek Jackson OWC; George Johnston 38-45; Dee Foley; Brian G.S.Jones 34-42; Celia Jones; Capt. Stan Lawrence
44-50; Jessica Lawrence; Ken Lawton 38-44; Clive Lewis-Jones 60-67; Helen Lewis-Jones; Norman Miller, Past President OWC; Winfried Roll 63; Tony Simpson 42-46; Sabina Simpson; Roy Swinbank 41-48; Joyce Swinbank; Derek
Verdin 44-51; Andrew Watson GM 30-36; Mary Tickner; Derek West 52-57; Jenny West; Clive Whatling 58-65; John Williams 54-61; Stephen Williams 56-63, President of the RICS; Karen Williams Apologies: Charles Anderson 38-44; Neville Andrews 45-52; J Kirk Baird 27-32; Alan Bennett 36-40; Mrs Margaret Bruce; John Budge
28-34; Brian Caddock 37-44; Duncan Cameron 39-44; Graham Cannon 41-43; Stan H Cook 27-36; Gordon L Davies 31-33; Dr Anthony Edwards 51-57; Mrs Mary Edwards; Sue Edwards; Keith Farralley 41-47; A(Tony)
J Fraser 42-46; John D Fraser 42-46; Jack Harwood 26-31; Denis F Haslehurst 42-46; H George Hocking 41-49; W Graham Hunter 18-25; Capt John D Igoe 44-50; John B Lambie 30-39; Bob Leach 30-35; Peter McNicol
43-49;Peter Colin McShane 53-60; N Gillie Morrison 40-44; Harold Murphy 37-47; Alan Stabler 35-42; Frank Sturman 26-31;Peter Townsend 49-56; W Philip Todd 35-42; Derek Wardle 38-46; John Westlake 44-53;Nicolas
Williams; Revd Ron Williams 28-35; J Rex Wood 22-24; 29-31; James Woodend 43-49
News from Members David Beck 60-66 <davebeck@hotmail.com> At Christmas I rejoined Friends Reunited & sent an "ecard" to Clive Lewis-Jones.
He was very surprised as was I to be fair because it all happened in 5 minutes. Oh the joys of the electronic age! Must be mind boggling for even older boys than Clive & I! What a contrast to
Tom Howard's dead slow dictation in history. You were lucky if you didn't drop off! The proposed Oct 2007 reunion at the Withens Road school is just for our year which started 1960. It may grow!
We intend a Saturday afternoon assembly for boys and possibly an evening dance with girls - ideally exgirlfriends from the High School, but if you didn't have any, or can't find them, obviously current partners will
do! The re-creation of a 1960's Mersey beat dance is also subject to confirming the present Liscard Primary School has a licence for music & alcohol, and finding a band that 's survived. We know the
Undertakers have. The WGS dances were the most popular in Wallasey, attracting all sorts of riff raff. Quite astonishing really. when you consider what the place was like during the week. Tickets
were like gold dust, so bodies just hurled themselves through the toilet windows. I'm sure the assembly will be special anyway. We heard Paul Sommerscales died in France, but I've found pupil Roy
(Bob) Smith to play the piano, so we really need Mr Fawcett, Latin, for the traditional end of term duet - to play again the Nutcracker Sweet. He and many of our teachers were only 10 years older than us, so
it would be great to find a few. Teddy Blackwell we know - he came to our 2001 do. And I've read in the newsletters of Peter Townsend and Bill Wise. Finally the DVD 1937 - 1968 I'm sure
will be very popular. Well I know that Ken Burnley & I have enjoyed the videos of 1960 film footage from North West Film Archives from
Manchester.
David S Browne 54-61 <browne39@btinternet.com> Thanks for such an interesting newsletter. I took early retirement 9 1/2 years ago from the International
Traffic Service. I have been fortunate to work operationally and managerially at Belfast International Airport and in a training post at HQ, London. Since retirement I have enjoyed a variety of positions
mainly with charities and working with children in a theatre setting. My wife Maggie & I have been married for 34 years and have four children and three grandchildren. I have found that
Scouting skills learned in the 2nd Wallasey Group are invaluable for entertaining young friends and grandchildren. Thinking back over school life and subsequently Royal Naval and Air Control College, I
appreciate deeply all those who encouraged and cajoled me to achieve in many fields. I try to pass on that enthusiasm for opportunities to anyone I meet. I welcome contact from friends and have
enjoyed the "craic" as we say over here. Frank Brownlow 46-53 <fbrownlo@comcast.net> I've booked myself a flight into London & will come
to the dinner, fit in a bit of research, and visit my sister up near Newcastle. I also have a son who lives in London (He has a flat near Paddington), and I think I should probably stay near to him - I haven't
seen him for a few years, what with briefly getting ill and 9/11. I'm looking forward to the dinner. One result of communicating through the website has been a few emails from contempories, and it will
be very nice to see some of them again. Margaret Bruce Many thanks for sending me the latest Newsletter. I was particularly interested to read of the doings of
Neville Andrews, Andrew Watson and Jack Harwood all of whom contributed such a lot to the life of the school when my husband was head. Alas, I shall not be able to be at the 74th Annual Dinner, but I am sure
it will be as successful as those in previous years. I enclose a small donation towards the cost of the Newsletter. Brian Caddock 37-44 <bdcaddock@hotmail.com> I derive much
pleasure from reading the OW Worldwide newsletters a\nd I enclose a cheque for £ 10 to cover costs. My one regret about my time at WGS is that it was spoiled by the war. FL Allen and some of the younger
masters were on active service, activities such as rowing were suspended and I was evacuated twice in 1941. Despite these problems there were many highlights to look back on: Rugby in the Bantams with Bernard
Trott, Gillie Morrison, 'Twist' Black and Ken Murdoch. Cricket in the Colts and later the Second Eleven with such worthies as Denis 'Clod' Hall, Frank Parr, Earl Masterson, Frank Carlyle, Roy Storer and
Derek Wardle. When I was in UVB I sat at a desk behind Colin Cannon. What a fine fast bowler he was! Forty years after I left school I met Colin at a wedding reception and I again noticed that
despite his fine physique he had very small hands. Sadly he died a few years ago. The teachers that gave me the grounding that set me up for life had an uphill battle during the war. I remember Charlie
Cannon, 'Sarky' Joe Taylor, 'Sac' Connolly, 'Paddy ' Baldwin, Maurice Eggleshaw and Kate Silvey. When I left in 1944 the Acting Headmaster, Mr Morris, wrote me a glowing reference that got me the job with
Shell Research Ltd where I stayed for 38 years. For a 16 year old working in a lab. at Shell was not all that different from WGS because many of the graduates whom I assisted were Oxbridge , just
like the masters at the School. I continued my education by studying part time at firstly Liverpool and secondly at Widnes Technical College. I qualified in 1953 as Associate of the Royal Institute of
Chemistry and was able to pursue my scientific career at Shell as a graduate. I took early retirement in 1983 to go to Liverpool University as a mature student to do a PhD in Materials Science. Following
this I was able to continue my work as a Research Fellow, a post that I relinquished in 2000. I was able to make up for the rowing that I missed at School by joining Liverpool Vics in 1946 and
at the ripe old age of 77 I am still a recreational rower at the club although I have lived in Chester for most of my married life. Peter Duff, who is an exact contemporary of mine, is the club President and
he is still an active rower. John Carruthers, who is slightly younger, is still rowing competitively as a veteran. From my time at the University in Liverpool I have to record disappointment with modern
secondary education. In my lecture courses and tutorial sessions it was very clear that many of the undergraduates were ill prepared for the work, not because they were stupid but because they had not been
taught properly. I consider that I was incredibly lucky to have attended WGS at a time when Grammar School education was highly prized. We were exhorted to work hard, play hard and above all to always
play fair. I wish some of our current role models would adopt such ethics. I wonder what MSE would have made of the likes of David Beckham and Wayne Rooney? Mary Edwards
Please thank the OW's for the newsletter. I do enjoy reading it, and the OWs talk a lot of sense. Enclosed cheque for
whatever anybody thinks fit. Derek Jackson OWC [Derek has kindly sent us a copy of "Just a Common Sailor"
which we hope to include in our next issue - Ed.] Brian G S Jones 34-42 Making good progress after a hip operation, but Celia injured her
ankle whilst walking on Lewis. Very rapid attention by two ambulance crews and hospital. We are both managing 4/5 miles on level - "the halt and the lame." In September off to the Rhone
Valley on "Wine and Gourmet" tour - different! We must be getting old. Peter Colin McShane 1953-60 <pete.tunafish@btinternet.com> Finally got around to
searching out the WGS website, and here I am! Grateful if you could add me to the list and let me know of events. Now retired, living on the Isle of Anglesey. Winfried G Roll
<winfried.roll@berlin.de> I was a member of the Berlin students' group of the WGS exchange of 1963 - Robert Bryans invited me to attend the 2005 dinner. Steve Smith
55-60 <stewpot_s@yahoo.co.uk> I attended the Wallasey Grammar School from 55 to 60 and have very fond memories of the school, staff and pupils. Last week I came across a copy of the
history of the school by Maurice Eggleshaw, who was Deputy ead when I ws there. Do yo know if it is possible to abtain a copy? Head when I was there. Do you know if
it is still possible to obtain a copy of this book? [The Wallasey School might have copies-Ed.] Sylvia Smith (nee Moscrop) 41-43 In the March 2005 Newsletter mention is made by Frank
Barlow of "SF Moscrop - a very strange man" and, in an earlier letter, there was the question "what about Moses?" As his daughter I am best placed to comment! In 1950 my parents
moved from Seafield Drive, Wallasey to Ulverston to be near the Lake District. Dad continued teaching at WGS, lodging during the week in Penkett Road, leaving WGS on Friday after school he caught the early
evening train via Preston to Ulverston. On Monday morning, having arranged for the two early periods free, he would leave home and be back in school to teach after the morning break.
SFM retired in 1960, at the same time as F L Allan; a man my father respected, but with whom he never felt at ease. (Like H G Taylor, SFM also had a Liverpool degree - MA Classics.)
For the first years he travelled by bus to Ambleside two or three days a week to teach at the private Kings School, founded by Charles V Hales, a former WGS colleague. (Page 184, Eggleshaw's History of WGS.) In retirement he continued his pleasure in reading (entering the title and date of every book, throughout his adult life, in stiff backed exercise books.) Learning Italian, days out in the
lakes, occasional chess with a friend, holidays with the family, and working on his extensive stamp collection….This was sold to a dealer after his death as neither my sister was interested in stamps or chess!
Both his daughters were married in 1962 but he had prudently been saving for such occasions and he enjoyed his four young grandchildren. Sadly his health deteriorated due to a
lifetime of cigarette smoking; though a heart attack stopped the habit, he only lived three more years and died in 1973 aged 74. Through his 29 years at WGS I knew many members of the staff
by name, as his colleagues, friends and visitors to our home, meeting many at school events. Felton, whose family lived near us in Hertford Drive, Atchley, Baldwin who joined him on the walk to WGS, Farnworth,
Cannon, Spear (with whom he played chess,) and Eggleshaw. D W Cartwright lodged with us for a few months before marrying his French fiancée whom he'd met when with the French Resistance; Miss Silvey, an old
family friend, Miss Snape, the School Secretary who became Mrs Pare, and H G Taylor, Widlake and Miss Nix-James who taught us at Rivington, and visits by the Acting Head, Morris. For some years SFM had
the C Stream Fifth Form, A challenge for his "A" mind, but he always saw some potential in all his boys, commenting later that many became the entrepreneurs of Wallasey! He taught rugby to
juniors at Rake Lane before the war. As a Methodist teaching missionary in Sri Lanka before his WGS appointment, SFM was asked to take RE and he taught comparative religion before it became a recognised
subject. Oxenbould's portrait of him at the time of his retirement in the Wallaseyan and Gibbens verse sums him up. "Lakeland mountains, Tropic regions/ Crosswords, Conrad,
stamps galore/ And the language of the legions/These are all mosaic lore." Alan Stabler
35-42
Vary rarely see a reference to the evacuation to Rivington & Blackpool, but I am sorry that I do not remember Barrie White. Probably because it was my last year and his first!
Ian Thomson
42-50 <isjthomson@iprimus.com.au> I was interested to read that Frank Brownlow attended the last OBs' Dinner. I remember him in "The Admirable Crichton", doing a very nice job as the
elderly Countess of Brocklehurst. I also had a drag role as Miss Fisher, the ladies' maid. Doc Atkins directed it, and I still remember the Brocklehurst coat of arms, with the motto "Pisces et
Chipperae bona sunt"! isn't it funny, the things that stick in your memory after so many years. Peter Townsend 1949-56 Good to hear
from Bill Wise in the previous March newsletter edition. He was one of those iconic figures and much admired by me as both a pupil and a colleague. In the former capacity I vividly recall his silky
play for New Brighton, sidestepping and gliding his way to countless tries at Reeds Lane. He was the only player I ever saw beat the fullback by selling a dummy run to the touchline! (Where, Bill claims,
the touch judge got tackled instead!). I was sad not to have played alongside him but he sensibly retired at his peak by the time I'd turned myself from a hooker in my last year at school into a fly-half 4
years later, (having played soccer-left back-at university whilst studying geography at UCL). In 1962 I became a colleague of his when I joined a small band of ex-pupils who ended up on the staff. The only
others I remember were John Stoddart who preceded me by a year; Neville Andrews; Derek Holland and Colin Whitehead who filled in for Bill on his secondment year at Carnegie in 1964. I wonder how many of my
contemporaries were aware of the proactive and visionary role that Eggleshaw (MSE) played in the early 60's when as Deputy Head he recruited staff as much for their sporting credentials as their academic
abilities. Stoddart for his rowing (he's still in Sheffield after recently retiring as Vice Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University); Colin Cook for his rugby and cricket (sadly he died in 1998),Frank
Walmsley for his Rugby (he later captained New Brighton); Derek Holland for rowing (he was a canny Cox); there are probably others I've forgotten. Anyway it all felt like an American college process.
My own appointment was bizarre. MSE wrote to me at Oxford where I was about to finish my Dip Ed year asking if I was interested in applying for a vacant Geography post. "No thanks" I said
"because I didn't want to embarrass /teach my youngest brother Ed who was about to leave Egerton Grove and attend WGS" (like his 4 brothers before him). Back came the reply that it wouldn't be a
problem because he was i/c timetable. I was duly interviewed by Oliver and offered the job (I don't think the post was actually advertised back in those heady pre-pc days). First day of term
I nervously entered the staff room somewhat in awe of my former teachers. I wouldn't say I got a warm welcome, except for Freddy Porter (my head of department), Tom Howard and Harry Bygraves who soon allowed
me to join in their shove halfpenny games, (Bill of course had his own "staff" room down in the gym). I read my timetable with some apprehension and yes there I was, down to teach 3C (Ed's class). My
agitated approach to MSE was met with a shrug of the shoulders…." Too late to do anything about it now chum"! Fortunately it never amounted to a problem. I went on to enjoy a happy challenging 5
years at Withens Lane before going on to my next job lecturing at a teacher training college in Liverpool. I do remember one event with particular affection; apart from coaching the 2nd rugby team who were
recruited from the ever expanding Sixth form in those reforming educational times and partly usurped the traditional role of the Colts (under 16's) in supplying the next generation of 1st team players. That
was running Sports Day (it was probably the major athletic as well as an important social event of the year) in Bill's absence in '64. He'd left a detailed list of instructions that read like Whittackers
Almanack…a result of his precise organisational skills. All I had to do was follow them. But this meant cajoling many of the senior staff (such as Lochner) to give up their free time after school to help
out with standards and qualifying races. No problem! It was that kind of place. Remembered now with much affection. Derek Wardle
38-46 I had not realised that my handwriting was
so flawed. My House Captain of cricket (Seacombe House) was Roy Storer - your proof reader requires fresh glasses if he can convert Roy Storer into Ray Starr! It was interesting to read an item from
Gillie Morrison on Page 5. We first met at Wallasey Cricket Club in 1937. Gillie lived in a house overlooking The Oval. We subsequently played in the Wallasey C.C. 1st XI together. We remain
in touch, as in recent years, my wife and I have been required to visit Sidmouth on family business, so we have always called to see Gillie and his wife Jean, who is an old girl of Wallasey High School. Roy
Storer, now retired Professor, Newcastle on Tyne University, been a Director of Durham County Cricket in recent years. He has attended County matches at Egbaston and Old Trafford as the visiting
Director. On both of these occasions Roy invited me to join him for the day. At Edgbaston we had lunch with Denis Amiss and Mike Smith; at Old Trafford we lunched with Raymond Illingworth amongst others.
Andrew Page Watson 30-36 <mustakissa@onetel.com> I was sorry to read that Charlie Peers had died. He was a fine cross-country runner and I have a picture of him in a line-up at
Leasowe in c. 1939. I had hoped he would have come with me to the 150th Anniversary celebrations of the Wallasey Athletic Club in September 2006. I have had two trips to Finland this year, attending an
intensive language course and enjoying a seaside holiday in Ostrobothnia with two daughters and my 3-year-old Grandson. One of my sons lives in Zurich and I visited him and saw my small Granddaughter. I
find brushing up German a bit of an effort. At 87 it is a bit of an effort to keep fit, but I can still play table tennis and swim and go for walks. I hang on to my windsurfing board in the hope I can
summon enough courage to try again. I send greetings to my best schooldays pal of the 1930's Brian Ellis and, should he see this, to Rod Pilcher whose mother made fresh bread in Seaview Road and called me
Buttons! Brian Rod and I used to play cycle polo on the sands. We went round antique shops buying up croquet mallets. We used golf balls we found on the links near Harrison Park. My
"Flying Bedstead" was built from scratch using a dumped frame found near the Breck. Bought 2 Sturmey Archer gears for sixpence each in Liscard and bought rims and spokes. Those were the
days! The Flying Bedstead did 41 mph down the road from the top of Moel Eaman, using a stopwatch over a half-mile course. John Westlake 44-53 <westlake.ofwg@virgin.net>
Good to hear from Frank Brownlow - what a rare thing, an exact contemporary. I was able to own up to having an original 78 rpm of the school choir in 1948; also copies of "The Wallaseyan" from 1948 -
1952. And Bill Wise - our first "proper" PE master. What an event his arrival was! I'm looking forward to seeing whom the next Newsletter will unearth next! £ 10 enclosed to keep it
going! John M Williams 54-61 <jwillibach@aol.com > Please note new Email address. Nicholas Williams
<engie_99@hotmail.com> Friends United prompted me to look in my inbox but it was too late to go to the dinner. I have been a few times to
the Old Wallaseyans Club by the roundabout at the top of Grove Road, perhaps it's closed now; it was so long ago. (Indeed it is not closed - it is very much alive! - Ed.) Unfortunately I even
struggle to remember the proper names of teachers, Mr. Lockner, I think it was who taught me maths; Mick Riddle taught English for a while; a kindly but overweight gentleman who was deputy head that we called 'The
Wurg' for some unknown reason also did Maths as did a Ben Cartwright; someone we nicknamed Pixie taught us (3A) French and we were jealous of 3B who had a glamorous Miss to teach them French. I can still
picture the Woodwork teacher, a History teacher we called 'Vibrofoot' and the Geography teacher in my mind but cannot remember their names. It's the characters that you remember. I spent most of my pre-O
level days at Withens Lane before being moved to 'down Leasowe Road' and the school was renamed 'Henry Meols Comprehensive'. The things I remember from Withens Lane were the 'spit pits', sorry, squash courts,
the throwing of milk cartons through the Prefects' window istory teacher we called 'Vibrofoot' and the Geography teacher in my mind but can't remember their bames. and buns stuck to the ceiling by their
icing in the bun hut before we had lunch. I also remember cross-country runs along the embankment on freezing cold days. My career took me away from Liverpool to the South of England where I
have now lived for most of my life and still live in Berkshire. I did my degree at London University and did a PGCE at Liverpool University before returning to industry to meet my financial needs. I am
married my daughter is at Nottingham University and during the week I took my son to Liverpool University for an open day before he puts it on his UCCA form. Well, that's a brief history of me; hope it
wasn't too boring. (In form 3A there was a David Williams and I, Nicholas Guy Williams, so the register was read out: Williams D Williams N G <Williams Engie>
Revd Ronald F Williams 28-35 I suspect it's two or three years since I sent you the very modest £ 2 pa sub; I enclose £ 10 to
catch up. As one reads of the comings and goings of this wonderful, worldwide fellowship of the senile (like myself) and those on their way, I'm amazed at what they achieve who came from Wallasey. Was it the
water, do you think? I've just come back from a holiday in the Isle of Wight. Unlike that other Ron Williams 51-59, whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting, that's now the limit of my overseas
travel. However, as a Diamond Wedding present from our family, Barbara and I were able to stay at the beautifully situated Farringford House (hotel), which was the home of Alfred Lord Tennyson for the last 40
years of his life. I took his Collected Works with me and was able to enjoy a good wallow in the 130 stanzas of ' In Memoriam', written in remembrance of his very dear friend A.H.Hallam. This was
personally relevant to me, as whilst there the funeral took place of my very, very oldest friend, Charles (Chas/Charlie) Peers two days before his 88th birthday. As I couldn't be there, I wrote some
reminiscences, which were read by his son. A WALK ON THE PROM by Bob Leach That's all we had available on Sundays, and that was after church! No Sunday cinemas and no games in
the park. I was born in Wallasey in 1917. We lived at 51 Brougham Road, with the Guinea Gap at the bottom of the road, leading down to the prom, seashore and swimming in the River Mersey. The shore
and river were crowded with kids playing. There is a nostalgic impulse in many of us to revisit the scene of our schooldays and falling victim to this urge I took my Londoner wife Daphne to Wallasey in
2002. What a difference to pre-war Wallasey! Starting at Seacombe Ferry… gone was the bustle of human activity, of people rushing to catch the ferry across the Mersey
and of the circle of trams (later the sea -green buses) serving the ferry boats every ten minutes. All was now quiet. It was uncanny. The ferry was about twice a day, last boat 6 pm and then
calling at Woodside first before landing at Pier Head, Liverpool (where we were staying for the week.) Seacombe Ferry Hotel was gone with the crowds of people. The prom was deserted, except for a girl
jogging. There's a change for you! In my day Wallasey Athletic Club was all male. Shame. Now young maidens skip round 800 metres in under two minutes. Guinea Gap got its name
because in 1849 some William 3rd. gold coins were found. If one stood at the top of the cobbled street slipway on the right was Riverside School, due to be demolished, and also gone from sight was the old
Marina Cinema. On the left was the Guinea Gap Baths and I well remember the Wallasey Grammar School Swimming galas there when the brothers Alan and Roy Edwards showed us how swimming should be done.
Going back to the promenade and proceeding West from Guinea Gap one came to the steps of our famous building built in 1908 at a cost of £ 15 000, the Town Hall. I was at our school Speech Day
there circa 1934 when it was announced that the Head had been invited to join the Headmasters' Conference. There was a silence until the Speaker told us it meant that WGS was one of the 200 Public Schools,
Eton and Harrow being at the top of the list. When that sunk in there was cheering and applause. And so along the prom to Egremont Ferry, the steep slipway called Tobin Street, leading up to Church
Street. It used to be a busy area, but the ferry had gone and the place was deserted. We used to dig in the sand under the ferry when the tide went out in the hope of finding pennies and halfpennies dropped
through the planks of the long ferry walkway, but I never had any luck. Lemonade tops were a better bet. With a close friend, who shall be nameless because he became a Grammar School boy later in life
and he is still alive and might not want his criminal record made public. You see, we discovered that if we put lemonade tops on top of the tramlines the flattened remains were the size of a penny and shoved
into the promenade chocolate bar machines produced a penny bar of chocolate. As I say, we had not yet begun our grammar school education and as untrained criminals made the elementary mistake of returning to
the same machine, and we were nabbed. Along with our mortified parents we had to appear at the Magistrates' Court in Manor Road, where our mums put on a suitable wet eyed performance of regret and apology on our
behalf and we were dismissed with a stern warning. Such was the drama of the Court appearance that it was sufficient to put an end to our criminal activities. We were about 9 or ten at the time, so it
would be about 1927. In 1928, or was it 1929? I was at the World Boy Scouts Jamboree for two weeks at Arrowe Park, Birkenhead and I attended several subsequent weekend camps partly because camping was
cheap. Speaking of costs, we had a less criminal way of raising cash than the lemonade tops on tramlines. In the 1920s fruit machines were primitive and we soon noticed that they paid out every third
go. Only pennies, but cash nevertheless. So at New Brighton fairground we watched until some lost twice and departed, then we pounced with a penny at the ready. When I did get to Wallasey
Grammar School the Head, Mr Wilkinson and later, Mr Allan, treated me like a fellow gentleman and my reaction to this treatment was a sincere 'this is where I want to be' and thus began a lifelong
affection for the old school, despite Mr. Eggleshaw and Mr. Ingram expecting me to play rugger rather than soccer. I enjoyed the running, of course, eventually becoming School Athletics captain. The
School Building was not far from the Magistrates' Court, being at the junction of Manor Road and Withins Lane. It is a crying shame to see the building deserted now; no wonder Baroness Lynda Chalker is said to
have wept when politicians destroyed the existence of the Grammar School as such. Returning to the prom and travelling west we come to the Mariners' Homes, the site of the mysterious Mother Redcaps Café,
and then the Vale Park with its bandstand and military band concerts (at the Floral Pavilion, New Brighton, if wet.) The prom was deserted. Gone were the teeming hundreds who used to come over on the ferry boats.
Also gone were the penny chocolate bar machines. And so on to the Tower Grounds. The Tower Ballroom was larger than that of Blackpool, but up to the war years there were always crowds of people.
Now there was no one. And there were no trams or buses at New Brighton. No ferry, which to be so busy, and don't forget the diver! One of the diving characters only had one leg, but his assistant
collected a bucketful of coins each time he dived into the Mersey. The sands, the battery, the lighthouse, the fairground, all deserted. Beautifully clean, of course, but? where have all the people
gone? Daphne and I went into the solitary pub at New Brighton. It was called Mother Redcaps. Inside was only an Irish bar tender. We got talking over a beer of two and he seemed genuinely
interested to hear how New Brighton used to be. The walk on the prom had proved to be a nostalgic disappointment. It was as if Wallasey had died. And then we went by bus to Liscard
Village. Here, at least, there was life, people, and it seemed just as it used to be. The cinema was still there, empty of course, but we could see the banana shaped first floor where tea dances were
held and we tried out our quick-quick-slow foxtrot technique. A walk on the prom is not rewarding really. Wallasey, the Wallasey I knew, has gone. I'm glad I live where I do, in Farnborough Village,
about 15 miles south of central London. _______________________________________________________ Obituary
Captain Kenneth Gowsell (43-49) aged 73 died on the 4th December 2005 Robert C Woodall 23-29 died on the 15th September 2005 Charles Fenwick Peers 28-35 aged 88 died on the 6th June 2005
A personal word by his lifelong friend, Revd Ronald F Williams, Devizes. Charles and I have been friends since we first met as neighbours and schoolmates some 80 years ago -
almost the classic 'Two Little Boys'. We found ourselves in the same class at St George's (Elementary School, Wallasey and, living near to each other, would walk home together most days. Although no one ever told
us this, we must have been the 'bright boys' of our year, as we were the only two in Standard 4 to 'pass the scholarship' (the '11-plus', as it was later called) and go on together to WGS, where the same walk-home
routine (frequently fighting as much as walking!) was resumed from a different direction. After the 5th form we separated into the respective 'Mathematics and Science' (Charles) and 'Languages and Literature'
(myself) streams; but on leaving school in 1935 we both went on to work as Civil Servants in HM Custom House, Liverpool - myself upstairs collecting Customs and Excise Duty and he down in the dungeons in the
Government Chemist's Department. Charles and I were both members of the Fellowship of Youth of Egremont Presbyterian Church, Manor Road, when two bright young 17-year old girls from the High School joined us; and
Charles soon found ways to separate out one of them, Betty Roberts, as his personal sphere of special interest. (The other, Millicent Blake, was to marry Ken Slack, another FOY member - later Revd Dr Kenneth Slack
MBE). The wartime years which followed found us in different parts of the globe, but by late 1944 it happened that we were both in London; and incredibly, Betty and Charles and Barbara Lewis and I each got
married within three days of the other. Their wedding was properly planned, whereas ours was an Embarkation Leave rush job! Their Diamond Wedding was on the 22nd January this year, and ours followed on
25th! Charles was better brought up than I was and a bit more worldly-wise. It was he who first shared with me some of the basic 'facts of life', of which I was woefully ignorant in my mid-teens: he WAS a
full three months older than me! In the years after school he persuaded me to join the Wallasey Harriers (cross-country runners) and to spend our Saturday afternoons ploughing through the endless muddy fields
of rural Leasowe; but he always graciously allowed me to come in last. After tea (frequently at his home) we would be off to the 'flicks' in the Coliseum cinema in Wallasey Village. Some thirty years
later, when I was back again in the Metropolis, he persuaded me - very belatedly - to join the London Old Wallaseyans. From earliest years Charles had to endure a severe speech impediment which, with treatment,
was marginally improved but never cured; and this was even more of a frustration to him than it was to others who might not understand that conversation could never be rushed! He developed a passion for radio;
and, as one of the worldwide fellowship of 'Ham' enthusiasts, he would recall with pleasure a radio conversation he'd enjoyed with the late Pope John Paul II. Not having had the opportunity (which my post-war
acceptance as a candidate for the Ministry gave me) of admission to a University, he applied himself to the discipline of long years of further study at home, graduating BSc the hard way through the Open
University. The later years of persistent ill-health caused great distress both to him and to Betty and deprived him of the use of his legs: but he battled his way through all this with more equanimity,
courage and good humour than most of us would be able to muster in the circumstances. Our deep sympathy goes to his dear Betty (whom I've known for only 68 years!) and to their son David who has been a tower
of strength to them both. I know that Charles' own gratitude to Betty and David was immense beyond words. I give personal thanks to God for an unshakeable friendship over so many years, in which our common,
grateful indebtedness to the WGS experience played a crucial part. New email Addresses Stewart Joynson 44-49 <stewartj@eulinx.com>
Prof. John Bennett 43-52 <jrbennett@dsl.pipex.com>
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