King Henry VIII Grammar School

You might be interested in the following Facebook groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KHVIIIseventieseighties/ - A group for people who were at Henry's in the 70's and 80's. https://www.facebook.com/groups/152150021633483/ - A group for participants in the King Henry VIII/Bablake Hockey Club Holland Tours 1978-87. There is a Hockey Reunion on 7 September 2013 being organised by Rod Dunnett who would be grateful for the contact details of former hockey players (roderic.dunnett@sol.co.uk). Mods note : You need to be logged in to Facebook to access these groups

Hello Helen Cooper & welcome to our forum. Thank you for that info. We hope that you enjoy your time with us here in Coventry.

Mr. Young-Evans was the ancient Classics Teacher. I assume hyphenated.

No, not Alzheimers. Ted Norrish experienced a setback with depression in the mid-1990s, but it is now recovered and well back on form, slowed down but living in Coventry and with his detailed memory for all those years at King Henry's crystal-clear.

Ernie Shaw spent some 10 years or so as Vicar/Rector of Long Compton, near Shipston on Stour (and Hook Norton!) on the old A34 to Oxford. After that he and Joan moved I think further south. She sadly died not long after that move. They were among the first people to show me kindness when I first arrived at Henry's. The others, interestingly, were David Harris and John Barnes.

Good to see you on here Mr Dunnett!! The 1st XI hockey team of 1972 were also greatly appreciative of your efforts to mould us into an (almost) winning team! Many thanks from the erstwhile goalkeeper.

I seem to have had a different experience of school compared to many on here. I enjoyed my time at Henry's and missed it when I left, still do to a certain extent. I guess I was pretty luck in that I missed out on most of the scarier members of staff. Most but not all, more of that later. Teachers I remember with fondness were Roddy Dunnet, who never taught me but who I played Hockey for. Dave Clark(e), Art teacher and 2nd XI coach, who was a young and our eyes brilliant bloke. I always used to give him my fags to look after when we were playing Hockey, which he did with no problems. Paul Nutt, French & German, another young teacher who was more than happy to engage in debate with us on many matters. "Dickie" Dawson who always seemed like a good chap. Chris "Rocky" Holland, another young teacher who put up with a lot from me, taking the piss and disrupting lessons. He got his own back though, by asking my parents if i had a bad back at a teacher's evening, because I was always lolling across two desks with my back against the wall. He was my Set Master in the Upper Fifth and when I went back to do re-sits I wanted to do History again to try and improve my grade 3 to a grade 1. He finished that by taking me to Taff's office and telling him there was no way he could put up with another year of me. It wasn't done maliciously and we still got along fine. I ended up doing R.E. O Level with Ernie Shaw which I slept through most of. P B Rippon was my set master and English Lit teacher that final year, he was a superb teacher and an all round nice guy. I used to see him now and again after I had left school and he was always a most friendly and excellent fellow. "Thunderguts" McGawley was also a good bloke unlike some of the other games type masters. "Pope" Harris was another very good and a very humane man. As for Droob. He never taught me but I got along well with him and he did me a couple of really good turns. I was at Solihull for the National Schools Championships in '70 helping out and became quite ill and Droob looked after me and drove me all the way home to Kenilworth. Had recovered enough by the following day to go to Solihull with my parents and see Dave Glassborough win his race and take the World Record. In early '72, for some reason of madness, my parents decided to move to Wellesbourne. Getting home the Friday we moved was going to be a big problem and Droob very kindly drove me out there in his Land Rover. He was and hopefully remains a top man. Teachers I didn't like at all were Barry "Killer" Kench who was a little sadist and Johnny Skermer, who I hated with a passion. Unlike others I never got along with Jeff Vent, he didn't like me and I didn't go much on him either. I wasn't one of his Rugby playing favourites. There is no doubt he did a lot for the school, all good things, but he just wasn't my cup of tea. I even preferred doing French with "Flat" Taff. Who remembers her? Most of the rest of them were OK, no real feelings either way. All in all I enjoyed my time at KHVIII.

Good morning & welcome to our forum, Bags, I not only knew Mr Harris, but I also knew his dad, who was an engineering inspector at Courtaulds, where I worked. That must be a double whammy. Best wishes to you.

Hi Old Coventrians, JBV was my form 2C master in 1964 when I was a fuzzer. I kept in touch by aerogramme with JBV until a year or so before he died... he used an ancient typewriter which had white correction tape... pretty handy on pale blue aerogrammes. John Stevenson 'Joe Soap' sang with us in the choir... the privileges of being in the choir included 'seated in the upper circle' for morning assembly. The history guy 'Foghorn' also had 'Peelite' for a nickname, I thought I remembered his name as Tomlinson or Tomkinson, but I guess the earlier posting of 'Tomkins; was correct. Inky Wells used to live just along the road from my family in Wyken, I seem to remember him walking down past our house on his way from the bus stop... long time ago. 'Bronco' Steers, ginger haired guy with a 2 seater MG... could have been a TC/TD... also lived somewhere near us; he used to 'escort' the rugby team when there was a game against Caludon Castle. 'Bebop' Barnes... his old brown wooden music room was called 'Bebops' Barn; wasn't it also 'Room 1'? It was demolished and replaced one holiday. The new room had laminated 'boomerang' shaped column/trusses. Mr Mitchells tuck shop was also demolished around the same time and I think it was rebuilt near the tennis courts as a sort of attachment to the new woodwork shop. Remember the old 'elephant shed' changing rooms for the C/D/E stream lads... used to trudge around to the 'old' pavilion in soggy rugby socks for a hot shower, and get frozen on the trudge back... Luxury!

Welcome to you too, Jinksy Hope you have a good time with us.

There's a few memories there from Bags & Jinksy. Bags would appear to be a bit younger than me, and it seems the old guard were on their way out by then. I suppose things had to change when the decision was made to admit girls, and the brutality had to stop. The only teachers you mention that taught me were Ernie Shaw, who certainly had a vindictive streak, and Dickie Dawson and Thunderguts McGawley who both had sons in the school when I was there. Pope Harris never taught me, but he was the organiser of the Welfare activities on Wednesday afternoons for 6th-formers and I knew him through that. Many ended up doing arduous gardening tasks for the old dears of Earlsdon, but I got a good billet doing volunteer work at the new Walsgrave Hospital. I have previously mentioned Barry Kench and his connection with Kolisch. But your view of Jeff Vent was not that unusual, in that there were lots of lads who disliked him. He was seen as a bit of a martinet and at one time had the nickname 'Sneakysoles'. Jinksy must have been a contemporary of mine as I was a 'fuzzer' in '64 as well. But I have no recollection of some of those teachers, such as Inky Wells or Bronco Steers, so they must have left very soon after I arrived. I'm also fairly certain that the new music room had been built by '64. The old tuck shop was situated at the side of the playground by the junior school. It was just 2 windows, one each for Mr & Mrs Mitchell. She was really nice and everybody liked her. When it was demolished to construct the new covered way, it was relocated in a permanent home next to the prefect's room by the school playing field. But in between it had a temporary location in the cloakroom behind the school hall, and stock had to be carried in and out each day. The Mitchells eventually retired and were replaced by Mr & Mrs Grimes. George Grimes was a bit strange, with long slicked-back hair, but his wife was ok. Isn't it amazing that someone can post memories which trigger things in your own mind.

It is, indeed. Dickie Dawson retired during my time (in 83 if I remember correctly). "Thunderguts" McGawley was still there when I left in 84 "Pope" Harris always wore a bow tie and was one of the nice chaps. Jeff Vent - I seem to remember half the school liking him and half hating him. I was in the latter category. My third year form master was an oldish art teacher whose name I seem to remember as 'Ken' Cooper. The other name from the past that hasn't been raised here yet is John Randall whom I remember as a repugnant character. The wikipedia page for the school used to have a section about him and a book he wrote, but it was removed on 1 March 2010 (have a look at the edits page).

I was there '69 - '75. Some of the old boys were still there. I just never got taught by most of them. "Pop" Cork, Alfie Crocker, "Foghorn" Tompkins et al. There were certainly a fair number of younger teachers by then. The girls started in the September after I left, bloody typical!

Further to Mr D-Di's comments I remember George Grimes behind the tuck shop window dispensing bottles of 'pop' and packets of fizzers to eager schoolboys. I recall Mr D-Di at the time bestowing the nickname 'Old Grimble' upon this individual. He always wore a brown cow gown, presumably for carrying out his caretaker duties. We all used to think that 'Mr Grimes' was a perfect name for a school caretaker!

Hi all, I remember his (Mr Grimes) wife helping too.