Caludon Castle School

My dad phoned yesterday to tell me that an old teacher from Caludon Castle had passed away. Ted Brown, taught English and Drama when I was at Caludon, 1959-63. He was a big man with a slightly Bohemian - for those days - personality and was quite popular. It was only with maturity that I appreciated the good job Ted and many others did at Caludon. I'm afraid, for a variety of reasons, I was a let down at the time and although I have enjoyed some career success it would have been good for Ted and colleagues to know that I have always appreciated the education they gave to me and that I put it to good use. Rest in joy, Ted. I haven't seen you for nearly 50 years but I'm sad to know that you're gone.

Hello walrus. John, I remember Ted Brown, he was a good teacher, always had time for you, and the other drama teacher i remember was Geoff Bennett. It was a great school when we went in the fifties, it had every facility going. It was a strict school with a strict headmaster in Mr Tilley. I never really appreciated just how good it was until after I left but, as they say, life is no rehearsal, that big wide world was a shock to me, but exciting too.

I was In Segrave house in the lower school, Ben Vickery was the housemaster. I went to Clifford in the upper school, Taff Davies was the housemaster there, a very good bloke. I also remember "Blob"Davies, "Gypo" Rickard, Mr Glew in woodwork, Mr Titt who was Howard housemaster, and a particularly unpleasant character called Simpson who taught Science. Another horror was "Hank" Johnson who taught Maths and looked like a cross between the television cowboy puppet and Richard the Third. He had a repertoire of nasty moves like pulling you out of your chair by your sideboards. "Mozart" Matthews taught music. A very rich man called Challis taught French, he used a selection of vintage Rolls Royces to travel to school. I remember Mr Tilley caning a group of boys on the stage of the assembly hall, it was like attending a guillotining. I believe the place was flattened and rebuilt .

Do you remember all the beehives on one of the school fields? The teacher who cared for them was a Mr Murray. I was also in Seagrave and Clifford, and Ben Vickery smoked more than a beagle in a laboratory but I liked him. I remember one teacher called Crossley Clay, he was a nasty man, I swear to this day he hated kids, but the man for me was Vic Webb, a considerate man who took time to give you help on a one to one basis if you were struggling to grasp the context of what he was saying. Happy days.

I attended Caludon Castle from 1961-1966, starting in Seagrave with Ben Vickery (implicated in disappearing school funds) and then moved on to Howard with Ned Titt as housemaster (a very good man). I played rugby for the school and if there is anyone out there who did the same, they may be interested to know that CCOBRFC is still in existence, but not as a playing club, purely a social side. We had the 50th dinner at the Leofric where ex players turned up from Australia, USA and European countries. If anyone is remotely interested, then please contact me for further info. Does anyone think it would make a new topic? We meet at The Gatehouse, a real one bar pub with excellent ales.

Did nobody out there go to Stoke Heath in the 1950's? Do you remember the school photo's, "School days are happy days", were for me too. Went to Stoke Heath, I presume about 1950, then on to Caludon, 1955-1959. Happy days again.

Hi Walrus & hi all Surprise surprise, I attended Caludon from 1958 to 1960. My parents blamed me for deliberately failing my 11+, as most of my chums were going to Caludon. At age 13, I gained a good 13+ pass & returned *** to KHVIII. At Caludon I was in Chester. I would have gone into Preston had I stayed at the school, which to be honest I wished that I had. The new comprehensives of that era were out to prove their worth & I do believe that most of the staff were dedicated to teaching youngsters. All of my schooling had been punctuated throughout with very lengthy periods of orthopaedic surgery at Paybody's. From leaving Caludon & returning to KHVIII, there was a gap of nearly two years*** where all of my schooling was in the Paybody hospital. What for me was so odd was when I taught at Caludon for a short while. ps. I do not believe that I deliberately failed, it was a fairly short period of my life where I was hopeless, a disestablishmentist. No excuses. Now at age 65, I can look back & honestly say that it was the only negative period in my life, which thankfully did not last long. The biggest lesson that I have learnt in life is to at least be honest, both with myself as well as others. This is no joke!

Gangan, I cannot share our alumni's enthusiasm for rugby. One of my earliest memories of Caludon was a games period when we were introduced to the rudiments of the game. Because of my small stature I was chosen to be the hooker and instructed that upon hearing the words "Ball coming in.... now!" I was to hook the ball to the rear of our scrum. What actually happened was upon hearing "Ball coming in.... now!" I received a bone breaking punch to my nose. It seems that some of my school "mates" had received tuition at primary school and knew how to gain an advantage. Subsequently I stayed on the wing on the rare occasions I remembered to bring any kit. Philip, we must have led parallel lives, I switched off for a few vital years at Caludon and slid down the sets after starting in Set 1. Unfortunately there was no way back and I left at 15 with just a one length swimming certificate and a serious smoking habit. All my own fault, there was a good education available to anyone who wanted it even though one or two teachers were pretty nasty. There was a new PE teacher when I was in the 4th year. He made us line up and then asked who was the hardest in the class. We all pointed to one particular lad. The teacher stood in front of him and punched him in the diaphragm. The poor lad was tying to breathe and be sick at the same time. I remember we had marrowfat peas at dinner because there was a large pool of them on the ground. The teacher just said "I think you'll find that I'm the hardest in this class, now get running around the perimeter of the school". He'd get a few years in prison for that now.

Hi Walrus & thank you for your comments & reply I truly feel the vibes of your honesty & openness on this. The thing is that we are still here & breathing. What is more, we are able to look back & see how we have come forward. That is why I so value our history forum here where we can share our Coventry experiences, which we do. I am sure that for me, it was going to Caludon that was the best thing for me. Caludon woke me up & I honestly do believe that I would have benefitted if I had stayed there. I can't throw to much bad press about KHVIII as there were very good teachers there too. At the end of the day, Coventry has & continues to give me a very good living.

My dad, David Hubbard, went to Caludon Castle from 1961 to 1966, starting in Seagrave and going into Howard House with Ned Titt. He says that his best teacher was RPM Davis, absolutely fabulous. He remembers Vic Webb, a very smart man who taught maths.

For once I can say `I WAS THERE` In 1952, having passed my 11+ at Stoke Heath Junior School, I went to John Gulson School in Leicester Causeway. This was a Dickensian school housed in very old buildings and had a very strict regime. Within a few months, the headmaster, Mr. H H Tilley called the school together to tell us that we were moving to a new comprehensive school (a new concept) the following year, called Caludon Castle. The opening was delayed by bad weather (ring any bells?) but the new school opened up new possibilities as Latin was replaced by French to give a viable second language, and woodwork and metalwork facilities allowed everyone to exploit their talents. There were also stages to teach acting and swimming baths and much more. Importantly (IMHO) corporal punishment was retained as was detention etc. so discipline was maintained. It was of course still boys only.

Interesting posts from ex pupils of Caludon Castle and The Woodlands schools. Discipline is something that crops up now and again in both threads. I thought schools were a place of learning, something to be enjoyed, places of inspiration, where EVERY person's strengths and weaknesses were recognised and nurtured, values of honesty, integrity, respect for one another were taught for the benefit of society but more importantly for the individual. That wasn't my experience. I was a quiet, unassuming lad, rarely did I draw attention to myself, I wasn't the brightest button in the box, neither was I the dullest. I was shocked and dismayed at the level of brutality meted out on a daily basis by teachers to pupils during my time, I left with modest examination results and totally unprepared for the next stage in my life. It's all very well talking about discipline, would anyone of us here reading this forum tolerate the kind of behaviour our teachers doled out to us, to our children or grandchildren???? As I said in my Woodlands thread, In Parvis Fidelis.... what a joke!!

What about "Lofty" Summers, who had to stand on a chair to give you the whack? Can't remember which house that was. It was the other half of the Howard block

I was in Loftys House and I think it was Morgan. He was a lovely man (even if he caned me once - which I deserved). He used to take lads to Warwick records office, in his own time in his own old car, on Saturday mornings, as he was interested in local history and I was told by one of the lads that there were holes in the floor that you could see the road through. I still have a couple of `year books` and I will find one out and put the cover on here when I get a minute.

I sympathize with what you`re saying, Bad Boy, and I was trying to be careful not to over stress the discipline aspect (but obviously failed) although, without some sort of effective sanctions against unruly pupils (sorry, students,nowadays) learning becomes impossible. To put things in context, we had one master at John Gulson Grammar who had a line of various sized canes on constant view and he once caned six of us for poor homework results. He was, however, in a small minority and detention was the normal form of discipline. At Caludon, the cane was used very sparingly but I still believe in the old saying, `Spare the rod and spoil the child`. Having said that, it is only from observing other peoples children and how society has changed down the years.