School Days - memories & outings

Hi TonyS, Hi all Dawlish was full of convalescent homes or guest houses at one time. Courtaulds had one there. Coventry's traders guild had one there too, as well as in Eastbourne & another in Weston-Super-Mare that I know of. I visited one once in Dawlish whilst on holiday, where a colleague was recovering from major surgery. It was very nice except for the menu, where steamed fish abounded. ps Thank you for the close up of "Eastbury Grange" Binkey. You receive the three brill award for that. Brill, brill & brill! I cannot make-out the number of the Castle class, (a King always a possibility) denoted by the bent steam vent pipe from the cylinder. A cracker all the same though! The Kings were in effect a bigger version of a Castle, similar in design, both having four cylinders. On paper, the Kings were built for just two routes, London to B'ham & Wolverhampton, & London to Plymouth. They were not faster than the Castles, which would sprint heavy passenger trains along at speeds averaging seventy, the Kings were built so as to maintain higher average speeds over steeply graded lines. I once travelled behind a King up the Hatton bank on its way to B'ham where it easily outpaced a DMU, at over half the speed again, that was struggling up on the slow line on it's way to Stratford. A glorious picture of a King (from a fabulous Warwickshire on-line history site for railways) storming up Hatton bank at I guess at over forty, maybe fifty, unassisted with a huge load. The relief line is visible nearest with very shiny rails, giving evidence of much usage.

Did any of you forumites go on school trips? I ask this because my granddaughter is going to India next year and I thought back to my school outings. One afternoon trip to Courtaulds Little Heath to look at and prod some smelly stuff. We were offered samples to take home, I refused the offer. Another outing was to a ball bearing factory in Birmingham, I don't know how I managed to contain my excitement. That was it, zilch, nothing more. I believe that Form VI went to Rhyl the year after I left so I missed out on that. Norman

The only school trip I remember going on was to London to see the street decorations after the Coronation.

Not a school trip, but when I was on day release at the Butts we were taking on a trip to Hams Hall Power Station, how exiting does it get ?

No school trips for me I'm afraid.

When I was at Freddies we were taken on a trip to Cadburys and given a sample of chocolate to take home. The only other school trip I recall is going to see Jonah the whale, when it was on display in Coventry City centre.

Went to see Moliere (?) Comedy (?) at the Butts during term time - that was a barrel of laughs, I didn`t understand a word of it - it was in French. I still can`t understand much of it although I spent five years supposedly learning it. Did try it out on a real Frenchman once, the thick blighter didn`t seem to understand his own language, all he could say was something like "doucement", I think he was a bit deaf, as I spoke really clearly!

I also went to London Tricia, a bunch of us 4th formers all giggly girls. The funny thing was I had already been there for a week sightseeing with my parents a month before.

Usually the Royal Show in Stoneleigh. VERY boring indeed! We tried to get some Germans to give us beer, but they were having none of it! We also went to London for the day and our hard lads nearly had a fight with some other hard lads from another school also visiting the same venue (British Museum I think) and teachers had to intervene. We hoped the teachers would get involved fighting the other teachers, but they didnt

At Freddies Juniors in the 60s the budget for school outings must have been quite generous - the posts here set me to thinking about the places we were taken and I am surprised and impressed by the number and variety. I know we went to Stratford to see the ballet La Fille Mal Gardee and to the Coventry Theatre to see Swan Lake. Another trip (that I didn't go on) was to see the ballet Coppelia. We also saw Treasure Island at the Belgrade. We took a day trip to see Kenilworth Castle, the Lunt Fort, and the site of a motte-and-bailey castle somewhere (Brinklow?). We also were taken on trips to Weston-super-Mare and Blackpool. Some of us went on one of the early electric trains and went to Liverpool for the day. On the way back, the train before us on the line crashed, causing panic to our parents, few of whom had phones in those days. We also went to the Coventry zoo and to the Cathedral. For some peculiar reason we also went to see the England U-21 football game at Highfield Road. I've always thought my education at Freddies was subject to the whims of the teachers, rather than following a specific plan, and I suppose some of these outings illustrate that.

I was fortunate enough to go on lots of school trips. We went Youth Hostelling in Derbyshire and also to the Cotswolds for a week, on the way back we called in at Coventry, went round the Triumph car factory and saw the precinct (it was really only Owen Owen) and the Cathedral. We also used to go every year to an England international at Wembley and a day at a Test Match. Later on there were trips abroad but unfortunately my parents couldn't afford them I never went. We did also go for a day trip to the docks at Grimsby but we were given free ice cream

I remember going to London a couple of times in the 1950's when I was at two junior schools and two secondary schools On one occasion we were shown round the Houses of Parliament by Dick Crossman, one of the Coventry MPs. We also went to London Zoo and on a quick trip to Heathrow airport. I can remember the airport in a very unfinished state, with many buildings seeming to consist of temporary wooden structures. I do remember on one of the London trips we drove along the newly opened M1 which opened in 1959. On another occasion we went to Weston Super Mare for the day. The crowning glory was when I was about sixteen and we went on a skiing holiday from Whitley Abbey School. That would have been in 1960. No flying involved, but a very long train journey.

We had a school trip to Coventry Zoo when I was about 5 or 6. I don't remember much about the animals but after we had toured the zoo proper we had half an hour or so in the recreation area. There was a little kiddies railway with the usual assorted cars. If I recall correctly the one I was in was a toy fire engine and I had a steering wheel in front of me. This frightened me as I thought the train would go off the rails if I didn't steer it accurately! In 1967 we moved house and I then went to Keresley Newlands Primary. We had a school trip to London from there and went round the Tower of London and the Imperial War Museum. I was big for my age and found the coach ride very uncomfortable as they packed us in 3 to a seat. My mother later complained to the school about this overcrowding, as they were probably only insured to carry a specified number of passengers. The school used Courts coaches and ironically the son of the coach firm owner later moved in next door to us.

Fidobsa I remember Court's Coaches, we used to live about a mile outside Fillongley in the mid sixties, my daughter went to the local primary school and must have qualified for free transport to school. There seemed to be only my daughter and my neighbours son on this route for the bus, Courts owner (I think Mr Court) used to take them in his Jaguar every morning. Alan H

For Primrose. Brinklow Motte & Bailey castle and views from the top. Ricoh Arena arrowed & Corley Rocks on horizon.