Caludon Castle School

Gypo Rickard (so called because he lived in a caravan on Wyken Croft Road) was my form master in my 3rd and 4th years. We did not gel. He took extreme umbrage at my inability to pay the School Fund. It never occurred to him to enquire the reason and he spent two years demanding it on a daily basis. Perhaps he was a frustrated bailiff. Some years after I left one of my younger brothers was asked by Rickard if he was related to me. My brother intuitively thought it wise to deny any connection. Ned Titt took us for English, a decent, calm man who understood the follies and callowness of youth and made allowances for them. There were so many Davis/Davies that I was confused as to who they all were. There was a Blob Davies who taught Science as well as being Housemaster of, I think, Preston and a Taff Davies who was our Housemaster in Clifford. Then there was at least one more. Taff was a good man, a genial bloke who always greeted one with a smile and a friendly remark no matter the circumstances of the last meeting. I hated to see his crestfallen face when I handed over the daily detention chit for doing something a bit daft. For the life of me I can remember very few fellow students from Caludon except those who were at primary school. Overall I think Caludon was more enjoyable for lads who excelled at sport. I remember that colours were awarded which meant a differently coloured blazer badge identifying the particular sport.

Hi, OldCaludonian. Just wondered whether you played Rugger 56/57 or 58/59 as I have the year books and these are extracts. By the way, I also have the big picture for our house (can`t remember which it was) obviously taken the same year.

andyo123 Was Charles Brookes the one they called Poodle because of his curly hair? I'm a year younger than you but Poodle had somehow dropped back a year so we were in the sixth form together. I think we were both wasting our time there though.

"Lofty" was house master in Talbot, like some other members I too came from Stoke Heath (ex Bob Knight's class). Who was the teacher @ Caludon who rode a racing m/bike to school? I could run ok but hated x country especially the full course around the school.

By the late 50`s, he was house master of Morgan.

Yes, Greg, I was in the 58-59 team, captain Jock Russell. I'm in the middle of the back row (of the photograph; as I was, I think, of the scrum.

I have posted the first four pages of the 59 rugger article in my gallery as I have just realized that it is very difficult to read in my previous post.

Yo, remember Stoke Heath, went thro' from nursery, Ms Peach, Ms Fairbrother to the last teacher Bob Knight (mate of another teacher Dixon), both who gave up their own time to teach swimming @ Livingstone Rd. baths. I think they once travelled the sub continent on a motorbike! A mixed school in them days, I think the caretaker's name was Campbell, he kept the boilers stoked in winter time & the ink wells topped up with some foul smelling ink. Also the pre-cooked dinners & the 1/3 (?) pint bottles of milk in the morning. Finished there & off to Caludon -- Talbot & then Morgan. Still keep in touch with a couple of schoolmates from over here

The caretaker was Mr Camwell, he was a very warm-hearted and kind man. He lived in Burlington Road, and I think he had something of a limp. My brother helped him stoke the boilers. I couldn't do that, the shovels were massive to me. In return he let my brother and I use the gym 'out of hours', so maybe it was on Saturdays. The use of the gym had its downside for me, my brother being more 'Mars' and athletic than me thought we ought to don the boxing gloves and do a bit of sparring. You've probably guessed he was older than me (about 4 years) so I wasn't a bit impressed, only by the boxing gloves on my face. I didn't let that happen again. I have nothing but fond memories of Mr Camwell, I wish I could say the same for all the teachers, but Miss Frost! Well, her name says it all.

Mmm. Can't say I share your enthusiasm for the place. Was sent there with my twin, Trevor, and a mate of ours, David Lorimer, all the way from Whitmore Park, about 6 miles away! Blob Davies was a bully with no patience whatsoever! Does anybody remember Mr Ollier or Mr Hopkins who both started the same year, 1968? Some of the other kids there were Richard Marrs, Gary Watson, Barry Eardley, Paul Yardley, son of a teacher there, Paul McFadden, Andy Gray. I remember when we were in Berkeley we made a film on a small cine camera, anybody recall? This would be about 1969/1970.

Jack Knight was housemaster of Berkeley in '68 when I started. Think he finished up in rural Leicestershire somewhere.

I went to Caludon in September 1966 and was in Berkeley with Jack Knight as housemaster. My group master was Hank Johnson, a maths teacher who seems to have been loathed and detested by most pupils who came into contact with him. He used to shuffle up and down between the desks flexing a ruler which he would occasionally bring down with a thwack on any miscreant's desk. The small cine cameras were given out for groups to film adverts as a project. Our group 4 advert was about a washing powder I seem to recall. I think Mr Yardley had group 5 and he used to teach technical drawing. I do remember his son was a pupil. Geoff Bennett's son was also a pupil in our year group. Do you remember the organised fight between Richard Steele, representing Berkeley, and Adie Newbury, representing Chester? Happy days.

Hi Hector1 and all. Just found this site and enjoyed the trip down memory lane. I was at CC 66 - 73 years, in Chester, Preston and Morgan. Some of the years shared with Paul Guy who posted earlier - and I remember Paul. I was rather sad to hear of BEB Brown's lonely sounding ending, although he terrorised me for a few years given my pathetic grasp of french and frequent inability to complete his homework. He made a lasting impression and I can still recall his garlic laden shrill voice and some of the tirades he unleashed on me. I remember plotting (but never actually doing) with others to fix his green minivan so that it would conk-out on his way home to Kennilworth, I think we were tossing up between putting sugar in the petrol tank and a potato up the exhaust pipe, but we must have chickened out. Despite all this, it still seems a sad way for him to leave this life. Geoff Bennett did have a son at the school, in my year - a top guy by name of Richard "Lep" Bennett. I can still remember an organised punch-up between two first year house champions - as you mentioned Hector1. It was in the first week or so of arriving, but the event I recall was between a Gaz Crawford and Adie Newbury. A long time ago though - and the memory is not what it was (although it never was much good at retaining french language stuff!! ) Anyway, nowadays I'm loving life one the Sunshine Coast of Queensland in Australia. Made my way here via NZ, Singapore and HK. Interesting to see how widespread the ex Callie boys are dispersed around the world.

Hi Bananaman: Yes, I guess he was. My father was introduced to this post by a friend who unwittingly has made him re-live the appalling trauma that this period in his life caused. The person who started this nick-name was Rob Mount and I guess he didn't know the storm that he was creating, at least I hope he didn't. Suffice to say old soldiers never mention their wars and this was a pretty awful one for dad and it remains as hurtful after nearly half a century. As a previous contributor said, would we want our children or our grand-children suffering this?

Only just come across this site and the forum posts. Also very sad to hear of BEB Brown's passing in rather tragic-sounding circumstances. I would certainly have attended his funeral had I known. To redress the balance, he along with Roger Creek (German) inspired me enormously in the '70's to learn foreign languages, which I continued at degree level and treasure to this day. Mr Brown was eccentric and a very proud, private man who did not suffer fools and lazy types gladly and rightly set tough standards. He was very committed to teaching, however, and went out of his way voluntarily in his non-teaching time to help me and a few others I believe to learn Russian. Not sure how many other people would do that. Requiescat in pace, Sir!