Bishop Ullathorne School

Thanks Barbara, and yes I do remember Roger McPhail as a great artist (by our schoolboy standards, anyway) - he would bring wings in off dead birds and such and make drawings of them, which nobody else would have dreamt of doing!.I imagine he went the arts route while I went sciences, so less contact from 6th form onwards. Thinking of 6th form - I would never have remembered but for looking at the reverse of that photo yesterday, but in fourth year I plus others was in class 4x which must have been some experimental/accelerated stream - such that we did our "O" levels in fourth year rather than 5th, then if we did sufficiently well went straight into lower 6th, missing the 5th year instruction altogether. Which was good in some ways (stopped us being bored I guess) but less so in others in that we were then a year young to be doing "A" levels the following year, and consequently could have done better - at least I think so, having then got rather indifferent grades despite being bright enough to be in 4x. Ah well - led me to Leeds Uni and where I am today, all good!

Roger (actually: Rodger) McPhail seems to be here (birth year / art college attended both correct) ... also own website ... beautiful work!!

I also remember a trip to Dol-y-Moch in Wales - a few days maybe - not sure if it was the same year as you, but it could have been. Canoeing on the river, botanizing with Mr Hobro as you say - I learned the names of mosses that I can still remember, possibly started my interest in biology, or perhaps I had that already. I did not know it then, but the place was/is associated with Coventry in particular, from their website today: "Situated in the Snowdonia National Park between the mountain and the sea, Plas Dol-y-Moch is a large 17th century country house set in gardens and woodlands in the Vale of Ffestiniog, and it has been Coventry's outdoor education centre since 1966." I had previously visited a centre in Surrey for a week long geography field course outside school (Juniper Hall near Dorking, owned by the Field Studies Council and open to booking from any groups - I got included via my parents, arranged through Warwick Museum I think) and such field trips (plus more at University) were always a highlight of studying! You learned so much more out in the field than in class and also a whole new approach to finding things out for yourself, under supervision of course, and writing them up as reports - a few still in the cupboard and make interesting reading many years later!

At Ullathorne secondary modern boys from 1965 until 1969, just missed it being mixed sex school. Enjoyed my time there. Remember Mr Hall (Roger). Mr Kenny, we called him Mrs Kenny, he taught English. Mr Sadler (Jack) taught TD, I remember he had numbers tattooed on his arm (pow, concentration camp?). Father Moynihan (I think), very friendly priest. Mr Benn, PE instructor. Mr Derbyshire was my class tutor. Anyone remember any of these teachers?

Hi! Just idly looking for some history and happened on this site. I believe there used to be something similar in the time of Friends Reunited but that seems to have gone. I was in the year of Tony Rees and stand on the cairn in his photo which I also have. Now a retired GP (thank goodness), still playing cricket.

Hi welcome to the forum The site isn't as busy as a standard social media hub but it's happily linked people over years. I hope you find something useful and or share. Helen

As an 'old girl' of Bishop Ullathorne, I wish we had a more lively thread. I'd almost forgotten about Friends Reunited, maybe I'll take a look. With three good sized schools on the campus I'd have thought that we'd hear from more of them. Linda Mainwaring '60-'65.

Hi Stefan - or Jan Stefan as I recall?? - great to hear from you via this forum! I'm thinking we both went up to Leeds in the same year, but our paths did not really cross there... as I said in a previous post I think, my route took me to London and Oxford, then Leeds again for a PhD, then London, then Australia where I have resided since 1986. I'm amazed that you have a copy of my photo - I must have had some duplicate prints made at the time, but cannot remember having done so!! Warm here today, late spring in the subtropics! Look for Byron Bay on the map if interested - we are around 1 hr inland from there. Some more personal info about myself and my interests over time on my Wikipedia contributor page here. Cheers - Tony Rees (Ullathorne Grammar School 1964-1970 approx.)

From looking on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends_Reunited, also https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35343091, it seems that site closed down in 2016, having lost all its monetary value and "failed to keep pace with other social networks"... go figure! So probably not much point looking there, unfortunately. Tony Rees

Very sad. Maybe we'll pick some up through this fabulous forum.

There is a Facebook page called Bishop Ullathorne School Friends.

I've seen this pic before but they were a few years ahead of me. They're wearing the striped dresses in house colours which came before the pink check for everyone. I think we would have been there at about the same time, Tilly.

I checked the Facebook page Bishop Ullathorne School friends as suggested - once you join (it's a private group) there is some good stuff in there, even including a few pictures with myself in them Since it is private, nothing posted there gets indexed by Google of course, so does not show up in internet searches (unlike this site, a plus for that)... Cheers, Tony

My whole family went to Ullathorne it seems! My parents both taught there and my brothers and I went there. When my Dad, Henry Cerowski, died, we were clearing out the house, and under some newspaper lining the drawers, I found quite a few Rodger McPhail drawings and paintings. Mostly of birds and rabbits, but also a few cartoon types - Desperate Dan emerging from a box of cornflakes! I contacted Rodger and told him this, and he allowed me to keep them. Two are now framed in my house! Incidentally, Rodger also painted the picture seen on the front of Famous Grouse whiskey. We used to have an R.E. exercise book with lovely pictures drawn by him, but unfortunately, it was thrown out - not by me!

Ahh what sweet memories of school days!! It wasn't good to be the child of a teacher in the same school, especially if you had a foreign name. Apart from that, I have many vivid memories of Ullathorne.... Five II Girls - production written by Stuart Menaud, and music skilfully played by Christopher Achenbach - now in Scotland. Summer uniform - white and pink check which we wore in the 6th form, and were allowed to make ourselves. Brings back memories of beautiful summer days and playing tennis. Straw boater - I never had one but always wanted one! I had the horrible grey felt hat and maroon beret. Mrs Whitehurst, the needlework teacher, would slap your legs if you weren't wearing suitable headgear when you walked out of the main door. Needlework - we made a grey/white check apron with matching hat, in quite a complicated pattern - set-in diagonal pockets and embroidered. We also made babydoll nighties with puff sleeves and matching pants, which we had to all wear and then parade down the hall in, probably to the delight of the male teachers. Sports - long summer days on the sports field - my best achievement was running and throwing balls - never made it to the Olympics! Friends - Oh I remember loads - Delia Vincent, Mary Kearns, Margaret Cann, Susan Heeney, Teresa Zarzycka, Isabella Woloszczuk, Joanna Berry, Ann Griffiin, Dawn Phee, Ann Gibbons, Claire Rutter, Helen Kedzia ...... and more who I just can't recall right now! Teachers - Mrs Fletcher, Mr Hough, Miss Austin, Mr Owen, Miss Molyneaux, Miss Gent, Miss Healey, Miss Van Hee, and my all-time favourite - Jean McGinn. She was my form teacher and English teacher. She was very strict and serious and we were all a bit scared of her. She used to call us "clots" all the time, and taught me the favourite phrase "Patience is a virtue". My children know all about her! What I remember most was that she always wore beautiful kitten heel shoes - very classy and stylish. I look back on my school days with happiness now, although I wasn't happy then. I guess that's the same for most people.