Wigan Album

Well Duncan what can I say,some of our lot ended up in Risley remand centre but here some look very suspect,woman on the front row second right has not bothered taking her rollers out.

Back Row: Mr Birchall, Mr Green (Deputy Head), Mr Bell, Mr Smallshaw.
Second Row: Mr Wigglesworth, Mr Hardman, Mr Stanway, Mr Ashton, Mr Hayton, Mr Thomas, Mr Peet, Mr Balmer, Not known.
Third Row: Mrs Wright, Mr Chadwick, Mr Dawson, Mr Farrimond, Mr Gambles, Mr Davies, Mrs Chadwick.
Front Row: Mrs Melling, Mrs Gibson (School Secretary), Miss Derbyshire, Mr Clarke (Headmaster), Mrs Worthington, Mrs Morris, Miss Pennington, Not known.

Duncan
Could the 3rd from left, next to back row, be John Arkright?

Paul, bloke next to Mr Balmer at right end of second row down is Mr Tinsley, a games teacher. The woman sat at the right end of the front row is Miss Bardoe, she was an art teacher and she was not at the school very long.

No Aubrey, that is Mr Stanway, the history teacher I understand he is still around and aged over 90.

John G. the lady with the curlers is Miss Pennington, she went into antique dealing, she could often be seen at local antique fairs in the late 70s and 1980s.

I was taught by most of these 1963-64. My class teacher was that haradin called Cornelius. The rest were OK. We had nicknames for some of them....Metalwork teacher was RIVET...Woodwork teacher was MALLET lol.
But generally the school was Ok and the girls ooh-la-la especially Judith Vaughan!!

"Not known" on the end looks very tasty!
I wouldn't of minded getting detention of her! lol

This school was our rivals in Upholland. One day UGS attended for a film of Macbeth for English 0 Level. Me and some other lads chatted up the girls much to the annoyance of the Secondary school lads. A scrap ensued which was broke up by the teachers!

Ms Bardoe (on the end) was the Art teacher then. They had one called Oates who gassed himself at home. I sure even Upholland Secondary school pupils weren't that bad! lol

Giovanni, "not known" on the end was Miss Bardoe who as you might guess was nicknamed "Bridget" by the pupils and also some of the staff!

As "Brigitte" was the art teacher, I'd let her handle my mahl stick anytime!

Duncan
It appears that "Bridget" is as pretty as the original La Bardot! lol

Ok Duncan lets re-cap what we've got here,my miss curly top is miss Pennington who now does antiques,Giovanni's fancy piece is a copy cat miss Bardoe,at the side of them is a guy called cornelius further along is a rivet and a mallet and the best looking chick was Judith Vaughan who for some strange reason Giovanni does not know.Aubrey went to school here but thinks John Arkright is 3rd from the left but tuns out to be Stanway who's sat on a piano and is over 90 yrs old.a nod Giovanni is still playing with his mohi?i don't know about you lot but this is getting really complicated.

Giovanni.I went to a different school. What is a "Mahl stick" and what does it do?

For the uninitiated, a mahl stick is used by painters to steady the brush on large canvasses!
I used it in a previous comment as a double-entendre! lol

John G
I did know Judith Vaughan. Met her at a party in APPLEY BRIDGE, 1967. Johnny48 was right! Another one that got away!! lol

Johnny48 – by the early 1970s, metalwork teacher Mr Ashton’s nickname had been modified to ‘Jack the Rivet’.
He hated waste, and was a great fan of recycling years before it was fashionable, and was always on the lookout for bits of scrap metal that could be put to use in the school workshop. One of his fellow teachers put a tale around that he nearly got knocked down by a bus, running into the road to pick a rusty old clog iron up.

Paul
Thanks for that amusing bit of info. I remember guillotining inch pieces of steel rod as ammunition for our catapults when Ashton would leave the class!
Also I was sick of making pokers! We had central heating in our house at the time with a gas fire! Mind you I flogged some to neighbours!

Johnny48, Miss Derbyshire was known as "Granny" because of her old fashioned ways and style of dress. Mrs Worthington was know as "pussy" I have no idea why.

A.W.
Pussy should have applied to Ms Bardoe (know what I mean) ;-)

Thought you would be around this girl some where Giovanni,good photo nice set of lads having a giggle,I found miss curly top my kind of girl. Thanks Duncan.

Yeah, thanks Duncan. I don't know what happened to my old school photos? :-(
Happy days, John g!

Mr Stanway's nickname was "Snudge" after the sergeant major character played by Bill Frazer in early 1960s TV comedy "The Army Game" and spin-off "Bootsy & Snudge".

You're so right A.W. Anyone know the whereabouts of John Meadows (Medic), James Lawson, Gordon Southwell, Margaret Kay, Sandra Duckworth, a girl called Wilding and others in Cornelius's class 1964??

Does anyone know if Mr. Balmer attended Wigan Grammar School. He looks familiar.

Broady, not sure if Mr Balmer went to Wigan Grammar, I do know he came from the Half Way House area of Pemberton.

I believe Geoff (or Jeff) Balmer did attend Wigan Grammar.
I should imagine he will be in his late sixties now.

Thanks for that. I think he had a younger brother that went there as well. Hard to remember as it was almost 50 years ago.

Mr Hardman was a local preacher and head of English....And I think at one time in the 50s was a master at Rosebridge in Higher ince............

A "Balmer" did teach PE at Wigan Grammar but that was Frank Balmer an ex-RL player of the 40's - he taught at the Grammar in the 50's and later at John Rigby - but in my opinion did not look like "Mr Balmer" in this photo.

Johnny48 - I'm alive and well living in Salcombe Devon. I lost touch with Gordon and James when I went to UGS and then Manc Uni. I've been in touch recently with David Burchall who also lives in Devon. I also kept in touch with Mrs Worthington until she passed away a few years ago now. She was in the same Orrell care home as an aunt of mine. I remember Margaret Kay and Sandra Duckworth. This page brings back a lot of memories. Best wishes John.

mrs worthington was known as pussy because her name sounds like whittington, ie dick whittington and his cat. we couldnt very well call her dick,we were only kids and not very inventive.