Visitors 14
| 1. Linda Flavell | |
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►Hi Dave, I have just been e-mailed the link to the Hemsworth Grammar School site by my daughter. I didn't go to the school but my Mum and Dad did - June Defty and Sam Flavell. It has been wonderful to work my way through the site and find them on photos. It's been lovely to see photos of her which I have never seen before and find out what prizes she won. I can't wait to show Dad the site as I know he will enjoy it and be able to recall many memories. |
| Mum's name is missing on a couple of photos and hope this now helps to update your information. Years 1944/45 - photo 1B - Mum (June Defty) is person 2 on the 2nd row next to Jean Thompson. Years 1945/46 - photo 2B - Mum (June Defty) is 2nd from the left on the 2nd row. I will no doubt be able to e-mail more names when Dad has a look at the photos. Best wishes. Linda Lawrence (nee Flavell) (February 2006) | |
| 2. Denise Spaxman 1959-64 | |
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►Dave, Just found the HGS website after spending a few hours on the Brierley Village website - link given. I started at HGS in 1959 in Romans and was in Talbot House. I have already seen a message from a very dear friend, Janice Hanwell who I hope will get in touch with me. I found myself on one of the form photographs and would like to give you a few more names. |
| Forms 59/60 Romans photograph Second Row: 1. Elaine Parker. 2. Sylvia Rogerson. 3. Avril Bond. 4. Sandra Corcoran. 5. 6. Helen Evans. 7. 8. Ann Broadhead Front Row: 6. Bessie Gibson. 7. Denise Spaxman. 8. Janet Turton. 9. Linda Deakin. Hope these names help. The Website is brilliant, keep up the good work! Regards! Denise Stones (nee Spaxman) HGS 59-64 (February 2006) ►Dear Denise, Thank you very much for the information. It has now been added to the site. Memories of HGS are very important to so many people. I'm glad that you have enjoyed your visits to the site. If you have any particular memories of HGS, please send them in. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House | |
| 3. Thelma Betts 1944-49 | |
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►Dave, What a wonderful site this is. Many thanks to Sheila Kelsall for informing me about it. What an experience to have been a pupil at such a school! Many, many memories. Thelma (February 2006) |
| 4. John Atkinson 1948-53 | |
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►Dave, I am enjoying the website. Memories are flooding back. On the 1b 1948-49 Form photo I am on the back row, second from the end, next to David Heptinstall. We were good mates. He joined the Navy and went to live down south, losing touch completely. John (February 2006) |
| ►Dear John, Thank you for getting in touch. It is good to hear that you have enjoyed looking back at HGS. It was so important to so many of us. If you feel that you could add any content to the site, please do. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House ►Dave, I'm enjoying the trips down memory lane and sharing them with my sister Judy and also my sister-in-law Margaret Simm who is going to supply me with some photographs and information from the mid 1940's to 1949 to pass on. Cheers, John Atkinson | |
| 5. Frank Hudson 1949-54 | |
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►Dear Sheila, I've just spent a very pleasurable two hours browsing through your site and when I say you've made my day I really mean it - thank you very much indeed. If I can turn up any old photographs then you are welcome to use them if you so wish. Kind regards, Frank Hudson (Talbot) (February 2006) |
| ►Dear Frank, Lovely to hear from you. You will have seen what we are trying to do on the site, and of course, any help would be really appreciated. It's amazing how long some people have held on to their schoolday items! We call it a walk down memory lane, but there have been many other beneficial side-effects of clicking on the Visitors button. Friendships have been renewed, and just the knowledge that some of one's contemporaries are still around is reassuring! Do please contact us direct at the site with any identifications/corrections from the class photos and panoramas. You left HGS the year before Dave and I started there, and some of the names evade us. Your route through School (1b, 2a etc) and any anecdotes would be interesting to read. I look forward to hearing from you again. Sincerely, Sheila. ►Dear Dave, You might like to consider including the attached scans in the Forms Index Section of your website. As the boys in the first photograph (Form 1D) were still in short trousers it is highly likely that it was taken shortly after we arrived in September 1949; although it could easily have been taken at any time during that first full year up to July 1950. The second photograph (Form 5G) was taken in 1954, probably in the early Summer and therefore just before most of us said goodbye to Hemsworth. (Names supplied) You will notice that three of the six boys in photo 2 were called 'Frank'. This must be something of a record I suppose, in that in which other class in the history of the school did fifty per-cent of its boy pupils have the same Christian Name? Finally, I have attached also (and against my better judgement) a photo of me taken by Mr Leonard during a pole-vault training session. This was just prior to competing in the Yorkshire Schools Championships at Harrogate. I was a Junior Champion at the time, probably aged thirteen or so and I believe my Senior equivalent was Peter(?) Wall, although I'm not absolutely sure. Kind regards, Frank Hudson. ►Dear Frank, Thank you for your emails and photographs. I will add the information to the site as soon as possible. Peter Wall is also in touch with the site as is Miss. Ward. Kath and I keep in touch via the telephone and sometimes meet. I worked with her for 15 enjoyable years. Mr. Farrar got in touch with the site in October 2002 and also let the site have some material. Mr. Leonard's daughter Jacqueline has let the site have many of his other HGS photographs. Best wishes, Dave HGS 1955-62, Holgate House ►Dear Dave, Something is a little odd, Dave. In the 1953/4 photograph of 4T No's 3, 4, 6 and 7 in the back row are (unless I'm much mistaken) Vic Clarke, Les Thomas and then most definitely Eddie Lowe and Peter Harvey in that order. Scrolling down the same Index to the picture of 5G of the same year, Vic Clarke, Les Thomas and Eddie Lowe are standing alongside Frank Wootton, Frank Warren and me. They couldn't officially be in both, or could they? Kind regards, Frank Hudson (Talbot) Can anyone explain this mystery? Dave | |
| 6. Dilys Hughes 1954-61 | |
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►Hi Dave, I got the website address from Frank Morley and have given myself a crick in the neck with 3 nights looking at the photos and reading things. I have made a long list of names from the photos and will let you have them. I have very fond memories of HGS particularly the sport and the social side of life at school. I became a PE teacher and after working in London for 2 years I migrated to Western Australia and loved it the minute I got here so have been here ever since. Thanks for the website - its the only one I look at! Regards, Dilys Hughes (March 2006) |
| ►Dear Dilys, How lovely to hear from you! I haven't seen you since we were in L6S together. I'm glad that you are enjoying the web site. Hopefully it should stir those memories. Like you I enjoyed the sport at HGS. Thank you for getting in touch and for the information. As ever, Dave ►Hi Dave, What a speedy response! I am trying to match it. When the body decided my PE days were over I retrained to teach English as a second language so I have been doing that for a few years and I am going to do Homestay/Tuition for Japanese students now for a while. HGS certainly turned out some PE teachers didn't it? I still have my Yorkshire accent so my Aussie friends think its a big joke that I teach it to foreign students. Golf is my game now and in fact the season starts next week. I play at Lake Karrinyup which you might have seen on TV as there have been some top tournaments there. I will keep an eye out for a reunion as I travel back and forth quite regularly these days. Regards Dilys | |
| 7. Moira Edwards 1966-72 | |
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►Sheila I have school photo from Celts 2 - 1966/67 and an invitation to School Speech Day which might be interesting to old HGS members! Will get someone else to use their computer skills and forward them to you. I was at HGS in 1966 - 1972 - definitely the best years at a wonderful school. We'll never see it's like again. Regards, Moira Edwards (June 2006) |
| ►Dear Moira, Thanks for the message. It's great to hear from you, especially as you have some items for us! We have Romans 2 and Normans 2 but not Celts 2, so your photo would be most welcome - plus any names you can remember also. As you may have seen on the site, Dave and I left in '62, and so we will have no idea of who's who. Forty years is a long time to bring every name to mind, but even a name here or there can sometimes nudge someone else's memory. Have you had a good look round the site? How did you learn of it? Please feel free to suggest any improvements or corrections, as it's a site for us all to share, as was the School. Do you have any particular memories about the Staff, the Head, the lessons, the sports or music, or just your friends? Please let us know them, as it all gives insight into what was a fine place to receive one's education. Looking forward to seeing your invitation (I never received one!) and class photo. Sincerely, Sheila ►Dear Sheila, I hope you find the attached interesting! The photo was very kindly given to me by Carol Andrews - I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it. I'm not sure how I acquired the speech day invitation - I'm sure I won't have had one especially for me! Moira. ►Dear Moira, Thank you so much for the Celts photo and the invitation to the Speech Day of 1967. The latter could be quite a unique historical item if Speech Days as we knew them were discontinued after this year. Was this so? It was Mr. Hamilton?s final Speech Day, of that we are certain, as he retired in 1967. If you are able to pass along our thanks to Carol we would appreciate it, and of course, as ever, we would love to hear from her! Nearly forty years have gone by since the photo, and we would welcome any memories of School life before it's all forgotten and lost. Sincerely, Sheila. | |
| 8. Lisa Smith | |
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►Hello Dave, I am just writing to congratulate you on the Hemsworth Grammar School site. I am researching my family tree and knew my great uncle, Russell Hamilton, was once headmaster of a school, but until recently did not know any more details. Through a genealogy website, I was able to get his teaching history and after doing a Google search on Hemsworth, was overjoyed at finding details and pictures of my great uncle. I did meet him but twice on visits to the UK in the late 1980's and was struck by his warmth, kindness and intellect. To see photos of him as a young man and read about the school he spent so many of his years at brings tears to my eyes. Congratulations on a wonderful site. Regards Lisa Smith (August 2006) |
| 9. Clive Allsop 1962-67 | |
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►Dave, I only found the HGS site less than a week ago but have spent a good few hours looking through it. I found the class photos brought back memories of friends at school who I have not seen since leaving in 1967. Although I'm having difficulty putting names to some of the faces, I can name the odd one or two who are not named. I brought up the site on Monday whilst my mother was visiting. She went to HGS in the early to mid 1940's. She could recall most of her class mates. Clive Allsop (October 2006) |
| ►Dear Clive, Thank you for getting in touch with the site. I am glad that it has brought back memories from those distant times. I have included a copy of your U12 Rugby XV. Please let the site have anything which comes to mind about HGS. I am sure it will be of interest to some of our audience. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62 | |
| 10. Ethel McLagan 1945-51 | |
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►Dear Dave, I have just come across your site and was delighted to spot a photo of my mum, Ethel McLagan, in the Class Pages. She appears in 1948/49 class 4C, Front Row. I intend to show the site to her. I recall that she has most if not all her form photographs so I will look to get scans to you and fill in any missing names. With best wishes, Ruth de Wynter (October 2006) |
| ►Dear Ruth, Thank you very much for the information and for the offer of material for the site. Three weeks ago my wife and I visited an HGS classmate of your mother - Irene Wright. Her email address can be found on the site in the Visitors Contacts A-Z. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62 | |
| 11. Peter Harvey 1949-54 | |
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►Hello, My name is Peter Harvey, and I appear on the 1952 panoramic photo. Page 5, 6th Row. Just found it, brilliant. I have only had a brief look at it, but already I can fit one or two names to faces that you appear not to have. Over the next few weeks I and a colleague of mine will look in more detail. Regards, Peter Harvey. (October 2006) |
| ►Dear Peter, Thank you for getting in touch with the site and for the offer of information. Those far off days in Hemsworth are still very precious to many Hilmians. Just send anything you have to my email address and I will add it to the site. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House ►Hello Dave, I have looked at some of the form photos, and I can fix you up with quite a number of names, and one or two errors. I can still remember many faces. Pat Beevers, who started at H.G.S. just after me, is currently a school governor and she invited me along to the opening of the new HHS Post 16 Technology Unit and Synthetic Pitch on the 4th November last year. I was introduced to the Head, Mr. David Sharp, who made me very welcome and provided a senior pupil to show us around. The old parts of the school brought back many fine memories. Regards, Peter | |
| 12. Susan Dickinson 1961-68 | |
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►Hi Dave, Just getting round to sorting a few bits and pieces out now that I have retired from teaching and have a little more time to myself! My name is Susan Gainey (nee Dickinson) and I was a pupil at Hemsworth Grammar School 1961-1968. I owe a lot to the school as I met my husband David Gainey (HGS 1960-1966) there. We were married in 1970 and are still happily married. Anyway I have found a few photos which you might like to include on the HGS site. I have also discovered our School Reports and a Speech Day magazine from 1967 where I see I won the "Oliver" Memorial Prize for music. The prize "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music" is still on my book shelf and used. I think the site is great and hope you will include my email address in the guest list. If I find anything else which might be useful I'll pass it on. Kind Regards Sue Gainey (October 2006) |
| ►Dear Susan, Thank you very much for getting in touch with the site and for the HGS material. Please do send in whatever you can. You were at the school as a Prefect during Mr. Hamilton's final term as Headmaster. I wonder what you remember of that time. You must have seen many changes taking place. With regard to scanning photos for the site. Please scan them at a resolution of around 300dpi or greater. It is then possible for me to extract clear facial images of individual pupils for use on the site. I can reduce them here if required. Lovely to hear from you. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House | |
| 13. Juliet Parker 1948-55 | |
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►Dear Dave, Glad to find such a great web site. I have pictures of various classes fom 1948 to 1954, Prefects, Staff and the choir with Miss Carter. I would be happy to share the pictures if you are interested in them. Juliet Parker (October 2006) |
| ►Dear Juliet, Thank you for getting in touch with the site. In recent years I have met several of your fellow Sixth Formers. They all still hold the school in very high regard. Thank you for the offer of material. Please let the site have whatever you can. Simply email the items to me at davmckenz@aol.com If you would prefer to post the material, I can let you have the site's postal address. I will then scan the items and return them to you. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House ►Dear Dave, I am posting my old photographs today. I hope some are useful for the site. Just had another read of the comments re Prefects and found them interesting. I still have my Prefects badge and remember how proud I was, first to be an Assistant Prefect and then a Prefect. I can remember how we had to memorise the promise and recite it before the whole school individually. Quite a daunting task for me in those days. Our duties included emptying the cloakrooms at Break and after school. We also had duty on the school bus queue. This was my first attempt at keeping the younger unrulies in order. Good for me as I became a Secondary School teacher 2 years later at the age of 20. What bliss it was to have the Prefects room to ourselves and be able to send out for buns to the little bakers at lunchtime. Was it called Sawyers? Does anyone remember trying to get someone to answer the door of the Staff Room in those days? Nobody ever came! We could stand all Break waiting for an answer. What was going on in there! I remember Miss Metcalfe very well as I did G.C.E. Domestic Science and Needlework. I still have my old recipe book with the first two recipes for Jam Buns and Rock Cakes. We thought her larder an Aladdin's Cave. I made a complete mess of my first baking in the exam by putting the tins in over the gas flames in the oven. She was really kind as she came over to me as I was about to repeat the error, not knowing what I had done wrong, and quite quietly said, "You surely aren't going to do it again!" I thus managed to pass. A lovely lady! Juliet Parker | |
| 14. Muriel Whitaker 1951-56 | |
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►Hi Dave, I have spent ages looking back with all these photos and wondering what has happened to everyone. Isn't it awful when you cannot remember the names of people you spent years with? I can only help with two surnames. Form Index 1951/52. 1D Miss Ward's class. Third Row, Muriel Whitaker and Joyce Hudson. Regards Muriel Whitaker (October 2006) |
| ►Dear Muriel, Thank you for getting in touch with the site and for sending in the names. Miss Ward taught at HGS for 20 years and is remembered fondly by many Hilmians. If any other thoughts about your time at HGS come to mind, please let me know. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House | |
| 15. Tony Horsfall 1961-68 | |
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►Dear Dave, Just swotting up on my classmates and contemporaries before the reunion evening this Saturday (11 Nov 2006). Didn't realize all that was on the site. It's most enjoyable seeing all the photos. What a debt we owe to Stephen Batey! We hardly took any photos in those days. It's great to look back on some very happy memories. Thanks for your hard work in maintaining the site. Yours, Tony Horsfall (November 2006) |
| 16. Hilary Goulding 1954-59 | |
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►Dear Sheila, I have recently looked at the web site and the Form photo from the 1920's has Dad on it, and the boy at the right end of the front row was one Geoffrey Schorah from Cudworth. Dad's nickname all through school was 'Charvo' and he never had a clue as to why. Yes, I knew Janet Noble, she was in the same year as me, she was a lovely girl, always smiling. The Freda Swaine mentioned in the 1923 Sports Day list came from Shafton. She lived on Ash Road when I was a child and was Headmistress of Pontefract Road Junior School in Cudworth. I have collected some memorabilia together and hopefully, by next week will probably have the rest. I will then get in touch for the next stage. Hilary (January 2007) |
| 17. Graham Clarkson 1966-70 | |
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►Hi Dave, I was at the school from 1966 to 1970, Guest House. I wasn't very keen on going to HGS until I got used to it. All my mates went to Hemsworth West End school. At HGS I had to get used to playing rugger and athletics but I enjoyed it nevertheless. It brings back a lot of fond memories. Keep up the good work. Best Regards, Graham Clarkson (February 2007) |
| 18. Peter Davies 1963-70 | |
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►Dear Sheila, I access the website quite often as I really loved my time at HGS. I know it is easy to look back through 'rose-tinted' specs but I really do believe that those 7 years were very special and I still remember the classmates and friends I made with great affection. Thanks for all the great work you have all put in on the website. From looking at at it I can see that many Old Hilmians have derived great pleasure from the material on it. Hopefully a joint renion for leavers in 1962 & 1963 will happen in the future and we can all meet up. Pete (Taff) Davies (February 2007) |
| ►Dear Pete, I'm so pleased to hear that you have already visited the website, and appreciate what we are about. We are constantly amazed at the affection and respect still held for the school and its staff and traditions, and this comes from all the generations. In our drive to gather all the information before it fades away, we're asking everyone to tell us their forms/Houses/teams etc and help us out with the identifications on the photographs. If you still have any Form or House photos you are willing to share with us, we'd love to receive them, either in a scan, or by snailmail for copying and returning to you. Thank you for replying, and hope to hear from you soon! Any future reunions will hopefully be announced on the Notice Board at the site. Another reason to keep visiting! Thanks again. Sincerely, Sheila. | |
| 19. Peter Whittaker 1936-43 | |
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►Dear Dave, Unknown prefect on photo for 1942/43, back row No 4 is myself. Just seen on website. Congratulations on site. Peter Whittaker (March 2007) |
| ►Dear Peter, Thank you very much for contacting the site. I have added your name to the Prefects' photo for 1942-43. Another piece in the jigsaw! What a wonderful school HGS was. Sheila and I left in 1962. We reflect with great fondness. HGS was not perfect, perhaps, but what a superb grounding in life for so many people. Thank you. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House | |
| 20. Neville Flavell 1944-51 | |
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►Dear Dave and Sheila, Stumbled recently on the website. Many fond memories and some frustration at not being able to remember all the names of classmates to fill in every blank! |
| Some additional info for you, however: 1944/5 1A Back row 3rd from right is Kenneth Beaumont. 2nd from right same row might be a lad called Woodgate, an evacuee from London and was at school for a very short time - I remember the name because Miss Thomas had him as Woodgite on the register because that is how he pronounced his name and spelled it! But fully not certain it's him. Front row 1st left is Roy Duckitt and I think next to him is Heppinstall. 1945/6 2A should be 2D (2A was the 13+ entry form that year and most years I think). No 4 fourth row is Mavis Goodinson, then the tallest in the class, and 3rd row 2nd from right is definitely George Lancaster. The unknown form is a third form - I recognise Dickie Whittaker 1st extreme left on first standing row. He was a year ahead of me until U6. And 2nd from right on same row is Selwyn Miles. 1950/1 U6A the girl sitting 2nd left is, I'm pretty sure, Millicent Jones, and Bruce (head boy) 3rd left standing is Keith Bruce. Hope a little info. contribution helps. Keep up the good work. Will have a look at other classes in my year in the hope I might add a bit more. Best wishes, Neville Flavell (April 2007) | |
| 21. Jean Merrington 1957-61 | |
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►Hi Dave, Just found the HGS site and can help with a couple of names from the form photographs. I also still have the cookery book we had to buy from Miss Metcalfe. My nieces used it when they started cooking. I used to enjoy playing hockey and remember Sheila along with Theresa Cosgrove and Mary Musgrove P.E. teacher. Thanks for the site - what an evening I have had. I will send your site address to my sister who will know quite alot of the names you are missing from the photo calls. She attended HGS a couple of years after me and used her education more wisely - or so she tells me!!! Regards, Jean Merrington (July 2007) |
| ►Dear Jean, Thank you for getting in touch with the site and for the information. It's forty years ago this year that HGS closed. Sheila and I have tried to record as much as possible of those far off days. Lovely to hear from you. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House | |
| 22. Colin Bower 1961-66 | |
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| 23. David Weston 1954-59 | |
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►Congratulations on the Web Site! I was amazed to come across this when idly browsing Google one wet afternoon. I was an inmate from 1954 until 1959, quite undistinguished. I believe that my highlight was promotion to Ink Monitor in the Third Form. Sadly, this did not last long due to some trouble involving makeshift weapons of ink-soaked blotting paper and rulers. After a career in the Merchant Navy I settled in New Zealand over 30 years ago and was saddened to learn that HGS became defunct many years ago. Best Wishes to All David Weston (August 2007) |
| ►Dear David, Thank you for contacting the web site. Yes HGS closed 40 years ago when Mr. Hamilton retired. Many people were saddened by the closure. At various reunions here in the UK I have met several of the Staff from the school. I met Miss Ward (Geography, History and RK) in January. She still remembers her HGS days with great clarity and fondness. We all have those roots in common. I do hope you have enjoyed looking at the site. If there is anything you would like to add to it, just let me know. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie HGS 1955-62, Holgate House | |
| 24. Ian Beggs 1955-60 | |
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►Mac, I've just spent 2 hours reading the website, had goosepimples all the time. Fantastic job. The memories are flooding back, mostly good. I don't know if you remember me, but we were in the same year. We also played rugby in the same school teams. I've got to check this site out some more and see what else I can find. Thank you again. Ian Beggs (October 2007) |
| ►Dear Ian, What a surprise to hear from you after such a long time. I am so glad that you have enjoyed going back to those days through the images and text. Sheila and I have enjoyed putting the site together. We have been in contact with so many Hilmians and Staff during the past few years. It has been a pleasure. I note that on the U13XV photograph you are stood next to Mr. Sale. He has sent in many articles for the site. Several of that team are still in contact. If you have no objection I will add your message and email address to the site. I do hope you will continue to enjoy visiting the HGS site. Best wishes, Dave | |
| 25. Helen Guest 1957-59 | |
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►Thank you for such a first class website. Having been to four secondary schools before I had the good fortune of attending H.G.S. for the Sixth Form, I can say the experience far surpassed all previous schools. I have fond memories of the inspirational staff and the other sixth form students. Long live Grammar Schools! Helen Guest, Talbot House (October 2007) |
| ►Dear Helen, Thank you very much for the positive comments about the site and the school. HGS closed 40 years ago this year when Mr. Hamilton retired and Mr. Ablett took over as Head. I do remember you as a Sixth Former - my years at HGS were 1955-62 (Holgate). Prefects were well known to all pupils through assemblies and duties. I always thought that individually and as a group they set a good example for younger pupils to follow. Best wishes, Dave McKenzie | |