HGS and Hemsworth
Dear Dave,
I'm sending you the photo of the front of the school which I sent to Friends. The one of Barnsley Road was taken in the days before alphabet letters denoted the age of the vehicle! The two postcards with the crimped edges were bought at Tony Hince's parents' sweet shop across the road from St Helen's Church. The Grammar School with the trees was bought at the Post Office round the corner from Riggott's Bakery Shop. Oh, the memory of those scufflers! Buttered, with crisps inside! Floury and soft, and often warm, those small triangles of delicious bread were buttered by Mrs. Riggott on request.
When I was in the lower forms, my friends and I were often asked by members of Staff to shop for them in the village. Mr. Leonard wanted cigarettes, Miss Couperthwaite wanted 'Haliborange' vitamin pills, and so on. While we were 'legally' down there at the shops, we incorporated a visit to the bakery. No pupils were permitted to go down into the village at lunchtime without permission, and so it seemed strange at first to go there and not see anyone in the school uniform. To have enough time to do the errands, we had to be on First Sitting in the Dining Hall.
Sheila
Can anyone name the shops in the photo from that time?
Hi Dave,
The shops on the right hand side were Reg and Vera Sawyers (Newsagents). D. Broadhead (Furnishers) and Melias. The next block - A. Lewis and Sons (Pork Butchers) and Mrs. Summerfield (Ladies' oufitters). The next buildings stood back from these, but the shop with the hoarding on the wall was Winterburns. Upstairs above Sawyers, was Marlens Hairdressing Salon (daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer)
Maureen Ardron
I'm sending you the photo of the front of the school which I sent to Friends. The one of Barnsley Road was taken in the days before alphabet letters denoted the age of the vehicle! The two postcards with the crimped edges were bought at Tony Hince's parents' sweet shop across the road from St Helen's Church. The Grammar School with the trees was bought at the Post Office round the corner from Riggott's Bakery Shop. Oh, the memory of those scufflers! Buttered, with crisps inside! Floury and soft, and often warm, those small triangles of delicious bread were buttered by Mrs. Riggott on request.
When I was in the lower forms, my friends and I were often asked by members of Staff to shop for them in the village. Mr. Leonard wanted cigarettes, Miss Couperthwaite wanted 'Haliborange' vitamin pills, and so on. While we were 'legally' down there at the shops, we incorporated a visit to the bakery. No pupils were permitted to go down into the village at lunchtime without permission, and so it seemed strange at first to go there and not see anyone in the school uniform. To have enough time to do the errands, we had to be on First Sitting in the Dining Hall.
Sheila
Can anyone name the shops in the photo from that time?
Hi Dave,
The shops on the right hand side were Reg and Vera Sawyers (Newsagents). D. Broadhead (Furnishers) and Melias. The next block - A. Lewis and Sons (Pork Butchers) and Mrs. Summerfield (Ladies' oufitters). The next buildings stood back from these, but the shop with the hoarding on the wall was Winterburns. Upstairs above Sawyers, was Marlens Hairdressing Salon (daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer)
Maureen Ardron
St. Helen's Church
The church of St Helen has a list of rectors dating from the twelfth century, though there is a strong tradition that St Helen visited the settlement of Hemsworth in the 4th century and commanded that a church should be built. There was a yew tree in the churchyard that was 1,000 years old when I was in the first form.
If it is still there, it will be nearly one thousand and fifty years old by now. Oh dear.
Sheila.
The church of St Helen has a list of rectors dating from the twelfth century, though there is a strong tradition that St Helen visited the settlement of Hemsworth in the 4th century and commanded that a church should be built. There was a yew tree in the churchyard that was 1,000 years old when I was in the first form.
If it is still there, it will be nearly one thousand and fifty years old by now. Oh dear.
Sheila.
The Grammar School was built around 1770 as a private residence, and named High Hall. The West Riding County Council opened a Secondary School on the site in 1921.
What was the function of the rooms at the front of the school?
You ask whether anyone can suggest the uses of the rooms in the front-of-school picture. The two windows on the ground floor to the left of the main doors belonged to the office. Miss Blake and Miss Cooper had a hatch (opposite the Boss' study door), which opened into the hallway. The Head's study had the two windows to the right of the main door. That hallway had the only carpet in the school that I remember, with a couple of chairs on the office side to seat those miscreants who dreaded their encounter with retribution - a 'conversation' with the Head. The next windows along on the right belonged to our 2b form room in 1956-7. Mr Colley was the form master for most of that year.
Sheila
I suggest that the room on the right of the first floor (three windows) was a history room. Mr. Colley taught the subject there. It also functioned as the Holgate House Boys' Meeting Room. Were the windows over the front door the Library? Correct me if I am wrong.
Mac
What was the function of the rooms at the front of the school?
You ask whether anyone can suggest the uses of the rooms in the front-of-school picture. The two windows on the ground floor to the left of the main doors belonged to the office. Miss Blake and Miss Cooper had a hatch (opposite the Boss' study door), which opened into the hallway. The Head's study had the two windows to the right of the main door. That hallway had the only carpet in the school that I remember, with a couple of chairs on the office side to seat those miscreants who dreaded their encounter with retribution - a 'conversation' with the Head. The next windows along on the right belonged to our 2b form room in 1956-7. Mr Colley was the form master for most of that year.
Sheila
I suggest that the room on the right of the first floor (three windows) was a history room. Mr. Colley taught the subject there. It also functioned as the Holgate House Boys' Meeting Room. Were the windows over the front door the Library? Correct me if I am wrong.
Mac