01 Mar 2018

Welcome to March, which reached me before most readers I guess. As I sit early glass in my hand on a lazy afternoon in Melbourne with the sun shining brightly. Off to Sydney tomorrow for the week-end and business next week. I should have checked but discover too late, it's the Mardi Gras this week-end in Sydney, no wonder the prices are so high! But at least it'll be another tick in a box I never imagined I'd have!
http://www.mardigras.org.au/parade

John Eustace (M59-62)

01 Mar 2018

Hell March and St David's Day,

Falkirk is on shut down due to the snow - Red alert was not a joke - even us Carers have been told to stay home. Offered to walk locals and was told to hang fire. Not like us hardy Windsorites eh?

LOL

IzzzzI Forbes (E72-75)

01 Mar 2018

Just to reassure Mr Hern - yes, we have snow on the Moray coast at the moment, it looks amazing in our little village, but we aren't in the red alert area. In fact, it's apparently rare for us to get snow at the coast so I am taking advantage and taking photos. We are in a better position here than I was in rural North Yorkshire - we have mains gas here, also a log burner and an open coal fire, so we are rather cosy behind the thick stone walls. The little dog, who hates to get wet in the rain, loves the snow :-) But we haven't been on the beach the last couple of days - as old fogeys we are a little cautious about walking down the hill in the snow. Maybe we need to invest in skis! We had a couple of snowy winters at WGS - one of the old Ambassador magazines has photos of the snow castles and snowmen made by the girls (Sandringham, I think) during a snowy spell. (You see what I did there, bringing it back to Windsor?)

Pamela Ross (StJ63-68)

02 Mar 2018

Hi all,

Is everyone being asked if they are a robot and to pick road signs in boxes before they enter this forum?????
If I was a robot I be behave better!!!!!

IzzzzI Forbes (E72-75)

I only pay for a limited amount of forms to be processed each month so have to use a spam filter to stop them getting used up by bots.

03 Mar 2018

Hi all
Just discovered this site....wow memories flooding back. Where to start so many names to recall..... Tony Ried, Steve McKnight, Nige Hoar, Mark "Noddy " Holder, Phil "Peasoup" Morris, Paul Metcalf to name a few, girls.....Carol Hyde, Pam or Paula Smith? Pearl & Heather Metcalf...I'm sure mor would come if prompted.

Memories of WBS & Sandringham....great school band did Santana songs which was brill,, can't remember their name "Black....?" Tall Yank who was a day border was in it he would of been in our Sixth form then which had some tough cookies " bullies" in it! Lol. Getting hammered by a lad in Marlborough House at the rear playing field after I had scythed him down with a sliding tackle during a house football match. Still got the house badge and ribbons somewhere and some old school reports my dad had kept. Those long bus trips during viso and all the contraband. Our house matrons, one of which we all fancied! Mr Ramsdale "Catweasel" winding up the old lady serving us at the canteen "menche" I think she used to shout at us, swapping puddings and other items of food for something you wanted, Busting my big toe under one of them old steel bedside lockers,
Sorry to ramble....anybody wants to get in touch or remember me, feel free, will have to see how this site works first I suppose.

Dave Halsall (S72-75)

06 Mar 2018

Some notable colleagues from my dormitory
David Hague
John Schofield
Andy McDonald
Alan Smith (Smudge) Brilliant pianist. Got suspended many times

Girls:
Deberah Bailey
Lynne Harvey (Sister) attended WGS

Jacks Union Band
Remember Keith Bonthrone the drummer, inspired to take up drumming. Still have a kit today. Did some great end of term gigs.

Stephen Harvey (C67-70)

06 Mar 2018

Dear Mr Herne. Can you please help me get my head around this ( should have paid more attention in your lessons). There's an item for sale £97. I borrow £50 from both Mum & Dad (£100). Buy the item and get £3 change. I give £1 to both Mum and Dad so now owe them £49 each and keep a pound for myself which is weird in itself. But the £49 I owe both Mum and Dad add up to £98. When I add my £1 it totals £99. Please please please try to explain so I stop pulling my hair out. Thanking you in advance Gillers, Marlborough house detainee 73-77.

Gez (Gillers) Gilmer (M73-77)

07 Mar 2018

Gillers this is a really old 'chestnut'. I can remember Mr Hankinson scratching his head over it. Strangely maths seems to bore some people so I'll just say that you can find the solution to this on the Internet and it's all about confusing what you paid out with what you still have.

Try https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=857055.

Geoff Hern (M60-80)

10 Mar 2018

Hi, I'm Martyn's daughter. He died in 2009 and I regularly flick through a book that he owned from 1957 when he was leaving this school and lots of people wrote in it. I was just hoping for some stories about my Dad if anyone remembers him. I'm not sure what house he was in. Thank you.

Martyn Timothy Biddiscombe (B50-57)

12 Mar 2018

Now that Accrington Stanley have reached the top of League Division Two, I hope Geoff Hern will retract his impertinent( !) remarks about Maurice Hallworth and myself being their only two supporters.(See his posting in 2014) Indeed, when Bill Greer (Caernarvon 1965-8) and I were last at the Crown Ground there were 982 supporters. And now, approaching the moment when they may be promoted to Division One, they still, unbelievably, have the least funds to draw upon in Division 2!!

Mike Capey (C63-70)

14 Mar 2018

Mike Good to see a post from you again and I stand corrected. Amazing that there are actually 979 other supporters as well as you and Maurice although some must have been supporting the opposition - I don't count Bill Greer as you probably dragged him there under the pretext of going on a canal boat cruise. Is the ground big enough to cope with that number? I was not aware of the team's success since, as I've written before, I do not follow football anymore but it's good to know that they have managed it without use of the crazy funding that most clubs now have.

Geoff Hern (M60-80)

14 Mar 2018

Warming up for the Worlds' Longest Lunch tomorrow when the table will be 500 metres long in Melbourne for a lunch that will last 4 hours. It sought to remind me of one other reason for a case against BFS Schools. That is if you didn't eat very quickly you'd go hungry! In the 4th year I recall the head of table called Bramley insisting all had to contribute to his large plate of food. It now appears eating too quickly contributes to Diabetes type 2! Another gem happening here is a school pupils strike, caused by the dismissal of the deputy Head for slightly cutting the hair of a pupil prior to the school photo. Calls for the Head to be dismissed and the self elected governors to resign. Contrast that with 4 of the slipper for eating pickled onions after lights out which I wouldn't have minded had I liked onions!

John Eustace (M59-62)

17 Mar 2018

All done & dusted! I now have several new arterial grafts assisting my heart to tick loud and strong. I am not pain free, as there are many scars and woulds that were inflicted upon me by the surgical team, but I am definitely now on the road to recovery. Apparently I played up under the influence of the drugs used during my operation, and caused quite a fuss in theatre, and later on in Intensive care, so much so that my return to the cardiac ward was delayed by 4 whole days! Surprisingly, the worst pain is down my left leg, where I have a scar from thigh to ankle, indicating where they harvested the arteries from. No doubt I will regain movement soon, and the pain will subside. Isn't medical technology wonderful?

Jim Rafferty (M60-63)

17 Mar 2018

Pleased to hear that the patched and mended Jim is back amongst us! I suppose we were full of the joys of youth way back when at WGS and WBS, along the lines of the Who song - we never thought the Stones would still be rolling after so many years, well into their pensions. I'm glad it has all gone so well, hopefully the pain will quickly reduce and disappear, but at least your heart is still able to go thumpity thump and continue allowing you to post on these pages. Since you left when I first came to WGS, our paths may just have crossed. I have to say, although 1963 doesn't seem a long time ago in my memory, as far as technology goes it might as well have been the Ice Age, and beyond comprehension to our children and grandchildren, how we could possibly have survived without mobile phones and internet. And we didn't even have TV at school - which anyway would have been black and white.

Pamela Ross (StJ63-68)

18 Mar 2018

That's great news Jim. Thanks for keeping us informed. Glad that the, very unjustly, much maligned NHS came up the the goods. Sounds like a major job and let's hope that the pain goes soon. Want any snow Pamela? We've got plenty and it should be spring in SW England.

Geoff Hern (M60-80)

21 Mar 2018

I was at WBS in Marlborough House from 1972-1974 starting as a 1st year. My elder brother, David was there too - he was Lanky, I was known as Little Lanky. I remember G (Hairy) Hern as a duty master, PMK and the two matrons, F Blasing and Burmeister and I have seen posts from D Whitefield who was also in Marlborough and lived in the same place as me, Liebenau. My Father was posted in 1974 and I then went to school at Kings' School Gutersloh, leaving WBS which I really regretted. I learned so much in those two short years for which I have always been very grateful, and I was so sad to see the pictures of the school abandoned and being demolished . Best wishes to you all and this site too.

Peter Brown (M72-74)

25 Mar 2018

Geoff- you are closer than you imagine about Bill Greer on our narrowboat. The Leeds-Liverpool Canal runs close to Accrington, and he has indeed been with us on one occasion. When we went together to see Stanley play, however, it was by coach, an occasion when Shrewsbury (Bill's team) beat Accrington Stanley, I think, 2-1.

Mike Capey (C63-70)

27 Mar 2018

I am looking to contact Anne James/Thompson if anybody has her contact details that would be really great.
Thanks

Kevin Eldridge ( M79-83)