Put your thinking caps on. Today I had the pleasure of meeting up with another ex Keighley lad and he tells me that he went to Eastwood school. His name is Brian Deakin, and I will be seeing him again.He was born in 1937 so that will put him within the range of some regulars on here. I recognised a faint Yorkshire accent and asked him where he originated. Imagine my surprise when he replied" Keighley, West Yorkshire".He was even more surprised when I told him to ask me where did I come from and I replied " Keighley, West Yorkshire. We have lived in the same part of Auckland for the last 20 years and never met.He didn't go to KBGS, I think Holycroft. Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

Hi, Bill- The name 'Brian Deakin' seems to ring a distant bell to me although I can't really say that a face comes to mind. He would be 3 years younger than me and probably entering Eastwood Infant School during the middle part of WW2, by which time I would have been in the Juniors. It might be worth while asking Brian his address, whilst at school and any boy's names he can remember playing with(and girls!). Was he a Lawkholme Laner? Did he play any sports during his teenage years and if so, what teams, etc. Looking in the local Telephone Directory, there appears to be only one Deakin listed living in Keighley and two in Haworth; they could be related. I'll ask about and see what I can find. David(Hope you are keeping well,Bill)

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-1950

Current location (optional) Keighley

And whilst you are at it, Bill, ask him if he was in the same class as Kenny Lythe, Jack Martin, Peter Coleman and Alan Burridge - from the information you give, I suspect he might have been.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Thanks David and Doug. I have emailed a lass in Keighley who I am in contact with--she was a Deakin from Haworth and at least one of those in the phone book is her brother. I think he said he used to live in Hawker Street or Holker? I will clarify that next time. By the time we had established our origins he had another customer waiting and we had another place to go to. Brian is self employed in the sewing machine business and has run his business from home for over 30 years he said. Certainly I've driven past it 100s of times in the past 20 years and never had the need to go in! We Keighley lads get around eh? Doug.I will ask him those names and will post on here the results.Cheers.
ps thanks David-all well here.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

I spoke to Brian briefly today and he told me that he left Eastwood when he was 7 and moved to Ingrow when his family moved into the first completed home in Stavely Road. Then he had to go as a customer walked in. Cheers

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

Holker Street is off Skipton Rd close to its junction with Spring Gardens Lane.
I have a recollection of some Deakins in 50's and 60's - they lived close to us, very bottom house in Upper Calton Street looking on to the allotments

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Yes, Brian. And I do believe Holker Street was where Denis Healey used to live at one time. His father worked at the Technical College in a senior capacity and he sent his 'lad' to Bradford Grammar School 'when the time came'.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-1950

Current location (optional) Keighley

Doug; You mentioned four lads names on your thread, all of which are known to me. Jack Martin and Peter Coleman came to School the year as me(1945) and are pictured together on the 1946 Panora on Terry's 'Staff Section' of the photo. Peter and Jack are standing immediately behind 'Spike' Rannard. Jack sat next to me through most of my years at School; we played in the same Rugby and Cricket teams; played cricket at Ingrow(Juniors) and St John's(Seniors) and I was even Best Man at his wedding.
On the same photo, moving to the left of Spike, is Miss Berrington(Frizzy)sat next to a rather stern-looking 'Freddie' Firth, and immediately behind them is 'yours truly' with open-necked shirt and crossed arms. Directly above Freddie Firth, on the back row, and just to the right of the drain pipe, is Peter Nichols, who played 1st Team Rugby and Cricket for the School, and was good enough to go to the Nets at Headingley and rub shoulders with the likes of Trueman, Illingworth and Close, who were just 'coming through' at that time. Recent picture of Peter is to be found on the 2009 Reunion group of photos.
Colin Holt tells me that Alan Burridge and himself were the only two from Eastwood that made it KBGS in 1946. Kenny Lythe I'm not sure about. David

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-1950

Current location (optional) Keighley

Thanks for the information, David. I mentioned the four not knowing (to within two or three years) what their ages would be in the mid-1940s. To me, when I 'knew' them, they were just 'the big lads' who lived round about and who used to play 'Deleavo' with us occasionally on autumn and winter evenings. Peter Coleman lived opposite me in Wardman Street (the other side of Bradford Road from Smith's Crane Works). I haven't seen him in forty years or more though a friend of mine reports regular sightings as Peter wends his way to/from 'The Marquis of Granby' where, apparently, he is a lunch-time drinker. He lives off Aireworth Road (possibly Colenso Grove). He married Enid Petyt, whom some of our posters may have known.

Jack Martin - who because of his height always seemed even more of a 'big lad' - lived at the bottom of Surrey Street. He occasionally used to help me with my maths homework, which was ever a mystery to me. What ever became of him?

Alan Burridge (Sussex Street) may have been a year or two younger. Kenneth Lythe you wouldn't have known other than at Eastwood because he didn't go on to KBGS.

You mention a Colin Holt. Did he maybe have a younger brother, Geoffrey, who would have been in Eastwood Infants at the same time as me ('45-'47)?

So, Bill, your new-found Keighley-ite may have known one or two of those I mentioned in my earlier posting. Now David has put two of them in 'age perspective', you might also add to the list Colin Woodhead, Peter Thornton, David Newby and Terry Cunliffe (the last two emigrated with their parents to Australia around 1947-48). All were at Eastwood, a couple or so years older than me.

Thanks everyone for your input. Looks like I started a good post!it seems like Brian left Keighley,as I did, in his teens, and hasn't been back much. Once our lives settles down again after a busy summer of visitors, we will catch up and compare a few notes.Cheers.
ps Doug---wasn't it "Releavo" the game? Maybe it was different down your way! lol.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

'Releavo' must have been right, Bill, but 'Deleavo' it was in my years at Eastwood and in the Cox's Garage area. The thrilling game was the same, however, of that I have no doubt. Those evenings, we never wanted it to end.

From next Friday on, hope to be muscling in on the end of your Antipodean summer. Melbourne and Tassie.

Doug

Doug- some answers to your earlier questions. Colin Holt did have a younger brother, Terence by name. A smoker from a very early age, mostly 'roadside mixture',roll-your-own stuff as I recall, Died in his 50s, so Colin tells me. He is a Retired Mens' Forum member and we also meet up for a coffee/tea, in the town centre a couple of times a week and have general'natter'.
You asked about Jack Martin, Doug. He worked for Keighley Lifts for a good few years in the Design Office before moving down to Sandhurst, after which he found himself a job out in Hong Kong. An old St John's cricketer Allan Britton, used to keep in touch with Jack through their respective wives and I received news of him from Allan. Jack and his wife, Marjorie, lived in a kind of European enclave in Hong Kong, with Jack working on elevator designs for a large company out there. Plenty of big buildings to go at in Hong Kong. Towards the end of his working life, Jack's wife returned to the UK with a health problem and sadly died of cancer following a short illness. Following his retirement at the end of the 90's, Jack returned to Sandhurst, where his son John, lived and worked. Jack, having remarried by now, 'travels the world' holdaying where pleases. Since Allan Britton died 3/4 years ago, news of Jack has dried up somewhat.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-1950

Current location (optional) Keighley

That's great news. You will have a wonderful time in both places.Melbourne is one of my favourite places, living near there in Geelong as a young man. I try to get across to Melbourne /Geelong every 18 months -2 years, as I have many good friends there. I can recommend a half day at the MCG, both the stadium tour where you get into the bowels of the place and the Hall of Fame and Museum.I'm long overdue for a Tassie trip, as my sister who lives there keeps telling me, but I have happy memories of Tassie. We are expecting to see Kenneth Clay and wife Mildred next weekend. They are touring down south right now. Many will know Ken from his KBGS days or his other activities around Keighley.We were both in Frizzies class in our 1st year. To see her pull a lad out of his seat by his ear was a lesson in fear! Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

I remember now you saying you might visit Tasmania Doug. We would be pleased to see you at the farm at Sassafras ,just out of Devonport. Ring 64267415.
It was Releavo at Highfields too, Mike

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 43-46

Current location (optional) Tasmania

Thanks, David, for the update on Jack Martin. Maybe we should try and get him to the next Reunion - presumably he'll be in the Sandhurst telephone directory.

Thanks too, Bill, for your suggested pastimes in Melbourne. I'll take them up, though it won't be the first time I've visited that Cricketing Mecca. And Mike, we'll give you a ring when we get to Hobart - thanks for the kind invitation.

Doug

Doug

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Are you sure it was 'Deakin' and not 'Da(y?)kin Brian?

They ised to live just below George & David Clarkson (No. 21).

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1959 - 1966

Current location (optional) Embsay

Deakin is correct Dave. We have both been a bit busy since we met, but we WILL catch up and sort out a few things! Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

I came across the following picture of a School Certificate.

The thing that struck me was the principal's signature !!

http://picasaweb.google.com/ValenDale/Newiss#5118252885098045986

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1950/1955

Current location (optional) Keighley

When I became a sub-prefect in 1943-44 I used to man the Lord Street door whilst the Assembly was in session upstairs and take the names of latecomers. My partner as sub-prefect was Bryan Ramsden who lived above one of the shops in Cavendish Street. Perhaps he was a former Eastwood boy.

Quite often Mr Healey would be there as well doing a similar job for his students and he would chat with us. He seemed to have known my Dad, presumably because they would both have been members of the Keighley Association of Engineers in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1937-1944

Current location (optional) Huntingdon