A disciple of the Marquis was Vince Firman. When he went ballistic, he really went ballistic. He would use any weapon to hand, the most potentially lethal being the board duster. I remember his leaving day at the end of the summer term in, I think, 1964. When Joe Watthey announced at assembly that he was leaving, Vince blushed deeply. I wondered if he'd been pushed rather than jumped?

Dave, I can remember where that 1% went.
Question was state one physical and one chemical property of chlorine. I put down right answers , but the chemical one first , then the physical one, so he docked me a mark ! Actually I think John Bracewell also got 99% in that exam.

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

Current location (optional) Wirral

A paper pellet hitting Gilbert Swift's shiny bald head! That was risking the traditional plimsoll on the backside treatment from Keighlians finest ever rugby forward.

I also posted much earlier on 'Watthey's caning technique' but forgot to mention that during the three strokes with his straight cane Watthey did do a sort of rush to towards the pupil before unleashing the painful stroke on the victim's derrière.

So he clearly he enjoyed the punishment procedure. And no doubt his faithful sidekick Ms Riley did too. She made notes in the punishment book while watching and smiling from her desk.

Looking back comparisons with the rumbustious Professor Jimmy Edwards in the BBC's excellent Whacko series were certainly not wide of the mark!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1961-68

Current location (optional) Ilkley

I distinctly remember in my first year going across the road to Dan's ice cream parlour/ tuck shop at lunchtime without having asked a prefect's permission. Believe Watthey gave me a choice of either long thin or short fat cane...how considerate. Received a second dose some time later but can't recall the misdemeanour.
Good to see a posting from you Simon. I knew you from when I lived in Bingley.Your mum and dad had a sweet and tobacco shop at the top of Park Road.Had a younger brother-Terry I think? Don't suppose you have any shots of the shop inside or out? I still keep tabs on Bingley and it's slow decline!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1960-80 (inc Oakbank)

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for the response. Sorry no shots of the sweet shop and tobacconist which defined the top of Park Road near the traffic lights. Some 40 years ago its became a Dacre, Son and Hartley outlet. Like many pleasant small shops in Bingley the family business disappeared from an urban environment that has increasingly become less attractive.

When I was last in Bingley three years ago I met four people who still knew me. Three had been burgled some time before. Burglary used to be unknown in Bingley. The pubs are sadly unrecognisably alien and bland.

I well remember how you used to entertain the Bingley GS and Tinakori Towers girls with your salacious conversation and sharp wit as a sixth former. However, I don't think you ever got invited to an occasional Tinakori Towers party up Park Road hosted by a certain Gillian. Pity they always had a happy ending for the lads. But you did accommodate one Janet Strumpf from Oakbank GS at your house in Priestthorpe Road. She was tall, slim and trim. From Colne and Nelson I believe.

Why have you moved to Norfolk from Lincolnshire? Just out of interest. All the best Simon.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1961-68

Current location (optional) Ilkley

Simon,
Good to get your update and regailing the world with stories of my misspent youth in Bingley.Didn't know anyone knew about the lovely Janet Strumpf with the glorious long hair but small head! I think she joined the first contingent of females at Oakbank but maybe she was at KGGS.Can you confirm?
You may recall Phil Atack who lived on Park Close in Bingley-mother still lives there. He eventually became a vicar as his wife now is.He currently lives in Cheshire and I've remained in contact; spoke to him the other day.
Tell me more about your knowledge of the Tincan Towers girls. Anita and Pauline Swithenbank lived on Villa Road and Barbara Rushton on Priestthorpe Lane.Don't know anything about the parties you mentioned.What do you mean about happy endings for the lads? Was the Gillian one Gillian Taylor?
Did you know Margaret Mitchell at KGGS and her younger sister Jane who hailed from Gawthorpe somewhere?
Pity you don't have photos of the shop.Have you any from the 1960s of Bingley shops?Gordon Hargreaves ran a rival sweet shop close by the railway bridge on Park Road.
Last visited Bingley some 5 years ago...parents now "reside" in Bingley Cemetery.
Was your young brother called Terry or was that your Dad? Look forward to your jogging my memory on the girls front and your information source.
Worked in Lincolnshire for Lloyds before jacking it in when 55 and retiring to mid Norfolk where my wife's parents used to live. Await further revelations.
Anthony (aka A G)

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1960-80 (inc Oakbank)

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Anthony: The Greenhead and Tinakori ladies you mention have long since left town. Terry was the father and the businesses you mention are defunct. The happy endings at the culmination of the weekend Tinakori escapades in Park Road were profound. It taught us all the meaning of life and the way ahead.

Actually I just looked up a gathering of the Tinakori lady pensioners on the T@A website and I seemed to recognise some of them. They seemed a jolly and attractive crowd. Do you remember dark-haired Gillian Horton, I bet she remembers you. Phil Atack was a very stout Bingley KBGS lad. Interesting the old school chums who become vicars. Watthey fell into the same mould, a Puritan on Sunday but a bit indulgent the rest of the week.

Janet Strumpf was a new sixth former at Oakbank after the migration from KBGS up the hill towards Haworth. As you rightly said Strumpf had long hair and a small head. She seemed to move through the older lads at Oakbank with frequency -- changing conversationalists and affections every few weeks. Though you had the advantage of being an accomplished pianist -- and no doubt invited her to Bingley for some private lessons on your piano at home. Roll over Beethoven! Simon

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1961-68

Current location (optional) Ilkley

Hello again Simon,
This thread has mutated into a Bingley-centric one which is fine by me.
Can I elicit any further scandalous memories from you on the matter in hand? You were correct on the JS front but she wasn't a musician in the sense of being a pianist! Do you recall one John Briggs? A concert pianist who lived in Bingley at some time who sadly ended up in prison for a spell.
WHAT WERE YOU CANED FOR? resurrected thread.....not a reason but further instruments of corporal punishment: chalk plus blackboard duster (many teachers), white gym pump ( history) and worst of all the dreaded chair leg "chop" administered by Maths teacher "Basher" Braithwaite; everyone was in fear of this item of furniture.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1960-80 (inc Oakbank)

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Anthony: I was caned in a group of four sixth formers for leaving detention early. This was easily done as there was no master present. That was a mistake. Come the Monday morning the four of us were summoned to Joe's office for a dressing down and canings. Most boys normally cried on the third and final stroke after successfully enduring the first two strikes.

I was the third boy caned and on my way out of the office I passed the final recipient one David Leach who was in a state of great distress. He was well over 6ft but he had the inner core of a melting jelly. Anyway I knew something dramatic might occur so I waited till he went into Joe's office. I checked to see if there were any masters about in the corridor. And then went to observe what was going on inside by looking through the keyhole. Leach like the rest was told to place his trembling hands on Wattheys desk and stick his shaking posterior out.

The cane had such a profound effect on Leach that he collapsed onto the desk scattering Wathey's in and out mail trays and his telephone. Miss Riley went over like a dutiful squirrel to clean up the desk. How they got through the second and third Leach strokes God only knows. It was all very amusing to say the least. Though I have to confess the caning scars lasted a couple of weeks.

Such punishments were I suppose designed to deter and to make men of us. Which it did. If that did not work I guess expulsion was the final sanction. To tell the truth I would not have minded being expelled to Bingley Grammar School and all those lovely young ladies. One associate Joe Foot was indeed expelled to Bingley GS for being disruptive at Oakbank. I envied him...

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1961-68

Current location (optional) Ilkley

We even had corporal punishment at Mornington Road juniors in Bingley.There was a dreaded teacher named Mrs Ambler who was very liberal in her use of a wooden ruler across the palm of the hand.If I recall this would be for some mathematical misdemeanor...it hurt I know that and it wasn't just the once.
Simon, I'm going to throw you a curved ball and test your memory! Remember these names from the late 1950's John Binns,Peter Willoughby,Margaret Beck,Janice Langstaff,Susan Marks, Linda Cursley,Dorothy Mason. Can you add to the list and have you any background on their development.None of the other lads went on to KBGS I think. Anthony

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1960-80 (inc Oakbank)

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Anthony: Feisty Mrs Ambler was the deputy head below a certain Mr Baker the headmaster who lived on Villa Road. You were lucky if you had a teacher called Mrs Campbell to answer to. She was a more kindly Scottish educationalist at Mornington Road. Mrs Campbell's husband Bill was the dean of Bingley College. They lived in a nice spacious house in Crownest lane.

I remember all the names you mentioned. An interesting one was Dorothy Mason whose father was head of maths at Bingley GS. For some reason he was nicknamed Bodmus. A sibling was sister Margaret Mason a tall and lively girl who used to frequent the Ferrand Arms and Brown Cow when a student and teacher.

The other boys of our age who went up to KBGS from Mornington Road were chartered accountant Chris Bailey (now deceased), Steven Bailey (KBGS head boy), Andrew Atkinson, David Garner, John Goldsbrough and my old cricket chum rumbustious teacher Peter Davidson who lived on Falcon Road where he had an allotment in later years. Maybe he still does. We both opened the bowling for KBGS under Frank Wellock's guidance. Those Baileys were also regulars at Bingley Conservative Club where I used to visit to play snooker. That place sadly no longer exists and predictably is a wine bar.

Actually today I still know an eccentric retired teacher that lives adjacent to Mornington Road School. Very strange place to live indeed, and also overlooked by that church next door which became flats. Do you agree Bingley began to lose its attraction when Bingley College closed and the local council was absorbed by the dreaded Bfd Metro Council. Or had you moved to Lincolnshire by then. Cheers Simon

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1961-68

Current location (optional) Ilkley

Yes,Simon,agree entirely on the cultural and historic downfall of my 'beloved's Bingley. I was around to witness the Bradford MDC sprawl and the same happened to Keighley but for other reasons. My wife went to Bingley College and Mum was a resident when it was Lady Park Nursing Home.
Knew the Bailey lads,Peter Davidson of course and there was a Peter Beaumont I used to knock around with and Paul Smith...neither went to KBGS.
I can solve the Bodmus (sic) nickname. It would have been BODMAS(on) as that's the acronym for the mathematical progression: BracktsOfDivisionMutiplicationAdditionSubtraction.
On the Mornington Road front, I just remember an elderly- to me- teacher called Mrs Scott who was a stickler for the timestables.One of the more pleasant staff,for English/Drama was Christine Culbert. The head before Baker was the inimitable Mr Parkinson.
Whilst writing I've had a new girl come into mind from Tincan towers who lived on Priestthorpe Lane...Barbara Rushton...went 'out' with her a few times....usually Prince of Wales Park! That's all for now. Best wishes.Anthony (aka AG)

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1960-80 (inc Oakbank)

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Anthony: The comings and going's at Prince of Wales Park in Bingley during the height of the long hot summers in the town during the late sixties were a joy to behold. I would sometimes sit there on a bench reading my KBGS A level books and watch the numerous courting couples go past. Somewhat enviously.

There were nice secluded benches in the higher park and down among the lower trees and footpaths a couple of hidden wooden retreats shaped liked igloos. Anyway they were good for increasing intimacy.

The thing about Prince of Wales Park near Eldwick was that it was very different to Myrtle Park in the town. Which was more attractive to Bingley Secondary Modern School pupils. Somewhere best left to them.

At the same time what was going on at the Bingley College of Education next door to Prince of Wales Park. In that nearby location many hundreds of female student teachers had their own rooms and did not need the Prince of Wales Park to entertain visitors....

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1961-68

Current location (optional) Ilkley