Can anyone remember the members of the team that won the Yorkshire schools 7 a side rugby in the 50's. The final was against- I believe- Ashville College?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Which year did KBGS win the 7's? Photos of the 1952 and 1955 7's sides are posted but I don't know if either team were champions. I have a feeling that somewhere in the Forum I have read something about the Ilkley 7's Competition but where I know not.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45 - 50

Current location (optional) Norfolk

I've found it - 1956, beating Heath GS in the final. See posting under Ilkley 7's.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45 - 50

Current location (optional) Norfolk

I think the team in the photograph under "Sports" - "Rugby" - "Ilkley Seven a side squad of 1955" - was the side which won the competition. Could the date be wrong?
As far as names go:
Back row:BC Smith (Line); Percy Baxter;Don Chadwick; Clive Snowden; Judger Knowles.
Kneeling: David(?)Bell; ? Smith; ? Smith.
Any assistance with the uncertainties of date or name, please.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Try
J Raymond Bell, David H Smith, Alan H Smith

According to the "Round The School" feature of the School magazine Summer 1955
"We also congratulate the School Sevens' Team which at Ilkley in March carried our colours to the semi-final stage for the third time in four years"

In the 1956 side surely Melvyn Smith would be one of the Magnificent Seven ??

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 50-55

Current location (optional) KEIGHLEY

I am probably wrong but I seem to recall a David Pennington in the team?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Probably so. Dave Pennington was a first-class all-round sportsman - but perhaps most effective as a cricketer. He had the nickname "Nipper" for whatever reason.
Melvyn Smith started at kbgs , same intake as me, but he was feet taller and yards faster than the rest of us.
He was in 1b and I was in 1a - so we went down to games at Lawkholme together on a Friday morning. Gilbert and Bob Fletcher were the staff. I reckon Gilbert spotted the giants in 1b and gave 1a to Fletch to coach. When eventually we had a competitive game AFTER Christmas,(us in green and them in white, they ran all over us. There was another big,fast runner ("Deldy" Snowden)in 1b and between them they made sure we never won - or scored. 1b used to feed the ball directly to Smith who ran round, through and over us all to score repeatedly.
I was reminded of this by Jonah Lomu's devastation of England in international games - and of Tony Underwood (RWC 1995) and Mike Catt in particular. Outsize players of great speed do little to make a contest of a game of rugby and this experience unfortunately tainted our early taste for the game. Melvyn, of course, went on to break almost every school athletics record and to play on the wing for Keighley RLFC. Anybody got any photos?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Mel Smith may have looked big to you Terry but when he was playing for Keighley he often looked quite little. I remember seeing him once on the opposing wing to Billy Boston of Wigan. Midway through the first half someone put a kick through and both Smith and Boston went for it. Smith decided to fly kick it. Boston decided to pick it up.. Neither was successful. Boston missed the ball. Smith fly kicked Boston's head. The smelling salts brought Boston round and Smith spent the rest of the match avoiding Boston .... successfully. He even managed to score a try by running round the back of everyony and scoring down the wrong wing. He was certainly very fast. Wasn't he Northern Counties Junior 100 yards champion once? Unfortunately I have no photos. Not even of the Keighley team, let alone of Mel Smith in flight.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Melvyn Smith
I hope that you will forgive me, if this extract from Mel's Obituary 1999 is already on site.

In his youth Melvyn, who lived in Haworth, was a talented athlete, representing Bingley Harriers. As a schoolboy sprinter he smashed all the exisiting records from 100 yards to half-mile.

After showing great promise at Ingrow Junior School he attended Keighley Grammar School and some of the times he set have only recently been beaten. He was also an outstanding member of the school rugby XV.

He became the English Amateur Athletics junior sprint champion and was presented with his medal by Lord Louis Mountbatten.

He later played amateur rugby for Keighley Albion before joining the town's professional club.

He made his debut for Keighley against Leeds in February 1961 and in the 1961-62 season ran in a total of 24 tries -- just six short of Joe Sherburn's record which stood from the 1934-35 season until Nick Pinkney scored 45 in the 1994-95 season.

He continued playing with Keighley until 1965 when he joined Bradford Northern. In his five year career at Lawkholme Lane he had made a total of 107 appearances, scored 59 tries and scored a total of 177 points for his home town club.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 50-55

Current location (optional) KEIGHLEY

Not KBGS related but certainly rugby: a piece from today's Guardian;

1903 - Jehoida Hodges, Wales 21-5 England

Hodges, a coal miner from Newport, played 23 times for Wales in a variety of positions. At one point or another he started at every position in the pack, most often though he played prop. Wales at the time were one of the more formidable sides in the game's history, going unbeaten at home between 1900 and 1913. Twenty-five minutes into this match the Welsh captain and wing Tom Pearson was injured in a heavy tackle from England's full back, Bert 'Octopus' Gamlin. With Pearson off the field, Hodges was asked to make an emergency switch to wing three-quarter. 15 minutes later, Hodges had completed a hat-trick, finishing off moves begun by Rhys Gabe and Strand James. Wales were 21-0 up at half-time. The inability of his opposite number, Denys 'David' Dobson, to stop Hodges' charges suggested a weakness in the tackle that was tragically confirmed 13 years later when he was stampeded to death by a marauding rhinoceros.

THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THAT ANY MORE!!!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Does anyone remember the incident when Dave(?) Foulger ran into the post and ripped a hole in his stomach on a nail that was sticking out of the post. As I recall the whole incident was regarded as "just one of those things" and nobody was criticised for not making sure that the facilities were safe. I know that "Health and Safety" sometimes goes a bit over the top nowadays but back in the early sixties there was virtually none of it about.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Yes, I recall the incident, Shaun, Dave Foulger (or "Da Da" as he was affectionately known) being my best mate at school over a number of years. I must confess, I'd forgotten about it until you jogged my memory though.
It was clearly a case of neglect and someone ought really have been brought to book but, that said, wouldn't a return to those days of less compensation seeking be welcome generally?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

I liked Ray French's description of an Ozzie forward's burst through as "a bollocking run". I would have reserved a chastisement (similarly worded) for the whole England performance.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln