I attach the photograph of my class of 1950/51, my last year at the school and the second of my two years in Miss Sedman’s class.  I’m back with my ‘normal’ cohort after two years with children at least a year older.

I’ll try and put names to faces.  Somewhere I have an autograph book which I think everyone in this class signed.  If and when I find it, it will be a powerful aide memoire.  In the meantime I’m going to do my best:

Back row L to R:  Keith Hartley; Victor Goodall (with post-ringworm straight hair!); ?; Malcolm Dawson; Derek Bean; David Stansfield (young brother of Florence); Melvyn Hirst.

Third row L to R:  David Tempest; Lesley Charlesworth; Margaret Boyes (younger sister of Joan); Caroline Alcock (daughter of the new headmaster); ? (this girl appears on three of my photographs but I can’t remember her name or why she appears); ?; ?; Stanley Brown (very bright but poor and not allowed by his parents to take the 11+).

Second row L to R:  ?; ?; ?; Margaret Parker (what normal boy would forget Margaret’s name?); Joan Haydock; ?; Francis Ann Lord (lived in Lucy Street); ?; ?; Annette Swinglehirst or Swindlehirst (her family had the chemists shop next to the White Bear).

Front row L to R:  Brian Pate; John Hagan (lived up Pasture Lane at a point where it turns sharp left); Glynn Jackson; Peter Durham (younger brother of Robert – I think they lived in Higherford, as did Malcolm Dawson); Edward Holden.

For some reason there is no Melvyn Healey.  I’m sorry I can’t remember many of the names of the girls.

Melvyn Hurst

I have attached a photograph I have sent before.  I’m not sure whether it was for the school year 1948/49 or 1949/50.  I’m coming around to the idea that it was the latter, that is, the first of my two years in the ’top class’ with Miss Sedman rather than the previous year with Miss Oldham.  In both cases I was the cohort at least a year older than myself: some of the class members would be nearly two years older than me!

As before I will do my best with the names:

Back row L to R:  Frank Sanderson; Michael Hindle; ?; Jack Douglas; Edward Healey; (Ivan Weinberg?); Roland Slater; ?; Melvyn Hirst (looking fed up!)

Next row L to R:  Roy Lawson; William Cox; ?; ?; Barbara Slater; ?; (Ann Tempest?); ?; David Dean

Next row L to R:  Joan Boyes; (one of the Extons?); Margaret Wray; ?; ?; Florence Goodall; ?; Ann Throup; ?

Front row L to R:  ?; (this girl is on three photographs with me but I can’t remember her name); Margaret Parker (ditto, but I certainly remember her name!); ?; Sheila Sutcliffe; Joan Haydock; Robert Durham; Robert Bannister

 Melvyn Hurst