Maintenance / Domestic Staff

From Topix - (The original M28 - for i was also M28 1962 - 67!) wrote

Anyone remember "Wilf" he was a kinda general dogsbody, toilet cleaner etc he was at the school during and probably prior to and after me leaving.(about 1957 to 1962) - if he is still alive today he must be about 112 but I bet he looks the same now as he did then !

There was another caretaker guy by the name of Mr Gurney - always had a screwdriver in his hand (and I mean always)- in fact that is the nickname I have given my screwdrivers since I left that school virtually 50 yrs ago. If ever i'm doing a diy job I will say to whoever is standing close to me, "Quickly- pass me the gurney" - and strangely they know exactly what to pass me.

Also remember Eileen (or Irene) one of the kitchen staff, who you could see each evening carrying the headmasters dinner over to his bungalow.

There's more - does anyone remember Mrs Link - she was the seamstress and had a little office cum workshop to the right of the assembly hall near the stage ? 

Trev Teasdel  I was there 62 - 67 - and seem to remember the seamstress workshop being in a room in the top ablution block.


Mick Gajic thats where i remember in top ablution block,used to go in for a warm in winter pretending to look for lost clothes,now youv'e said it i can smell the cleanliness now, that smell was eradicated in my memory untill now, thank's trev, i just closed my eye's and i can smell the clothes its great.wow.


Rosemary Webb Rehill Mick I remember that smell too! I used to love going in there and talking to the ladies. I'm trying to remember the name of the other seamstress who lived down in Neen Savage. I went to her little cottage once. She had one son who had been killed during WW1.



David Stuart

I seem to remember the seamstress moved into the building at the back of the swimming pool some time around 67-68.

Rosemary Webb Rehill There were some very odd characters there. They were orphans. There was Tom Brady who everyone called Coco and then what was the name of the little guy with no teeth in the boiler house? Mum worked hard to get them all sent to homes when they were ready to retire. They had no one. Rather sad really...

Paul Norman Wilf would sell you single Woodbine cigarettes at a very reasonable cost.

Paul Nicholas Williamson Jim Davies was in the boiler house,remember taking a poorly chicken to Jim as he was a bit of an expert in farming matters so we were lead to believe. He told us this chicken had got cockadoodlelightus or something like that, without further ado he wrung the chickens neck and threw into the boiler and that was that, living in the country. That has remained with me all my life.

Bob Sutton That is where my guinea pig ended up

Bob Sutton Big shovel and lots of coke

Paul Nicholas Williamson There was also a smallish chap who played centre forward for Mullers on the pitch opposite the police house/station in Cleobury, came back a few years later and played Mullers with a team called Phildown Dynamoes and the majority of us were old boys from the school, just for the record we won 1-0 and guess who scored the goal. By the way is the pitch still there, I somehow doubt it, in fact is Mullers still a going concern !!

Adrian Adams with the Chicks

Adrian Adams I well remember the chicken Paul, although I must be honest I don't remember you. At the time myself, Andy 'Huck' Finney, and Steve Collins had been in charge of looking after the chickens, but if I remember correctly Mr Thomas had got more lads involved by this time. The chicken was actually eggbound, but I do wonder if Jim extracted it after we left and had it for his dinner. There were also the pigs that Thomas had brought in for fattening, that provided a source of amusement when someone let them out on a couple of occasions, to be chased around the cricket pitch by a load of yelling schoolboys trying to catch them. Only needed the food bin banging to get them back in the sty. Was sad to see that tha sty's had been demolished when I visited a couple of years ago.

Rosemary Webb Rehill  Jim Davis! There's a name from the past! He was a true countryman and my father had an enormous amount of respect for him. I remember one time watching him "lay" a hedge. The branches were interwoven as they were laid to the side. I wonder how many people could do that these days? Jim got from sick from a tumor on his brain. He wanted to keep working but sadly he kept blacking out. He died shortly after that. Cleobury came to a standstill at this funeral. I just saw his grave when we were over.He was a lovely man!

Paul Nicholas Williamson Adrian, it was 61 when this took place and my partner in crime happened to be John Tearse as he was in charge of the chickens by the headmasters cottage about the time when a certain person started up the young farmers club, Jappy Foy then did a runner and by this time John had managed to hatch out about 12 chicks using a brooder hen, it was quite exciting as these chicks all came within three days. After Jappy did his runner no one seemed interested so John took control of the chickens with the odd bit of help from his mates.

Paul Nicholas Williamson I do remember the name Collins, he was in Blount wasn't he and didn't he have the nickname chicken breeder !!!!

Rosemary Webb Rehill I don't remember the chickens but I do remember the pigs. Right by the headmaster's cottage...

Adrian Adams with the chicks - full view

Adrian Adams What a coincidence Paul., it would have been 63 when ours took place. Yes Steve was in Blount, lives in Nuneaton now. Keep meaning to contact him as I haven't seen him for years. Steve, must have taken over from you then, before he asked me and Andy to help him. We used to spend a lot of time in one of the chicken huts making frothy coffee on a primus stove with huge amounts of sugar. The occasional chicken used to make its way to Coventry and the oven at end of term (not by me I might add - Father would have disapproved) Strangely enough the only photograph I have of my time at the school is with some of the chicks that had hatched a few weeks previously taken by my brother on visiting day.


Rosemary Webb Rehill

Joyce Richardson -matron

Do you remember George in the boiler house and Tom in the kitchens? I think Tom was known as Coco? They were both orphans.

Cook Ivy Breakwell

Tony Booton still works there

The hairdresser was Vic Jacks. I'm sure he's long gone. He only had one lung..(how did I know that???

Michael Billings

The house almost opposite the school entrance was owned by the Jacks family. Mr Ridley used to have dance lessons in the hall and Vera Jacks used to attend along with the seamstress' daughter.

David Partridge Sometimes we used to break into Mr Webb's food store (sorry Rosemary). That was a bit tricky as we had to get through a couple of locked doors. Sadly when we finally got in most of the stuff was in huge tins, (jam and beans) jars or packets, coffee was sometimes in smaller jars though and was always popular.


PIGS

Ralph

Location of Pig Stys, no longer there.

Mr. Mathews persuaded me to join the Young Farmers Club. I got to look after the pigs, chickens, and sometimes the bees in the orchard. I liked the pigs. We had a trip to the Three Counties Show at Malvern and I won third prize as a human scarecrow.


Paul Norman I remember Barry Matthews. Nice guy. I remember him telling me how he spent some of his holiday cleaning oiled birds that had been affected by an oil spill [Torry Canyon?]. He also arranged for us to keep 4 pigs in the pig sties by the head's cottage. We had a rota to clean and feed them every day.


Ralph Aldhous I enjoyed looking after the pigs. We had to feed them bran mash and muck them out. They were intelligent and each had their own personalities, though the sow could be aggressive. I think it was one of them we ate at the pig roast. Do you remember the chickens and bees?


Rosemary Webb Rehill
Does anyone remember a pig roast we had on the bottom field in '63 or '64? It was a bit experimental and the boys were enthusiastically involved in cooking one of the school pigs that had been specially slaughtered. I don't think anyone had cooked a pig before and it took far longer to roast than had been anticipated. In the end we all piled in for great gobbets of burnt and uncooked bloody pork to devour. To my mind at the time it was a great success and massive fun. For some reason it was never repeated.


Ralph Aldhous I think it was a visiting day and meant to impress the parents. Pobably why it was never repeated.


Sarah Williams I can remember the pig - only because it was the first time I'd ever seen a whole carcass on a spit. Ca't remember anything else though - Rose may.


Ralph Aldhous Do you remember when it was Sarah?


Sarah Williams No, though we only came to the school in September 1963 so it was after that. I can remember the cooking arrangement and where it was on the field (I think!) and I do recall the lengthy wait for the meat to cook. Tony Booton may know more.


Rosemary Webb Rehill I remember that! It was down by the headmasters cottage in the field. I remember the pig and I remember the burnt baked potatoes! Weird that you brought that up!


Sarah Williams And were our mothers somehow involved? I remember people in white aprons. It was by the hedge on the field just below the Head's cottage.


Ralph Aldhous Your mothers were involved quite a lot. I don't remember that particular occasion very well, but the women in the school, were often involved in events and I think they civilised us (masters and boys) by their presence.


Rosemary Webb Rehill I have this picture in my mind of a pig over a fire. I've never thought about it until you brought it up! brilliant memory, Ralph!!!




The Original M28  I remember when I first started at the school Mrs Link (a kindly sole) was situated in a little long thin room to the right of the stage and subsequently moved to the rear of the top ablutions. Remember each and every Friday after lunch (fish !) we had to do "sock washing) - once a week mind (whether they needed doing or not !) - during lunch Wilf or some other reliable person would have gone into the washbasins and put a small amount detergent on each washbasin - then you had the pleasure of washing your socks - you then swung them round your head creating a catherine wheel effect of dirty sock water residue. Mrs Link then wanted to know what you intended doing with your socks, either leaving them in her room to dry on the radiators or taking them back to the dormitory to wrap them round the pipes. She got us to form an orderly queue then make a declaration as to what type of socks you had and their destination ie wool or nylon out.

Talking about "sayings from the past" - anyone remember being "foreign laundry monitor" - each week when the laundry came back from wherever it went it had to be distributed in each dorm by the lucky monitor who would place (or chuck) the washed laundry on the bed of the owner for it to be placed away in their locker - I always though "foreign laundry" meant just that - perhaps I was handling some underpants from a guy who lived in China or some vest from a guy in Peru - it was only after a while the penny dropped and I realised that "foreign" meant alien to Mortimer ie it belong to a fellow scholar who resided in Dudley or Blount - although we didn't know it at the time we must have all honked a bit - who would this day and age want to change their undies just once a week !! - don't answer that. Signed "