Mr. Forshaw- Housemaster and Religious Studies

 

Mr. Forshaw was the Housemaster of Fylde House at Tulketh when I was there. As pupils on our first day, we were divided up into four different houses which were Bowland, Furness, Fylde, and Lonsdale. There was a lot of rivalry between the houses especially when it came to sports days, football, and cross country.

I was a resident of Fylde House and one winter afternoon we were playing Furness at football in the inter-house competition. Kitted out in our games kit with blue bibs to show we played for Fylde we took to the field which by January like quagmire. Our coach Mr. Forshaw gave us clear instructions to go out and enjoy the game don’t worry too much about the result.

Half time it was 6-0 to Furness we traipsed off the pitch dejected. As Mr. Forshaw handed out the oranges and encouragement I think most of us just wanted a warm shower to get changed and go home. The second half we faired a little better only conceding 3 more goals.

  As we sat dejected in the dressing room Mr. Forshaw said we would have other days when we would be winners and was so positive. Just before we went home, we were all surprised to see that a tea of sandwiches, cakes and soft drinks had been laid on by Mr. Forshaw and his wife.

Throughout my time at the school, I found Mr. Forshaw to be a very good man who cared about your education and social needs. Mr. Forshaw every summer took kids along with a few other teachers to Newlands which were very popular and ran from the mid-1960's to the year Mr. Forshaw left the school in 1980.  He also organised the annual Christmas Forshaw Follies shows of which I was a part of in 1976 and 1979. More about that later.

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