Mr. Taylor (Physical Education and Geography)

  

Mr Taylor was a Physical Education and Geography teacher at Tulketh between 1977 and 1980.  Typically, square jawed and very athletic looking he was probably like most young P.E teachers at the time. 

It was I believe his first job after teacher training college, so he was eager to prove himself.

In the final two years at Tulketh you had a full afternoon of Physical Education in the Fourth year this was usually on a Tuesday afternoon, in the Fifth year it was usually Friday afternoon. Usually, the afternoons would have consisted of various activities like Football, Swimming, Netball, Basketball, Trampolining, Gymnastics, Cross Country, and you broke up into separate groups.

The group I was in played football and Mr. Taylor who looked after us. There was about 24 of us in the group so we were split into 2 teams with the rather unenviable task of two captains to pick their teams. This was not unlike the scene from the famous film and book called Kes, starring Brian Glover and Colin Welland.

 Remember the team I was in there was Vinny Clarke, Brian Collier, Gary Hardinge, Chris Roscoe,  Steve Yates,  that I recall. The game kicked off; it certainly was no classic game of total football. Halfway through the first half Chris Turner from the opposing team, slid in on me in the style of Chelsea's Ron Harris, as I chased a ball towards the touchline. To say it hurt was an understatement, unfortunately I used a four-letter word in my fury. Straight away Mr. Taylor blew his whistle, summonsed me and Chris Turner over. Chris got a caution, and I was sent off and told to go and stand in the gym until after the lesson.

As walked back to gym it felt like a thousand people were staring at me. There were various cat calls from some of the other kids, like “you’re for it now”, “Six of the best of Jones”.    As I stood in the gym it seems like an eternity watching the clock on the wall in their waiting for Mr. Taylor. I could hear the other kids getting showered, changed, and going home.
Eventually Mr. Taylor came into the gym and gave me a worried look and commented on the use of bad language on the football pitch with the possibility of it being reported to the Head. Then he calmly said go and get changed, showered, and head off home. I were so relieved that I did not care that the shower was lukewarm.

As I am leaving the building via the main entrance Mr. Jones was passing on his way to the main hall he stopped me and asked “why I was still in the building at half past four? Quickly I said I had just been on Football practise for the forthcoming inter-House matches. I don’t know if he believed me, but I scarpered down the drive and out of the school. 

Some years later when sat watching Preston North End on the Alan Kelly Town End. The man in the seat behind me and I got talking and it transpired that he is  the  younger brother of Mr. Taylor. A small world?   

A games teacher of the time similar to Mr. Taylor.


 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr. Yates (Metalwork, Woodwork, Technical Drawing)

Image
Mr. Yates was mainly a Metalwork/Woodwork teacher who would also teach Technical Drawing. He was Head of the department of craft subjects and had been at Tulketh since its inception in 1964. A very smart man with slick back grey hair, thick rimmed glasses, and you could generally heard him before you saw him. He was the bad cop to Mr. Lewis, (Woodwork) who was the good cop. He had a couple of nicknames from the pupils which were, penguin and yakum In the second year the boys studied Metalwork with Mr. Yates one week and Woodwork with Mr. Lewis the next week., while the girls did Domestic Science. The Metalwork and Woodwork rooms where situated next to canteen. They were both full of workbenches, machinery and various tools. They give the impression of workshops you would come across in industry.  Our task as Second year novices were  to make a key ring. Mr. Yates had his hands full teaching around 20 lads with different practical abilities. I manage to finish mine with the h...
Read more

Mr. Birkett= Music and Commerce

Mr. Birkett taught Music at Tulketh and was part of  Mr. Rees’s Music department.   A middle-aged man who was involved with a local church in Eldon Street near where my family and  I lived if I remember rightly.  He resided in room 9 which was next to the main dining room. And sometimes doubled up as a extra dining room as the school’s intake got bigger. He used to teach Humanities and Commerce as well only girls at the school would take Commerce as an option in the final two years.  Sometimes If you had a lesson before lunch you could hear meals being prepared or after lunch in the afternoon the cleaning up of the lunchtime meals in the canteen. Sometimes you could hear the distant Radio One tunes played by Tony Blackburn or Paul Burnette and the mainly female workforce singing along that was not too bad. Mr. Birkett decided to put together a choir mainly of girls like Jill Brown, Ginette Botham, Beverly Hall,  Hilary Turner and Allyson Swarbrick with a ...
Read more

Mr. Smith (Physical Education, Maths)

Image
  Mr. Smith, otherwise known as PE. Smith due to there being two Mr. Smiths, at Tulketh. The other one taught Geography and the form 2M. His motto was, "We are here to educate your body as well as your minds." Mr. Smith came to Tulketh at the beginning of 1976. His appointment was slightly overdue according to the Head Mr. Jones at the time. He was Head of the Physical Education department which comprised of another male teacher and two female teachers. I would have said he was early middle aged with a distinctive short hairstyle and quite stocky. He soon required the nickname of, (Bulldog Smith) or (Jockstrap Smith) from the kids. I don’t know where or why these nicknames were given to him, but he didn’t get off to a good start as I recall, he had a brusque, bull in a china shop manner about him and with an accent which appeared to be from the London area which didn’t endear him to the kids or staff a-like. I remember one Friday afternoon in the hallway entrance he had an ...
Read more