Tulketh High School Memories

Stephen Briscoe


My first day photograph at Tulketh High School 






Here are my account of my 5 years at Tulketh High school between 1975 and 1980. 
The stories feature a different teacher who I encountered in that time. There are also accounts of my first day and last day at the school as well as the annual cross country day and Forshaw Follies end of term concerts.
All these stories are all told in a light hearted way and by no means meant to offend any ex-pupils or teachers a like.    Stephen Briscoe, 2023.   

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. 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

Mr. Carefoot.- Science and Physics

  Mr. Carefoot, was mainly a Science teacher at Tulketh. His specialist subject however was Physics. He always wore the obligatory white coat that the older science teachers wore, I would have said he was in his late forties, small in stature with glasses, grey hair, and had a slight limp as I recall.  I first came across him in my first term at Tulketh in 1975. At the time I was in 1N, which was one of two top forms based on our opening day tests we all did. To be in  one of the top forms carried some weight in the school. The structure was quite simple back then in most secondary schools top forms were entered for the elite, O level exams , middle forms generally did the C.S.E exams and usually with few exceptions the bottom forms were usually to leave school with no exam qualifications.  Our class had about 30 kids in and had slightly more girls than boys as I recall. The standard of work I thought was probably above my ability at the time, but I gave it my be...
Read more