Charles Henry Muschamp Barlow [Harry]
Harry lived at Neville's Cross and taught maths and physical education at Ushaw Moor County School and then, from April 1959, at Ushaw Moor Modern School [since renamed]. If he spotted a pupil talking in class he often propelled a piece of chalk at great speed towards the pupils ear. I recall Harry's excellent teaching of maths and I know that a formal inspection report of the school described his teaching as distinguished.
Not every pupil liked him but of course he was not there to be liked; he was there to inspire. He gave me a sense of worth and no doubt influenced, very positively, the future progress of many pupils.
Harry also ran the school football team and gave much encouragement to the players, without getting as excited as some modern over the top managers! He did not actually coach - none of that post Hungarian 1953 stuff. It was one goalkeeper, two fullbacks, a centre half, two half backs and five forwards. 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 etc were a vague notion then. Having said that we once played the Durham Johnson School in a cuptie and although we opened the scoring after about five minutes, thanks to Tommy Wilkinson our right back, the opposition hardly broke sweat in beating us 3-1. I believe that they were, on average, a year older than us. Perhaps Harry should have asked us to switch to 4-2-4! In another game we were leading Sherburn County School 11-0 when Harry blew for time 15 minutes early. That was compassion at our expense.
On one occasion he took a group of us to Wembley in London to see England Schoolboys [they defeated West Germany 2-0]. Martin Peters played in that match. The Germans played in green shirts because of a colour clash. Leslie Kerr, the Whinny Hill schoolboy, might have been in goal for England, certainly he played for England Schoolboys at roughly that time, before signing for Luton Town. Anyway after the game Harry took us to Finsbury Park Empire to see Morcambe and Wise and the singer Joan Regan. I know that many years later Joan slipped in her bath and hit her head; she was never the same afterwards. Talk about useless information!
Harry was one of five founder members of what was eventually called Durham City Hockey Club.They won their first game 8-0. At one time he was very close to being picked to play for the Durham County Hockey team. He also enjoyed gardening and snooker. He often played snooker with Wally Hayton and I understand that they were both good players and were finely matched.
Many of the 1959/60 form 4A pupils enjoyed his company, as well as that of his wife Betty and Wally, at a reunion in 2002. Wally and Betty both taught at the school of course. Pupil Edith Ann Smith [now Ann Chamberlain] was especially thrilled to see Harry after all those years.
I heard with great sadness that Harry died, peacefully, in early 2004.
This will be my last article for quite a while, which is good news for readers that get bored with "hack' amateur historians! Having reviewed the site again it reminded me of how really good some of my colleague writers are. Brian Mcloughlin, for example, is a fine writer by any standards. I realise that is very high praise, but it is actually true. I recommend that you scroll down and enjoy his articles.
Wilf Bell
Brian Statham played many times for England and was often the fast bowling partner of Freddie Trueman.He was known not only for his pace, but also for his accuracy. Batsmen often found it hard to score off him and after losing patience with Brian they lost their wicket to Fred. Brian Staham being a friend of Harry Barlow is quite a thing!
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Charlie had a bungalow built I beleive on Nevilles Cross bank not far from my house in Merry Oaks.Wilf it surprises me why other people of my era do not comment on these topics. Cheers Alf R p.s I moved to Tynemouth in 1970. (Comment this)
has recently died, somewhat prematurely.That is very sad news and reminds me and others [if we need it] of our mortality.
Tommy was a very good full back for Ushaw Moor County School.He was tough tackling but at all times played within the rules of the game.I did not see him for many years after that.About three years ago I invited him to have a pint with me at Ushaw Moor Working Men's Club. He accepted and was very friendly and courteous.At the same time I could not help thinking that he was just a little world weary. He had suffered ill health but still had a lot to live for and I know that he was very proud of his family.
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