Ushaw Moor Memories

In 1959 I became one of the first pupils to attend a school that was situated at the present location of the Durham Community Business College for Technology and Enterprise, which for easement I will subsequently refer to as Ushaw Moor School. Since then I have experienced a son and daughter go through the various educational levels in the south of England; in fact they are still in that system at ages 22 and 24 respectively, having had only very short breaks from it. Bearing all of that in mind I hope that the views and memories that I express in this piece are of some use and are perhaps thought provoking for those just stepping out in life. If only one current pupil in Ushaw Moor reads this it will have been worthwhile to write it.

It seems to me that the pupils of the Deerness Valley are currently in good hands at Ushaw Moor School if its use of George Bernard Shaw is anything to go by.I am thrilled that the school is quoting a particular view of his to indicate suitable aspirations for its pupils. I have in mind the following; ‘‘Life is no brief candle to me it is a sort of splendid torch which I have hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations’’. That is very much how I feel. People should never forget how immensely lucky they are to exist and if during their brief span on this earth they can possess ‘the thrill of mortality’ and use it in socially constructive ways - they are truly winners whether they possess so called desirable goods such as a Ferrari or not! Just about the most important and challenging aspiration in life is to achieve quality relationships that are sound and worthy. If such quality is achieved rather late in life - it remains better late than never! It is important to listen to all types of people in daily life because so much can be learnt from doing so.Their dignity should be preserved as a matter of importance although your aspiration to achieve that can be in tatters when you encounter very vexatious people. I am not wishing to speak down to or patronise younger people,I am just an ‘old man’ - who attended school in Ushaw Moor all those years ago, dispensing advice even if you do not agree with grumpy old blokes!

After the Second World War Britain had little money to invest in education and there were far less stringent educational requirements in order to to secure a job as a school teacher. By 1968 all that was required were three GCE ‘O’ levels [to include English Language] followed by attendance at Teacher Training College, although of course lots of teachers were much more qualified than that. These days a degree and more is required in order to teach in a state school. I believe that many freshly demobbed members of the Armed Forces found their way into teacher training colleges. As a result standards of teaching were not always the very best but some of them were brilliant teachers.

The Government meant well by implementing the 1944 Educational Act, which amongst other things resulted in Grammar, Technical and Secondary Modern schools. Such a system helped to provide for an economy that at that time demanded many unskilled and semi skilled workers; Secondary Modern pupils were deemed ideal for such work; in contrast the Grammar Schools gave pupils the opportunity to, for example, join the Civil Service or carve out a career in the professions - although not all of them took advantage of that.Some Secondary Modern pupils did better at examinations than Grammer School pupils although a large majority of them did not [often they did not have the opportunity to do so]. These days the Government recognizes that the economic need is to compete with the likes of China and that is one of the reasons why they are trying to enable 50% of pupils to benefit from higher education. That is a mind boggling aspiration but good luck to them. Pupils should not be afraid to fail: they should go for the ceiling – it might be higher than they think. I always think that if you seldom fail in life then it hinders your learning about life.I am sorry if I sound like a very mediocre sage!

The standard of the GCSE is criticized when results come out. This is unfair to pupils. You cannot easily compare GCSE to the GCE. They are so different in their approach. It is true that some of the GCE papers demanded more of your memory [for example formulae were not usually provided] but in the real world you can refer to formulae anyway. Issues regarding coursework are being attended to.

The current Ushaw Moor School uniform looks smart. We did not have a uniform during the period 1954 to 1960! Can you believe that!

On a lighter front I wonder whether Ushaw Moor School teachers invite their pupils to write an ‘autobiography’. Our local school in the south did ten years ago and it was much to my embarrassment! No, actually on reading it I laughed and laughed again. My son, at the age of 12, revealed in his ‘autobiography’ that on a putting green, during a family holiday in the Bristol area, he accidentally hit me on the head with his golf club. He explained that his sister was in hysterics [not laughter I can assure you] and an ambulance was called. He described how the ambulance took me to Frenshay Hospital whilst my family drove a few yards behind it.It sounds a bit like a scene from ‘Last of the Summer Wine’. He went on to say ‘my dad is so boring – every day he reads Ceefax on the TV and goes ballistic about Derby County - but my mum is a good cook’.

I think it entirely appropriate to finish with the following quote:
‘The past is a foreign place, they do things differently there’ L P Hartley from The Go-Between.

Wilf Bell

Just a few notes about schooldays in 1959/60. Our two set books for an external exam in English literature were John Buchan’s The 39 Steps and J Meade Faulkner’s Moonfleet. I recall that had our class gone to grammar school we would have been obliged to read Shakespeare and that would have been a burden for me, as a fourteen year old coming on to fifteen. I have since begun to appreciate his exquisite language. Moonfleet was an exciting tale about smugglers and the Mohune family – floating coffins – Blackbeard etc. – readable by any one of twelve years and more! Our teacher was Mr Hewitson [I keep spelling his name that way but it might be Hewison]. I liked him even though at one point he compared me to Mrs Malaprop. He felt that I would do well in English because he considered that I had a fairly good vocabulary, even though, just occasionally, my choice of words was amusing and absolutely incorrect! So what has changed? Mr Barlow tried to get me a job with the Northern Echo but that did not materialize - so I went to study at Durham Technical College instead.

Robert Moore was in our class at Ushaw Moor and he later said that he received more education that year than ever before. He wasn’t a bad footballer; he was of a decent height but with a slightly built frame. I think Bob liked a cigarette and that might be the reason why he seemed to perform a little better in the first half of a game!

Edith Smith and her friend Pauline were very bright and chatty in class, as well as members of the very successful school netball team; they went on to achieve quite a lot in grown up land as did Margaret Wilkinson, who currently lives in a different part of the country.

I wonder how many ‘silver surfers’ are taking up the offer of learning computer skills [see current reference to the offer on site]. It might result in a few more contributors.

Well that has filled a ten minute block of time and it’s time to close. I do not really have much more original material for the site but fortunately it looks as if Geoff Turner is preparing a few articles which will begin to come on stream fairly soon. If that is the case I will read them with great interest.

Best wishes.

W Bell

I had been teaching at New Brancepeth since 1951 when the big change came about.I transferred to Ushaw Moor with Mrs E Barlow, Mrs E Wilson and Mr G Hill [who became Deputy Headmaster] on 7th of April 1959,together with senior pupils from the school. Among those pupils were Edith Smith, Gillian Cruddace, Hazel Dickinson, Ann Mountain, Ann Dowson, Audrey Thompson, Pauline Newman, Jean Metcalfe, Malcolm Gibb and Thomas Patterson. Another I recall was Peter Barella who became a senior police officer in Northumberland. I quite frequently bump into Ann Mountain and Ann Dowson and always enjoy having a little chat with them.

At first I think that all pupils and staff of the new school were wary as to how we’d all settle but we need not have worried because everything seemed to go well with no great problems, despite the upheaval. I didn’t notice any signs of rivalry between pupils from the three contributory schools.

As far as I can remember [42 years on] we had no great discipline problems - maybe because we had certain simple rules. Do you remember?

1. Walk [don't run] on the left in the corridors.
2. Line up in classes in the schoolyard with one hand on the shoulder of the pupil in front - drop      hands on the word of command, then walk quietly into the school.

Lunchtimes involved two ’sittings’ in the dining room that was opposite Mr Gibbon’s office. Pupils went table by table to the hatch to be served. Do you remember that Grace was said at the beginning and end of each sitting? Times change - schools are so big these days that they don’t seem to have time for that!

The boys may remember the school gardens by the side of the wood. A number of staff took classes there - notably Mr Turnbull.

A number of staff also shared PE untill specialists took over years later. I believe that Mrs Barlow and Mrs Wilson did girls PE. Mr Barlow, myself and later a young teacher called Mr Grimshaw looked after the boys.I enjoyed these lessons because I had the change from the classroom and it also helped me keep fit.On wet days we had mixed PE - you may remember such relays as tunnel ball. We got a new trampoline with which everyone was newfangled. We also had a game called Padler tennis. Some pupils will remember Mr and Mrs Barlow, Mr Grimshaw and I playing the game in the schoolyard at lunchtimes.

As a member of staff I saw many changes in my twenty four and a half years at the school - from Sec. Mod. to Comprehensive, but I must say I enjoyed the earlier years most. In fact they were some of the best of my teaching career, which ended in early retirement in 1983.

May I finish by wishing all pupils from the past every happiness in the future.

Note- this article is reproduced form Wilf Bell’s magazine ‘4A and Friends’ which was distributed  in 2001.Mr Hayton was contacted a month or so ago to get permission for it to be reproduced on this site and he cheerfully gave it.Any typing errors in the article are down to me. Thank you Malcolm [Gibb] for providing a photocopy of the article.

Wilf Bell.

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