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ORIGINAL MESSAGE
NAME: Philip WardDATE: 06 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1935-44
The first teacher that a new entrant would meet in the 1930s was Miss Sims. Retained, I understood, to ease the shock of nine-year-olds, who had not yet experienced male teachers, she did nothing of the sort She was short, mousy, elderly and TOUGH. She ruled 1B teaching English, Maths and elementary Latin. If I remember, "Poker" Pearce had 1A.
Also, on that dreaded first morning, the new boy would meet the 'Second Master' (Deputy Head) - "Knobby" Knowles, who took "Hall". "Knobby" was the kindest, gentlest elderly gentleman you could hope to meet. Sometimes accompanied by "Ernie" in Hall, Knobby always took Prayers, reading from the Anglican Prayer Book with a rich, deep voice and a North-Country accent. I can't remember what he taught, but he disappeared quietly and without ceremony some time before the war.
Then there was our one exchange teacher. Herr Jung was a German Olympian (1936 I believe). Handsome and charming, he taught athletics and introduced pole-vaulting to the school. He was immensly popular, but during the war we heard a rumour that he had been killed in Crete, serving as a paratrooper.
One of my favourites was our geography master, Mr. Briault. He was a gentle, competent, middle-aged teacher with a crippled right hand which we understood was the result of a First World War wound.
As far as I was concerned, the best of them all was Mr. Wiltshire (Wilsher ?). A temporary, wartime replacement, he was old, kind and dedicated and taught English Literature. He had previously taught at a private school and brought its idiosyncrasies with him - always addressing us as "Sir" ! ( "Sir, please stand up and read from line ....." ). I may be biased, because he liked my voice and called on me often. He gave me a love of the English Language which has served me well.
Then there was another (permanent) English teacher who co-authored A Book of English Verse with "Ernie". A.S.Vaughan-Thomas was the brother of Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, a famous BBC news-reporter/talk-host of the time. A good teacher but a man of uncertain temper. I think he was Housemaster of Stapylton, and his canings were legendary. He drew blood.
As for Frosty, Snowball, KLW, Ernie, Poker and Belch - they are already on the site.
NAME: Derek Scudder
DATE: 06 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
A few weeks ago I was chatting to a Conservative county councillor during a break in a meeting we were both attending and it emerged that he was an OE. Knowing he was a good deal older than me, I asked when he was at the school. He told me he left in 1941, which was actually a few years before I was born, so he is easily the oldest ex pupil I have ever met. He knew both Ken Carter and Eric Shearley. His name is Bill Storey. I wonder if you knew him at school, Philip?
DATE: 06 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
A few weeks ago I was chatting to a Conservative county councillor during a break in a meeting we were both attending and it emerged that he was an OE. Knowing he was a good deal older than me, I asked when he was at the school. He told me he left in 1941, which was actually a few years before I was born, so he is easily the oldest ex pupil I have ever met. He knew both Ken Carter and Eric Shearley. His name is Bill Storey. I wonder if you knew him at school, Philip?
NAME: Mike Cottrell .jpg "Richard Dilley & Mike Cottrell")
DATE: 10 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Derek [1st reply] I think that you might find Eric Shearley was even older than Bill Storey and you most certainly knew him.
DATE: 10 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Derek [1st reply] I think that you might find Eric Shearley was even older than Bill Storey and you most certainly knew him.
NAME: Derek Scudder
DATE: 13 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Thank you for reminding me of that Couf. I hadn't really included Eric in the list of ex pupils I had met as he always seemed something more than that. My last memory of him was his overseeing my being carried off the pitch around 1983 after the opposing pack arrived about a nanosecond after I had collected an up and under, when I was playing for one of the OEs teams. It may have been the only time I saw him smile.
DATE: 13 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Thank you for reminding me of that Couf. I hadn't really included Eric in the list of ex pupils I had met as he always seemed something more than that. My last memory of him was his overseeing my being carried off the pitch around 1983 after the opposing pack arrived about a nanosecond after I had collected an up and under, when I was playing for one of the OEs teams. It may have been the only time I saw him smile.
NAME: Mike Cottrell
DATE: 21 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Philip I very much enjoyed your memories of school life in the 1930s and 40s [See original message]. There is one point concerning Eric W H Briault that you should know about. He was born on 24 December 1911 and would certainly not have been considered for action in the First World War. Whether his crippled right hand was because of an enemy air raid, I don't know. When you joined the school in 1935, he would have been nearly 24 years old, which in those days was probably middle-aged. I am sure you will be pleased to learn that he lived to a ripe old age before dying in January 1996 aged 85.
DATE: 21 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Philip I very much enjoyed your memories of school life in the 1930s and 40s [See original message]. There is one point concerning Eric W H Briault that you should know about. He was born on 24 December 1911 and would certainly not have been considered for action in the First World War. Whether his crippled right hand was because of an enemy air raid, I don't know. When you joined the school in 1935, he would have been nearly 24 years old, which in those days was probably middle-aged. I am sure you will be pleased to learn that he lived to a ripe old age before dying in January 1996 aged 85.
NAME: Mike Cottrell
DATE: 21 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Derek I was sorry to read of your rugby injury [3rd reply] and good for you going for the up and under. I also remember seeing Eric Shearley smile once as he lined our class up in the gym and proceeded to whack us all with a slipper for some misdemeanour or other. Couldn't do it now of course: H&S would baulk.
DATE: 21 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Derek I was sorry to read of your rugby injury [3rd reply] and good for you going for the up and under. I also remember seeing Eric Shearley smile once as he lined our class up in the gym and proceeded to whack us all with a slipper for some misdemeanour or other. Couldn't do it now of course: H&S would baulk.
NAME: Vic Coughtrey 
Then & Now
DATE: 21 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Er, wouldn't it be the police doing the baulking, Mike - it being against the law (since '86, I believe)?
Then & NowDATE: 21 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Er, wouldn't it be the police doing the baulking, Mike - it being against the law (since '86, I believe)?
NAME: Stephen Giles 
DATE: 23 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
'Up and under', I remember it well - my left collar bone still shows on my annual chest xray where I broke it doing an up and under. Kaye Townsend (RIP) was worried when I turned up to school with my arm in a sling! I should have sued !!
DATE: 23 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
'Up and under', I remember it well - my left collar bone still shows on my annual chest xray where I broke it doing an up and under. Kaye Townsend (RIP) was worried when I turned up to school with my arm in a sling! I should have sued !!
NAME: Brian Seal 
DATE: 23 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Ex-pupil (allegedly!)
Don't have anything specific to add, but it is so nice to see you boys still chuntering on - especially the very recent OAP, Mike Cottrell. Congratulations !!
DATE: 23 December 2010
CONNECTION WITH QE: Ex-pupil (allegedly!)
Don't have anything specific to add, but it is so nice to see you boys still chuntering on - especially the very recent OAP, Mike Cottrell. Congratulations !!
NAME: Phil Ward
DATE: 19 February 2011
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1935 - 1944
My thanks to Derek Scudder and Mike Cottrell for your interesting comments on this thread [replies 1-4]. I'm afraid I don't remember Bill Storey. If he was in the 6th form when he left in 1941, I would have been several years his junior and while I probably knew him, it would have been only as a passing acquaintance - unless he was a prefect or one of the star athletes (like Eric Shearley, who was both). Mike - thank you for setting me straight about Mr. Briault. What can I say ? One comment about the Staff List. Herr Jung was German, but he taught athletics. The year would have been 1937 or '38. Thanks to you both. ADSUM
DATE: 19 February 2011
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1935 - 1944
My thanks to Derek Scudder and Mike Cottrell for your interesting comments on this thread [replies 1-4]. I'm afraid I don't remember Bill Storey. If he was in the 6th form when he left in 1941, I would have been several years his junior and while I probably knew him, it would have been only as a passing acquaintance - unless he was a prefect or one of the star athletes (like Eric Shearley, who was both). Mike - thank you for setting me straight about Mr. Briault. What can I say ? One comment about the Staff List. Herr Jung was German, but he taught athletics. The year would have been 1937 or '38. Thanks to you both. ADSUM
NAME: Vic Coughtrey Then & Now
DATE: 19 February 2011
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Thanks for the correction, Phil. Herr Jung's entry has been altered.
Then & NowDATE: 19 February 2011
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Thanks for the correction, Phil. Herr Jung's entry has been altered.
NAME: Nick Dean 
.JPG "Nick Dean gallery")
DATE: 01 December 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I never actually knew Vaughan-Thomas [see Original Message], but - unlike myself - he was a frequent presence on the Stapylton touchline in the 1960s and I do remember his anthology of poetry with Jenkins. His wife, whose name I think was Mollie, taught at the school in my time. A tall and rather elegant woman, she was known, a little unfairly perhaps, as 'Granny'.
DATE: 01 December 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I never actually knew Vaughan-Thomas [see Original Message], but - unlike myself - he was a frequent presence on the Stapylton touchline in the 1960s and I do remember his anthology of poetry with Jenkins. His wife, whose name I think was Mollie, taught at the school in my time. A tall and rather elegant woman, she was known, a little unfairly perhaps, as 'Granny'.
NAME: Michael Vinson
DATE: 21 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1944-1951
It was 1944, September and I with some 29 other 9 year olds were in Lower 1 over which Miss Sims presided [see Original Message]. We were the last intake with the Common Entrance exam, the 1944 Education Act introduced the 11 plus thereafter. This was the last 'reception' class she took. It was war time. The school windows were covered with netting stuck to the glass with glue which had yellowed with age and gave a yellowish tinge to everything. Gas masks were mandatory and were to be carried to and from school at all times, at least for that term. Failure to do so merited punishment.
DATE: 21 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1944-1951
It was 1944, September and I with some 29 other 9 year olds were in Lower 1 over which Miss Sims presided [see Original Message]. We were the last intake with the Common Entrance exam, the 1944 Education Act introduced the 11 plus thereafter. This was the last 'reception' class she took. It was war time. The school windows were covered with netting stuck to the glass with glue which had yellowed with age and gave a yellowish tinge to everything. Gas masks were mandatory and were to be carried to and from school at all times, at least for that term. Failure to do so merited punishment.
NAME: Adam Lines 
Then & Now
DATE: 23 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Talk of Rugby injuries [replies 3,5,7] at the school reminded me of a most unfortunate episode during an inter-house match on Stapylton. Involved with others in a moving maul I felt my knee contact something solid and human. I thought nothing of it until the following week I heard that a player, whose name I think was Collison, had been carried off to Wellhouse Lane with a broken jaw. He was in hospital for several weeks. If it was you, please accept my belated but sincere apologies for causing (accidentally) such a nasty injury.
Then & NowDATE: 23 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Talk of Rugby injuries [replies 3,5,7] at the school reminded me of a most unfortunate episode during an inter-house match on Stapylton. Involved with others in a moving maul I felt my knee contact something solid and human. I thought nothing of it until the following week I heard that a player, whose name I think was Collison, had been carried off to Wellhouse Lane with a broken jaw. He was in hospital for several weeks. If it was you, please accept my belated but sincere apologies for causing (accidentally) such a nasty injury.
NAME: Stephen Giles
DATE: 26 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
That reminds me Adam of the time when playing rugby on the Third Field, Kaye Townsend was the ref who bellowed at me "put your head down and go" - remember that frequent command?? I did what I was told but was tackled by someone much larger than myself, landing on my shoulder causing instant pain - result was one broken collarbone, which still shows up on chest xrays even after all this time. I'll never forget Townsend's face when he saw me with my arm in a sling the next day!
DATE: 26 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
That reminds me Adam of the time when playing rugby on the Third Field, Kaye Townsend was the ref who bellowed at me "put your head down and go" - remember that frequent command?? I did what I was told but was tackled by someone much larger than myself, landing on my shoulder causing instant pain - result was one broken collarbone, which still shows up on chest xrays even after all this time. I'll never forget Townsend's face when he saw me with my arm in a sling the next day!
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