Malcolm's picture of a
very young John Chaffey (second left) reminded me of the awe in which he was held in my
day. He was known as "God" partly because his classroom was at
the top of the old School House and later of the new teaching block built
in the late 1960s
Malcolm replied....
Mind you, John Chaffey
never came across as God to us, he was always regarded as "one of
the boys" in my day. I think that's because we were the first bunch
he had at Price's, the notorious 6th form of 60-61 which even got a
mention in the "Lion" with the activities of it's unruly
"Hard" Club! I think we were the first of the Rock 'n' Roll
teenager generation and JC soon learnt that if he offered an inch we
would take a mile! The very first field trip he organized was a weekend
at Durdle Dore and we managed to spend the evenings in the pub at
Lulworth. Malham Tarn is best remembered for the girls of Skipton High
School, I've still got a photo of the one I got off with and No,
you're not having that for the website!! The wife wouldn't like it and
any of this going on site had better be heavily censored!!!
Seriously, one question my OP
friends all ask is how many of the staff are still with us, we mainly see
photos of Hlton, Poyner and Cole on the site but there's no clue to the
whereabouts of the rest. Presumably some of the older ones from my day
have gone to that great academy in the sky but who else is still around!
And what happened to them after Price's?
The Secretary replied:
Eric Poyner, Tom Hilton, John Chaffey, Roy Daysh, John Cole, Bob Gilbert,
"Raver" Hedley, Tony Johnson are a few who come to mind
immediately.. can you think of others?
Charlie Tuck is still alive
& well - I'm surprised you forgot him - Best wishes from Geoff Molloy
Kev O'Carroll wrote:
Hello Mike,
three 'definites' in answer
to the query are: Bruce "Twitch" Vail was seen very much alive
a couple of years ago; and Charlie Tuck, who is only a very few years
older than us, had a few pints with several of us in the summer of '99
after the OP's luncheon. Also Brian "Holy Joe" Hibberd ( who is related
to me through marriage) is still fit and well.
Don't know of any others,
although it must be borne in mind that during our era (ie: yours also) a
good number of the masters were very young, eg Jay, Parfitt, Street,
Brown, Perrin, and....Hey!, Don Percival. They would all probably be in
their mid 50's to mid 60's now.
I think I saw Tony Hiles in
Fareham about a year ago, but can't be certain it was him.
That's all for now.....all
the best.
Kev.
Quite by chance a very good friend of mine (
himself an old Pricean of very short tenure) mentioned the the SOP
web-site. Scrolling through it I found myself referred to as one of the
'one-time' young members of staff of whereabouts unknown. As it happens I
have never been far away (as is true of many ex-Prices staff!)
I taught
chemistry between 1964 and 1969, and must have missed the 1969 photograph
by a few months. I moved to (then) Havant Grammar School and stayed as it
too converted to a Sixth Form College. The College and I have gradually
aged and mellowed together. I still teach a little chemistry although much
of my time is now devoted to administration and such mundane matters as
quality assurance.
Incidentally, my Programme Area Manager for Biological
Sciences is one Hugh Smith who I taught! I have seen Andy Jay (German and
goal-keeping) on and off throughout this time. He ended up as a Senior
Lecturer at South Downs College and has only recently taken early
retirement and intends moving to France.Oddly enough, I met Mike Parfitt
(Biology - known I believe as 'Rastus') two or three years ago having
had no contact with him since he left Prices.
His daughter was a
prospective student. He was Head of Midhurst Grammar at the time. Some
correspondent referred to a chemist, 'Dome' .That would have been Dr. Phil
Smith who left to go to Tauntons in Southampton, to be replaced by Dave
Stephens. I guess you know Dave,(perhaps still playing dominos
with Tom Hilton?) but I don't know about Phil, who retired quite a few
years ago.