From Christine Bate’s document titled Woodhouse.doc

THE WOODHOUSE YEARS

Woodhouse Grammar School, the name evokes so many memories, but requires some explanation. To begin with it was a high school with students aged 11 through 18 and was a selective school entered either by winning a scholarship or by paying fees of £9 per year, quite a large sum to a population where to earn £4 per week was regarded as reasonably well off. It was an unusual school because although it was within the boundaries of the City of Sheffield, the school was a West Riding of Yorkshire Education Committee school. This meant that some pupils, or students as they are now called, lived within the Sheffield boundaries and the others lived in more rural villages that were scattered out in the county. This made for a very mixed community of students from a widely scattered area. Apart from the City of Sheffield pupils, the school also drew from Brinsworth, Catcliffe, Treeton, Kiveton Park, Wales, Harthill. Aston, Aughton and Todwick Bar.

Speech Day was held in the autumn term, as I remember Check this. in the afternoon. Since the Assembly Hall of our school was not big enough, the proceedings were held in the Woodhouse cinema, a good ten minutes walk into the center of the village. We lined up in classes and walked in a crocodile past a Council School. This was a real challenge to us since the pupils there had not passed the selective exam to go to a Secondary School and could be said to have held us in contempt. The chorus of “Secondary Bulldogs” was sung out as we passed and we were expected not to respond. Just before the cinema, we passed the haberdasher’s shop that sold the school uniform blouses, shirts, ties and hats. A tailor came to the school to measure the pupils for their school blazers and the girls for their gym slips, a kind of pinafore dress or jumper in American parlance. 

Once at the cinema, which was smallish, dark and decidedly dated in style and decoration, shabby art nouveau, we filed into our assigned seats. The cinema screen had been raised out of sight and some chairs were placed across the narrow stage that had heavy brown velvet curtains hanging in swags at each side.  There was subdued murmuring as we waited for the ceremonies to begin. Nothing unusual: a speech by the Chairman of the Governors, Lady Mabel Smith, a speech by the Headmaster and then the invited speaker.  The person I remember clearly was a playwright named L.du Garde Peach. In his honour that year, a few chosen pupils performed a scene from his play about Naomi and Ruth. Geoff was Boaz. 

The real business of the afternoon was the awarding of prizes, 

In the Mercury News today there was a column about penmanship and the Palmer method used here to teach cursivewriting. I have written elsewhere about the pens, inkwells and writing lessons at Brinsworth Council School. All that changed when I moved to Woodhouse Grammar School. As well as the requirements for a school uniform and a leather satchel to carry my books in, it was necessary to buy me a fountain pen. The kind of pen with a rubber sac inside it that you filled with ink from a bottle and then could write for a fair amount of pages. Well, since “there was a war on” we went to Ratcliffe’s the stationers on West Gate in Rotherham and put my name down as soon as we knew that I had passed the scholarship exam and won a West Riding of Yorkshire County Minor scholarship. I think this was probably some time in June. Ratcliffe’s was an old established printer in Rotherham . I have a history book about Brinsworth and the back cover is a copy of a poster printed by them in 1893.  It was a small shop with room for about four or five customers to stand either at the counter to be served or politely behind to wait your turn. Printing was done on the premises and the customer area was minimal. It was always warm, even in winter and had a distinctive inky smell.  Most of the shelves were empty. Our name and address was taken and we went off to finish the Saturday morning shopping. I really don’t know how long it was before we received a postcard to say that they had my pen. We went in and handed over the postcard we had received. The assistant perused it and then reached under the counter and produced a black Swan brand pen. No choosing, no discussion, it was take it or leave it and of course I was thrilled after a brief passing thought that I really would have liked a coloured pen. 

Woodhouse Grammar School was where the “secondary bulldogs” went to school. Our speech day was always at the local cinema up in the village as our assembly hall had no seats: we either stood or more rarely sat on the floor. We walked up there after dinner on the big day knowing that the children at the council school we went past would shout the insult, “Secondary Bulldogs”  at us as we passed. The Board of Governors assembled on the stage with Lady Mabel Smith in the place of honour. One year the speaker was L. Du Garde Peach, a well-known writer in his day, but now forgotten. Prizes were awarded after the speeches and then we ended with the school song. For some reason unknown to me, we used the Harrow school song: 

Forty years on when afar and asunder parted are those who are singing today,

When we look back and forgetfully wonder what we were like in our work and our play

Then it may be there will often come o’er you (? visions of past?) like the ghost of a song 

Visions of boyhood shall float then before you, echoes of dream land shall bear them along. 

Follow up, follow up, follow up, follow up follow up,

Till the fields ring again and again

With the tramp of the twenty two men

Follow up. Follow up.

Certainly this was a strange song for the girls in the school to be singing.

Ivanhoe was the name of one of the “houses” at Woodhouse or WGS and the others were Sherwood, Rotherwood and Hallam. Each student was assigned to a house on entering the school and siblings were always put in the same house. All competitive events including sports were accounted for by house and of course there was a great deal of rivalry. I was in Sherwood (green), Geoff was in Hallam (blue), Rotherwood was red and Ivanhoe was yellow and we often wore coloured cirular badges to proclaim our allegiance. Today I looked at a catalogue of videos and saw an adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe” advertised. Some of the events in this story take place in Robin Hood Country in Notttinghamshire and in Yorkshire. Sherwood House was for Sherwood Forest and I think Rotherwood from the river Rother. Hallam is old name for the Sheffield area.  

For my bedtime book, I am reading Sir Walter Scott’s “Red Gauntlet”, chosen because it’s a long time since I read one of his books, and this one is about the Solway Firth where we spent many wonderful holidays. I had forgotten how wordy and contrived his writing is.

When I was in England in May, 2005 Barbara Green sent a cutting to John to give to me. It concerned a ceremony on the site of WGS to note the ground-breaking for some senior residences, I think there were to  be about seventy units. A sad end for WGS but at least the ground was put to good use. 

Prefects could give subtractions for a punishment

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