Author Topic: John Bright Grammar School  (Read 41493 times)

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Offline George

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #45 on: May 28, 2018, 10:42:46 am »
Hi Ian,  thanks' about the heads up about addresses, no probs, I'll just remember in future.  Great Forum by the way!

Offline George

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #46 on: May 28, 2018, 10:47:09 am »
Hi Ian, If you were able to scan the school mags it would be absolutely brilliant.  What memories they hold and I'm sure they would be of great interest to the rest of my classmates that I am in touch with.  Many thanks.


Offline Ian

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #47 on: May 28, 2018, 12:44:34 pm »
You're welcome, George.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline squigglev2

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #48 on: May 28, 2018, 01:41:11 pm »
Funny how you read the names and wonder (although I'm a bit younger).

I don't suppose John Haydn Powell was from Pydew?  Reason I ask is that although I don't know him (just the younger two brothers) is that there was a Haydn in the Powell family at Maelgwyn and the father's name was John. He was a bit older and I remember being surprised at primary school that Bryn could be an uncle as I thought then that uncles and aunts were supposed to be older than that...

I guess Anne Hare is the one who had the Queens Head in Glanwydden with Alan Davies, in between Dave Curtis and Bob Cureton?

Offline Hugo

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #49 on: May 28, 2018, 02:07:48 pm »
Tom Jones may be able to answer your question about John Haydn Powell, but Anne Hare was the daughter of the Landlord at Maggie Murphy's in Tywyn Deganwy.

Offline squigglev2

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #50 on: May 28, 2018, 02:12:36 pm »
Thanks Hugo, that seems to fit what I think I remember.

Offline George

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #51 on: May 30, 2018, 10:27:56 am »
Hi Squigglev2.  Yes, Haydn (as we called him at school) was from Bryn Pydew and as a matter of fact he lives there now after spending a lot of time living in Glan Conwy.  His brother Mal also lives in Pydew as does one of his daughters and son. I'm in regular touch with him by email and phone so if you want me to pass a message onto him I would be glad to do so.

Offline George

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #52 on: May 30, 2018, 10:32:50 am »
Hi Hugo, Anne Hare was in our class in school, any idea where she is now?

Offline squigglev2

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #53 on: May 30, 2018, 10:51:20 am »
Hi Squigglev2.  Yes, Haydn (as we called him at school) was from Bryn Pydew and as a matter of fact he lives there now after spending a lot of time living in Glan Conwy.  His brother Mal also lives in Pydew as does one of his daughters and son. I'm in regular touch with him by email and phone so if you want me to pass a message onto him I would be glad to do so.

Thanks George. It was just a curiosity question as it seemed reasonably possible. I’m round about the same age as the youngest of the brothers and would also know Mel to say hello to.

I’m out of the area (Norfolk) but still have a brother in the area with some contact with Bryn Pydew.

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #54 on: May 30, 2018, 12:58:28 pm »
Bri Roberts has the ones from 1961 to 1966 so if they are scanned also, then you'll be able to follow your class up to the time that you left school.

Correction, Hugo.

I have now located seven editions from 1960-1966 inclusive.

I will drop them off for Ian to scan over the next few days.

Offline Hugo

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #55 on: May 30, 2018, 04:34:25 pm »
Hi Hugo, Anne Hare was in our class in school, any idea where she is now?

I think that she is in Llandudno but I haven't seen her for about 50 years, although I had a quick glimpse of someone a few weeks ago who reminded me of her.   I hope that she and her brother Dudley are both well as they were really nice people

Offline Hugo

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #56 on: May 30, 2018, 04:38:39 pm »
Bri Roberts has the ones from 1961 to 1966 so if they are scanned also, then you'll be able to follow your class up to the time that you left school.

Correction, Hugo.

I have now located seven editions from 1960-1966 inclusive.

I will drop them off for Ian to scan over the next few days.

You must have been in JBGS a while Bri with all those magazines.     I was in 5 Gamma and stayed in that class to resit some exams but after a couple of months I had had enough and walked out of there and never came back.


Offline Hugo

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #57 on: June 03, 2018, 06:37:51 pm »
I was thinking to myself the other day why I hadn't got the JBGS magazines for the years 1961 to 1963 and realised that it was probably because of something that happened to me when I was in 3 Gamma.
I played a lot of football then and had represented the school in football but for some reason which I can't remember exactly I had to visit a Chiropodist.   The Chiropodist said that I had fallen arches and must stop playing football immediately so I told the school that and didn't play in lessons or in the school team
It was the end of the football season then and I had helped Llandudno Youth Club get into a cup final so there was no way I was going to step down from that game and we played and won the cup.
About two weeks later the Headmaster Mr S O Rees called me into his office and called me a liar after seeing the team photo in the local paper and he gave me three strokes of the cane on my backside.    The ironic thing was that I was actually wearing the foam padded insoles for my "fallen arches"  at the time.
During the Summer I worked in Marks and Spencers and saw their Chiropodist and he stated that although my arches were slightly dropped there would be no problem in playing football or any sport in the future
When I returned back to JBGS in the Autumn I told the form teacher the news and that I could resume playing football again and carried on enjoying the game.
I was again selected for the school and although I travelled in the school bus I refused to play for the football team or the Rugby team and in the end they knew that they were wasting their time asking me to play for them.

Offline Ian

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #58 on: June 08, 2018, 07:17:09 pm »
I'e started the process of scanning every page of the 1960 John Bright  magazine and, despite it being something of a job, it makes fascinating reading.

On page 44 one of the third form pupils' stories was printed.  Called "A Christmas Murder" it was, as you might expect, a rather gauche attempt at detective fiction of the Christie genre, but it did display significant linguistic ability.  The writer called themselves Anthony B W Nethersell, so, purely out of interest, I Googled the name.  This is what I found:

"Anthony Barry Walter Nethersell

b.23 December 1945 d.29 May 2012
BA Cantab(1968) BChir(1973) MB(1974) MRCP(1978) FRCR(1982) FRCP(1998)(ARCO)

Anthony Barry Walter Nethersell was a consultant in clinical oncology at Glan Clywd Hospital, Rhyl. He was born in Llandudno, north Wales, and, in 1965, went up to Queens’ College, Cambridge, from John Bright Grammar School to study physics. After his first degree, he studied medicine, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, and then at Bart’s Hospital in London.

He chose to enter the pharmaceutical industry, becoming head of clinical oncology at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Beckenham, Kent. Here he was able to apply his experience in physics to his chosen specialism – radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer. Whilst there he also took a prominent part in the development of the drug interferon and, concurrently, he held a post as an honorary consultant at King’s College Hospital in London to maintain and develop his medical skills.

He ultimately returned full time to the NHS. After a consultancy in Exeter, he returned home to north Wales to take part in the new cancer centre based at Glan Clwyd Hospital, Rhyl. Here he was able to make full use of his clinical experience and, most importantly for him, his capacity for compassion and kindness, in which every patient was given his dedicated attention. The long and gruelling hours he willingly endured no doubt contributed to the decline of his own health.

Tony was also, from childhood, passionately devoted to music. He was a superb pianist and organist (an associate of the Royal College of Organists). Whilst at John Bright School, he often had the opportunity to play with that now defunct institution, the pier orchestra at Llandudno. His musical tastes were unusually wide and deep, from plainchant to Wagner, Motown to Bacharach. Whilst at Queens’ he was a very active member of the St Margaret’s Society (the college music society) and sang bass in both the college and the university choirs. Everywhere he lived and worked he was never without his old and cherished Steinway grand piano, with which he enlivened many a party. A memorable highlight of his Cambridge days was to play the solo part in the ‘Warsaw concerto’ at a Queens’ summer concert in 1968. After his return to north Wales, he also enjoyed playing the organ for services in the churches near his home in Deganwy.

Sadly, at the age of 62, his deteriorating health forced him to retire, and he battled bravely and patiently for his final five years. Tony, however, was fortunate to share most of his adult life with his childhood sweetheart, Jan, who was his partner throughout his career and whom he married in 2007."

I suspect scanning these magazines will turn up more stories of this type and the magazine will prove a useful archive of past pupils of John Bright Grammar.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Ian

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Re: John Bright Grammar School - Houses
« Reply #59 on: June 09, 2018, 03:39:41 pm »
The entire 1960 John Bright Grammar school magazine is now uploaded and can be found by going to Photo Gallery (above) / Home / John Bright magazines. Each file is a single page which is identified by the name in the format JB 1960 005 for the page 5 file, for example, the last three digits corresponding to the page number (which, curiously, is missing in the magazines themselves).

Because of the odd way the photo gallery filing system displays and loads the files, page 1 is at the end of the photos and you work backwards through them. Thus when you first open the JB folder the first file you see is actually the last page of the magazine.

When all six or seven magazines are fully scanned the resultant archive will, I suspect, be of immense interest to many.  They're a great snapshot of life in the early '60s from the pupils' perspectives.

Many thanks to Bri and Hugo who are loaning me the mags for scanning.  They will certainly form part of a valuable social archive.
« Last Edit: June 10, 2018, 08:09:12 am by Ian »
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.