Were you a pupil at the school in the 1970s? If so you may well recognise some of those in the accompanying photograph who arrived as new members of staff in 1974 and 1975. (Answers are revealed at the end of the article).
On Saturday 27 September they returned to the Grammar School for a 50th/51st Anniversary lunch, during which time they were able to reminisce about their early days on the staff and enjoy each other’s company, just as they did fifty plus years ago. It was a particularly special reunion as nearly all those appointed then were able to be present, including one of the two who now live in Australia with the remaining ‘down-under’ denizen joining everyone on the day by video and WhatsApp.
Of course, some of them never actually left the campus until they retired so they might be recognised by anyone who was at the school between 1974 and 2016, but their collective arrival in the mid-1970s was something which brought about a major change in the average age of the Staff Common Room as most of them were just embarking on their teaching careers, fresh from their universities and teacher training colleges.
Their appointments during those two years in particular meant that they formed a new and sizeable element of the staff and the fact that they had all been appointed by Norman Walter’s successor as headmaster, John Millward (who was himself new to the school having taken up his post in 1973), made them very much his men (and for those who remember his rapidly-acquired nickname, his henchmen). Their impact on the school added greatly to Norman’s legacy as they threw themselves into the life of the place on the sports’ fields, in uniform in the CCF, in the cultural activities of art, music and drama, and, of course, in the classroom.
Those two years were also momentous in the UK and elsewhere. For example, Lord Lucan disappeared for ever in 1974; McDonald’s opened their first UK restaurant in Woolwich; the Watergate scandal led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, (leading the use of the suffix –gate to indicate anything scandalous); Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party in 1975; Colin Dexter (a former member of staff at the Grammar School) published his first Inspector Morse novel; Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was released; inflation was at 24.2%, the highest since 1800; and the Rubik’s Cube was invented by Ernő Rubrik. Oh, and much closer to home, Dutch Elm disease ravaged the trees in The Walks, the Grammar, the High and Fairfield started to become independent schools in the wake of the withdrawal of the Direct Grant – and Saturday morning school was abolished.
Those who assembled in the Sixth Form Centre and the Hodson Hall Extension on 27 September would like to offer their sincere thanks to all on the Foundation’s current staff who made their reunion on the campus possible – and to John Weitzel who laid out a wealth of archive material in the Centre to jog memories and to enjoy as well as providing an engaging and enlightening tour of the school. Without their whole-hearted support for the venture it might never have taken place and those 50+ years of memories would never have resurfaced in such a joyful and companionable way.
If you would like to know more about any other aspects of the day, the following links will enable you to find out how John Millward acquired his nickname; discover what else was going on in the world in 1974 & 1975; and have a go at solving a crossword-style word puzzle in which most of the names of those present on 27th were concealed in a story written in 1979.
If none of those tempt you to look further into the event, you should at least attempt to identify all those who are shown in the photograph – and remember the subjects they taught (answers revealed on the next page).
