20 December 2020
I really enjoyed my time at Acklam Hall Grammar School and, later on, Acklam High School. I learnt a lot more than the teachers ever taught me.
Our family moved to Middlesbrough in the summer of 1965, after I had completed one year at Bingley Grammar School. I was given a place at Acklam Hall Grammar School for Boys, joining the second year in class 2G. The school building was very impressive.
Acklam Hall 2006
My first day at Acklam Hall was most noteworthy, for me at least, as the day I realised I had a broad Yorkshire accent. I remember being in the big quad before school, with all the other lads around. They were talking to friends and catching up after the summer. They all looked confident. I felt lonely. Somebody spoke to me and so I replied. And that was it. Suddenly I was surrounded by other boys all wanting to hear me talk. They loved it. All laughing at my accent. Fortunately, before too long I was saved by the bell.
This is the bunch that I joined:
Form 1G 1964
Thanks to Pat Surtees for posting the 1G class photograph on the Acklam High School (ex pupils) Facebook Group pages.Definitely the best looking class in the year, and probably the best third of the '64 Club. I recognise most of the faces, but not all the names. However, I do recognise Baz Woolley, 'Willy' Warters, Dave Wells, Adrian Kuik, Ray Johnson, John Busfield and John 'Sedgie' Tunney. And Herr Pütz, of course. In classes we were sat in alphabetical order, so having the surname 'Allen' meant that I was put at the front, left hand side (from the teacher's point of view). Dave Backhouse was immediately behind me, though I can't see him on the photograph.
In many ways it was Mr Pickersgill who set my future at Acklam Hall on a positive trajectory. In the staff photo below he's 3rd from the right on the second row. In my first few days at Acklam we had a Sports/Rugby lesson where I met him for the first time. I assume he must have asked me who I was and where I was from. Presumably, as he was from the West Riding himself, he then announced to the class, "He comes from Bingley, so he must be good!" (or words to that effect). And so it was that from then on I was in the school rugby team. Then someone called me 'Bing'.
Acklam Hall Grammar School Staff c.1965
Thanks to Dave Harper for posting the Acklam Hall Grammar School staff photograph on the Acklam High School(ex pupils) Facebook Group pages.
Back row: Matthews, Masterman, Pütz, Dixon, Codling,?, ?, ?, ?, Henderson, Forrest
Middle row: Allison, Small, Slater, Oakes, Robson, Illingworth, ?, Crossfield, Pickersgill, Sargeant/Sarginson, Midgley
Front row: Pollock, Barnes, Heath, ?, Baker, Hurst, ?, McDonald, Falconer, ?, White
This must have pretty much been the staff when I entered 2nd year in 1965. When I first saw the photograph I recognised some of the faces immediately - Mr Matthews, Mr Small, Herr Pütz, Mr Illingworth, Mr Forrest, Mr Pickersgill, Mr Dixon, Mr Illingworth and Mr Barnes. I could also work out Mr Codling and Mr Falconer. The rest of the names came from Dave Harper's post and by trawling through the comments that followed it. I've put more details, nicknames, memories and thoughts on the teaching staff here: Acklam Hall Grammar School Staff.
Acklam Hall Grammar School for Boys only came into existence in 1935 and lasted until the amalgamation with Kirby Girls Grammar School in 1968. So Acklam Hall Grammar School lasted 33 years. At the time it felt as if it had always been there, but historically it was over in the blink of an eye. It was just another Boys Grammar School built for 540 pupils. There were probably only about 20,000 boys who passed through it in total. I was very lucky to have been one of them.
As I remember it, in 1968 Acklam High School was born. A 13 - 18 comprehensive school. As we moved into 5th year we also moved into the brand new Main School building. Vertical forms. House system. Mixed. A revolution had taken place and had produced something that was totally different to what had gone before. And a new, younger, chain-smoking headteacher was in charge. Then as we moved into the 6th form we went into another brand new shiny building. New labs too. And prefects were abolished as all 6th formers were expected to have responsibility. Some hope there.
I don't really know whether the new school improved things or not. I know I continued to enjoy it, but then I was part of the Boys Grammar School intake to which they had added girls. What was there to object to?
The last time I went to have a look at Acklam Hall was in 2006. My wife, Michele, and our daughter, Claire, were walking the Cleveland Way. I was driving around acting as their support and our other daughter, Annette, was back home in Preston, at her summer job. Some time, while Michele and Claire were doing the Osmotherley to Saltburn section, I took the opportunity to have a quick at Acklam Hall and a drive around the area. The sixth-form college building was still there, but most of the buildings that had been added to the old hall were in the process of being demolished.
Classrooms 2nd & 3rd Year
The Bell
Back of School
Labs
The Pond
6th Form Block
Of course memories can play tricks, so what follows may well be inaccurate. However, it is how I remember it.
Classrooms 2nd and 3rd Year
I seem to remember that 2G and 3G were based on the first floor of this building. We sat at individual desks, which could be lifted by the knees and then moved forward. In one lesson, Maths I think, I clearly recall us being organised enough to move the entire class forwards a few inches, every time a teacher turned towards the blackboard. Another time, before the start of a lesson, some member of the class lay spreadeagled on the ground outside, underneath the window. The rest of the class were looking out of the windows as the teacher arrived, looking down at the boy below. The teacher duly arrived and assumed that someone had fallen from the window. The teacher looked down at the boy and exclaimed "Jesus Christ!" and then rushed off to attend to the boy below. Of course, by the time he got there the boy was long gone.
The Bell
By the time we got to 6th form prefects had been abolished. I assume that it had been decided that Acklam High School would not need prefects. However, in the days of the grammar school I seem to remember the prefects had their own common room, which had a window adjacent to the bell. At the end of break it was someone's job to lean out and ring the bell. Prefects had significant authority and would substitute for teachers with younger classes. The room below and to the right, next to the covered way, was either a cloakroom or changing rooms. I just remember going in one morning to see Micky Thompson attempting to light a pipe. He'd decided to have a change from cigarettes.
Back of School
This was the way that I approached the school at the end of Lower 6th and throughout Upper 6th, when I was living with Mrs Burnicle on Harrow Road. There was some sort of walkway from Harrow Rd through to Green Lane. Then it was straight down St Mary's Walk. I think the big chimney to the left was built with the sports hall and swimming pool as the grammar school morphed into Acklam High School. I was banned from the school pool when I 'retired' from first team rugby, presumably when I went into Upper 6th.
Labs
These were the labs that ran around the perimeter of the big quad.
The Pond
The pond was, and still is, on the right hand side of the drive, walking towards Acklam hall. I walked past the pond every day until I moved to Harrow Rd. It was alongside the pond that a prefect once gave me 500 lines for not wearing my cap. I did them too. It took a long time.
6th Form Block
Not exactly a triumph of 1960s architecture, but it was very smart at the time. We were the first year to use it too. Nice common room. I remember having 'A' Level Physics there with Neil Small, though I've no memory of where Maths lessons were held. Chemistry used to be at the Kirby Girls site (certainly for Lower 6th anyway). I liked the lady who taught us Chemistry, but I can't remember her name. Ray Arkless used to give me a lift there on the back of his motorbike (Honda 50 I think). We sat at the back, reading Valerie Mitchell's 'Jackie' magazine. One day, Mr. Baker interrupted the Chemistry lesson and took us out to move chairs. After some time, I objected, pointing out that we were meant to be doing 'A' Level Chemistry, not moving furniture. After glowering, he said, "Put the bloody things down then!". So we did and returned to the lab. The teacher emerged from the prep room, raising her fist in triumph and grinning. She loved it. Power to the people. Ray and I got back to the important business of reading the Cathy and Claire page in Jackie.
