Monday, October 2, 2023

The Welcome and Index



Hello and welcome to this blog about The former City of Coventry boarding school at Cleobury Mortimer, also known as Wyre Farm Camp School. 

The former school is of course now known as the Pioneer Centre.  
The school is part of a wider social history of camp schools created in 1939 by the National Camps Corporation (NCC) and was one of 50 proposed and 39 actual Camp schools - you can read more on the post about National camp schools.

This post will ride on top as an introduction. 

INDEX TO POSTS If you are looking for something specific try the index here or the search button in the sidebar. 

You will find lots of photos here sent in by former pupils or staff or official ones taken for sports events or by newspapers reporting on the school.

You will also find school brochures, magazines in pdf form, comments and stories, creative pieces, and posts about school visits, reunions, activities, education and leisure and much more.

Enjoy and share your own memories and material with us.


The discussion has been going on via 2 Facebook pages - I Survived Wyre Farm School (the school's original name) and on City of Coventry School. Memories have been used, interestingly, to re-explore the area, look into aspects of local history and geography and how the area and the school has changed over the years. Stand alone pages in the tabs Above - About - School Photos - List of Pupils 64 -66 etc.

Bookmark this site then it's easy to find.

CONTRIBUTIONS - of Thoughts / Photos or Information  can be sent to us via e mail at  wyrefarmed@gmail.com



The Webbs c 1957 


Charles Joyce c 1967 (Note the Coat of Arms design changed!)


Lauri Lindsay c 1968

The Value of the Site
Sometimes our memories don't match the facts identically. The internet has united us geographically and provided the means to share and compare memories with pupils who may have been at the school at different times / decades. The internet has also provided the means to look things up, check facts, identify locations and find out it's history. So - far from just a nostalgic look back on our youth, there is some real learning and research going on and the building of a much bigger picture!

Trev Teasdel 2011


Recent Views of Clee Hill

 Photos by Keith Ison




This one is obviously not Clee Hill but part of Keith's collection - Cleobury Church.

Aerial View of the City of Coventry Boarding school and the Pioneer Centre

 Thanks to Jake Nicholls of the Pioneer Centre we now have an aerial view of the Pioneer Centre.


Aerial view of the City of Coventry boarding School 1967


Aerial View of the Pioneer centre 2023




Various Photographs from the Facebook Page 2023

 


Photo by Bal Singh "our trip to play football in Holland it was great trip. Met some wonderful people and had some great games. We were in 4th year then 14 or 15 years old before final year 1977 / 78.


Photo from Sat Banwait. Sat says "School Cross country team mid 1970’s, I was the team Captain. In the photo Aidan Campbell, Richard Bruce, Paul Bretts on the right, Carl Dunneen?



Former pupil Mark Jeffries in Carry On Mother Goose at Drapers hall Coventry 2023.


Back to the 60's - Two photos from John Tearse.




Photo from Paul Blundell "Abandoned Highley (or Arley) railway station 1968. We walked along the tracks from the school one Saturday and found an old pump truck which we rode on for a couple of miles."


From Ged Ostick "Cricket Squad 1974
Back Row Vickers Castle Freeman Edwards Gervenus Durack Ostick
Front Row Karamat Lis Weir Marson Milne Peatfield Ostick"



Ford Capri says "How many of us can remember making a wooden fish under the direction of Mr. Plaice? I still have the one I made back in 1977. I also made an oak fruit bowl, on the wood lathe, which got lost during a house move, but I still have the glass topped chess table I made in 1980. "




Warren Shepherd says "In the mid fifties we made a ship. 12 inch long pointed at one end, half cut at the other end and a half inch groove near the front. A square block with a dowel for the funnel glued on."


Dave McGarry - now known as Texas Dave McGarry ( an on honorary name from the state of Texas) was at the school in the early 60's. In the early 70's he left Coventry - hitch hiked his way across dangerous terrain, deserts all the way to Australia where he settled and his love of Texas country music led him to bring well known Texas artists to Australia for gigs - hence his honorary title. For a while he worked at Virgin records in Coventry where he discovered Texas music.

Dave wrote - "I JUST LEFT MYSELF.
52 YEARS AGO TODAY.. 16th August, 1971.
I walked away from me, walked away from my old life as a baker in Coventry, England. I'd dreamed about walking away for years, and on that Monday morning fifty two years ago I didn't go to work that day. I walked up the street from my house, took a left turn, and was standing on the Kenpas Highway half an hour later with my thumb in the air. Within minutes a truck pulled up and I was gone.

That night I was on a boat to France, and the following morning my long hitch-hike to Australia began. It didn't start well, I had bought a new pair of TUF boots before I left, the bright yellow ones that the labourers wore on building sites and digging ditches. The boots the Irish navvies wore building England again (navvy, a disparaging term used for labourers, usually against the Irish, in England)

The boots were made for work, not walking across continents. That night I slept on a French bench in the rain, with blisters on my feet. Ouch.

The other thing I bought before I left was a cheap compass. It had four letters on it. N. S. W. and E. The following morning I followed the N and after a few lifts I was in Belgium.
Europe was a blur. Autobhans, Autostradas, Highways without names, they all whisked me away to places that I'd never heard of.

Italy was tough. They didn't like the English. In fact not many places in Europe liked the English. I remember trying to sleep in the railway station in Rome and the cops coming in with a water cannon and blasting me out. At least I got to see the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain before being chased out of Rome (I didn't realise it was a famous Fountain. I thought it was just full of cracked statues and water that was used for the water cannon)..
Talk about ignorance. I'd just walked away from the Swinging Sixties. I didn't know anything about Culture.

I just followed the E on the compass and kept going. And going. Jumping in and out of cars, trucks, anything that would stop for me.
Europe was in the rear view mirror, and the lands of Islam were facing me. Jesus was gone. Muhammad was up ahead.

I hitch-hiked all the way to Tabriz in Iran, before realising that the folly of standing in the middle of the desert all day waiting for the next ride with murderers and thieves (and at least one camel train) just wasn't worth it any more. I got sick in Tabriz and lay semi conscious in a cheap room until someone found me a few days later. A voice inside me said "Don't die here".. Or maybe that's what the person who found me said?
I had almost lost my life on a daily basis in Turkey, and I was battle scarred from running for my life every day..

So I finally caught a bus in Tabriz, then another, then another.. On and on across the lands of the mullahs and warlords of ancient Islam. Every day was high drama for this naive infidel from another world.

Anyway, it's a long story, worthy of a book. But I made it all the way to Australia, 10,000 miles, arriving just before Christmas of that same year, 1971.

It wasn't a spiritual journey, I wasn't looking for enlightenment. I was just gone.
Kerouac wrote that great book "On The Road", but I don't think young Jack himself would have seen some of the horrors that came my way on the long road through Asia Minor (thanks Butch Hancock for that one)..

There's no way you could do that journey again. Earthquakes took some of the towns off the map in Turkey. And the Taliban, the Mujahideen, and Islamic fundamentalists would take your life off the map without thinking twice.

Picture..
52 years ago. I didn't go to work that day.



John Comasky loaded his school report from the Wyre Farm Camp School Days 1950. The report books changed in 1957 when the school became the City of Coventry Boarding School.




Phil Hawkes forgot to take his library book back 47 years ago - Oh dear what will the fine be!! Inside the book is the City of Coventry Secondary boarding school stamp. The original name of the school after the Wyre farm Camp School title.

The Customary raiding of the Staff Room!

 Photos from Pete White



An actual raid. Laurie Lindsay 4th from left. Front Right Looks like Victory Preedy, next to him Roi King. Cannot identify the next one, Looks like Corny Hale. Lynsay, Dave Irish! Haycock. Thomas & Southerton




Peter White says " One breakfast morning a right fracas in the staffroom. Teacher runs into hall panicked shouting 'Hedgehog, fleas everywhere' Introduced by Irish & Partridge.
I only took the photo"


Pete White says 

"Top right is Irish putting up our farewell banner on the last night at the school in 1969.
Science lab middle left & on the roof right.
Who remembers the rescued baby owl. It was caged in the lab till it was old enough to be released? We put too large a piece of that chemical stick in water. It normally fizzes around, but this one exploded! When our hearing came back all we could hear was the owl sqawking for its life. Did feel bad about that.
Who remembers the canoe trip? I never went but did try out in the middle of the night. Defo not for me. That's Smith & Harkin paddling & I guess Harkin went for a swim."




School Letters and Documents from Phil Hawkes c 1972 / 75

 Phil Hawkes shared these documents to the Facebook Page City of Coventry school - they relate to the 1972 / 73 period I think.

























Saturday, December 10, 2022

An Anthology of School Plays 1950 - 1980

An Anthology of School Plays 1950 - 1980

This is a collection of photos, brochures, comments and information about the annual plays at the City of Coventry Boarding school. As there is so far no information available on any plays that were produced in the 1940s, we begin in the 1950's.

The 1950's

Photo 1



Photo2

Bill Vasper says 
"I was at the school from 1951 until 1954, The photograph is of a marionette performance organised by one of the teachers who was known as ' Potty Watts' (a real nice guy).In the photograph the people are (from left to right) David Brown, Ken Andrews, Bill Vasper (that's me) Gwyn Evans, Sparks, Watt, Bob Vasper and Maurice Quin."

Photo 3


Photo 4

Michel Billings
"I remember I think it would have been 1956 or 1957 we performed a Poem inside a railway carriage. The Night Mail. She goes up Beattock a steady climb the gradients against here but she's on time are some of the words I remember. The Night Mail was one of those British Railway films that were made in the late 40's & 50's. Yates played a fairy is all i remember.
Here's a link to the poem The Night Mail https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/w/wh-auden-night-mail.php

Presumably this was an adaption of the nursery rhyme Old King Cole but no information if regard to the author - at least one that was available in the 1950's.

Terry Waddington

"I was in one of those plays still remember the lines” Strike a match and make a light, or in this house there’ll be a fight”! That was in 1955 I was 10 years old."

1957 TOM SAWYER Review from Boarder Magazine July 1958 (Some of you refer to this as Huckleberry Finn)






It seems that this play was done again in the 1970's. 

1958 The Batsman's Bride.

Photo5



Tony Baker
"I was in that. Think that's me at the back. Batsman's Bride was I think 1957 or 58. More likely 57. The fourth year lads were the batsmen and first years the brides. Cannot remember story details but it was a short playlet. On the same bill was another playlet called Dumb Boy put on by the 3rd year. Both were produced by Wally Clarke. The Batsman's Bride. An operetta in one act. Libretto by Donald Hughes."

Photo 6


Photo 7

Here is a review of The Batsman's Bride (An Operetta) and A Tale Out of School (A musical fable) from The Boarder (The School Magazine) July 1959. There had been a production of Tom Sawyer in 1957 referred to in this review and this production in 1958. To enlarge the review - download and expand in photos on your computer. Good review.






Michael McAvoy

"I was in Tale out of school, the new boy. I remember Field being the creeper. Bit of type casting there. The BBC TV came to record, I think, tale out of School. It was written by one of our Masters. Great fun. Three of us were offered apprenticeships at the Coventry Rep.My mother would not let me. Get a trade stuff. Frustrated me. I joined a band as a singer which ruined my apprenticeship. Played back up to Lulu the Stones, Manfred Man ,Tornadoes and a few other big bands. Life went on " 

Tale Out Of School could  have been written by Terry Walker.

Other plays from the 1950's might have included the WW1 play  All's Quiet on the Western Front, (The Long, Short and the Tall). This play was also redone in the 1970's.

The 1960's

Wind in the Willows (Toad of Toad hall) 1960

George Forrester

"I was the washer woman in Wind in the Willows. 1 line was all that they trusted me with, “I WASH”

Michael McAvoy

"That was me Trev. I was Toad. Must have been 1960"

THE GREAT BELL OF BURLEY 1961

Sadly Headmaster RT Morris collapsed during one of these performances and later died but it looks like the show went on, as perhaps Mr Morris would have wanted, because there was both an obituary to Mr Morris and a review of this play in Boarder July 1961.  
The Great Bell of Burley, an opera for young singers. Composer
C Armstrong Gibbs & Nancy Bush 1954.

THE GREAT BELL OF BURLEY - Review from The Boarder July 1961

"This year's production differed from that of previous years in one major respect. Whereas in previous productions the accent had been on either humour or fantasy or both with music, lyrics and plot all sharing equal roles. "The Great bell of Burley" has an essentially simple plot, but the music, requiring complex choral work as an intrinsic part of its execution, was all important. This can perhaps be termed our first venture into the realm of opera.

As a first venture, the play was a success, as all plays must be when the major part of the audience belong to that least critical group of people - parents and friends of the actors. The music upon which so much depended in this production was more effective in the choral work than in some of the solos, largely because of the difficulty of finding well-developed bass voices among boys who are only sixteen years of age.

R. Graham and R. Yates sand their sometimes difficult songs very well and were ably supported in their performance by M McAvoy, J Batts, J Bolster A Fields and D Wharmby B Warman, leading his group of very aged bell ringers, once again managed to bring an air of comedy into the production.

No small part of the success of this production was due to the colourful costumes and to the excellent scenery and lighting and stage effects. the costumes were designed and made largely by Mr Thomas, Mr Elkins-Green and Mr Place, and we are very grateful to the Parents Association for their gifts of the canvas from which we were able to construct some much needed scenery flats. Mr Chopping was responsible for the very effective lighting. The training of the soloists and choruses was done by Mr Lovatt and Mr Thomas, who also played the musical accompaniment on two pianos, while the production was in the hands of Mr Cox. No small tribute must be paid to Mr Warman whose services in the make-up department are very much appreciated and most invaluable."
...............................

We have no entries for 1962 /3 /4 except

Peter Phelps

"I was in Boarders Burlesque 1963/4 ish. My memory is a bit hazy but I think it was produced/directed by Terry the art master. It was a collection of acts. I recall some of the older boys dressed as Edwardian women sing the song "We went to school in Cheltenham at a fashionable ladies college". I was in a sketch called The Dining Hall Routine in which we acted out a typical meal in the school dining hall but at speed to The William Tell Overture."




The Happiest Days of Your Life by John Dighton 1965

Thanks to Stuart McDonald for this contribution.








Photo 8


Texas Dave McGarry

"I remember being an understudy for a character named Rainbow?"

1966 Arsenic and Old Lace

Peter Lund

"I was in Arsenic and Old Lace as the vicar in the opening scene apparently you could hear the ratting of the cup and saucer I was holding due to nerves on the opening night LOL"


Photo 9

Photo 10





THIS AND THAT







Photo 11

Dill Holmes
"I am in photo 12 in a lovely frock"

Charlie's Aunt 1968

Photo 12


I think this photo is Charlie's Aunt 1968!

OLIVER 1968
Oliver was the most popular play judging by the responses and the amount of photos comments and other documents we have gathered on this site. I won't put them all on this post as it's long enough already - just a few but if you follow this link you see more on a dedicated post to Oliver.


Photo 13


Photo 14


Photo 15


THE 1970'S

TOM SAWYER 1972

This musical play was produced before in the 1950's.

Photo 16


Photo 17


Sailor Beware 1973

Kevan Jenkins
It was sailor beware in 73 . Galvin Harrison stole the show . I was the one who was sat down in the red and white.




Photo 18


Photo 19




Chase me Comrade 1974
Note - I had this down as 1973 and have been corrected - this play was 1974. I have corrected the date but not yet the order of the photos. Will do soon.

Photo 20

Mark Jeffries on the left in white.

Chase me Comrade From Left: Mark Jefferies; Chris Hill; Stephen Hill; Nathan Johnson. Not sure who the "person" is sitting down.

Photo 21

Mark Jeffries front row right in white in the school play.Chase me Comrade 1973 or 1974
Back Row L- R: Mark Harrison, Jeff Stockdale, Stephen Hill, Robert Griffin, John Harvey
Front row L-R: Nathan Johnson, Phil Herd, ?, Chris Hill, Mark Jefferies
Directed by Art Teacher Terry Walker and Peter Germain

Photo 22



Chase me Comrade 1974 — with Nath Johnson at City of Coventry School. A little blurred!

Nigel Rigby I recognise Nathen Johnston, i think sat in the chair on the left, and little Phil Herd from Heywood in Lancashire, in his purple jacket

Nigel Tuckey The "Lady" on the right I think is Mark Jeffery and the ballet dancer is Chris Hill

Peter Dawson I remember the Jeffery brothers they lived in Stoke Aldermoor Coventry.

Kevan Jenkins
That’s me sat down in chase me comrade Trev.







OFF THE HOOK 1976




SPYMAN 1977

Photo 23



Simple Spymen 1977 Queens Silver Jubilee

Michael Breslin Back row L to R Alex Mahijlovic, Steve Curran, Sleep Walker Marks, Paul " I'll post photos soon "Fisher, Mick "Judas" Breslin, Mick O Donoghue, Pete Syratt, John McKay. Front Row, Edna the inebriated, Nick Watson, Mick Garlic, Ben Frank.

Photo 24



Paul Fisher with hat, Ben Frank in white wig, Pete Germain teacher (Metalwork/French) The guy in the Fez is Mick Garlic.
Prepping for the school play, Simple Spyman 1976



OTHER PLAYS MENTION FOR THE 70'S 
All Quiet on the Western Front. ( Possibly 1968 also done in the 1950's)
One For the Pot  77 Directed by Peter Germain.
Dry Rot.
(No details for those or photos)

1980's

The Man In The Bowler Hat" By AA Milne 82?

PHOTOS I CAN'T PLACE

Photo 25



60's or 70's ?

Photo 26



Photo 27


Photo 28



Photo 29

Photo 30


Photo 31


Photo 32


More photos
Some I can place but blogger won't let me place then in sequence above for some unknown reason!

Photo 33


This is maybe Off the Hook 1976?

Photo 34


This is maybe Tom Sawyer 1972?

Photo 35


Not sure 1970's

Photo 36


Arsenic and Old Lace 1966? Above and below.

Photo 37


Gaz Marks commented - Photos 37 and 38 I can't remember the name of the play but the date would be 1977 / 78. That's me in the wheel chair I think my character was "Mr Harcastle" .
L to r (back,) D.Milne?, Tony Powell, Mick Breslin, Tim Vince, Alex Milhilovic, D, Mulcahy?
Front Paul Fisher, Gaz Marks, Mick O Donague, John Mckay.

Photo 38




Index to known plays

1980's
The Man In The Bowler Hat" By AA Milne

John Francis Davenport

"I was in Man in the bowler hat. It must have been the last play the school did before it closed. The teacher thought it would be a good idea to use Vaseline and talcum powder in my hair to give me a slick back greying appearance. It took weeks to wash it out."

1970's
Simple Spymen 1977 Queens Silver Jubilee
One for the pot 77
Off the Hook 76
Sailor Beware 73
Chase me Comrade 73
Tom Sawyer 70's version?
Dry Rot 70's
All Quiet on the Western front The Long and short and the tall
1960's
Oliver 1969
Charlie's Aunt 68
This and That 1967
Arsenic and Old Lace 66
The Happiest days of Your Life (School Play) by John Dighton 1965
The Great Bell of Burley 61
Wind in the Willows (Toad of Toad hall) 1960?
1950's
Tom Sawyer (Huckleberry Finn) 1957 Possibly repeated in the 70's + Dumb Boy?
All Quiet on the Western Front 50's (The Long and the Tall and the Short) WW1 play
The Batman's Bride 1958 + A Tale out of School
King Cole 1956 (included the poem Night Mail)