Bath Tec School

Thanks for the welcome.  I was there between 1954 and 1959 when the main building was Weymouth House.  Of course, we were quite nomadic in those days having to move from one site to another - St James' Hall, Brougham Hayes when the 'huts' were there, Twerton for Woodwork and Metalwork, and the original Technical College building and not forgetting Combe Down for sports!

 

Interesting to see mention of 'Gummy' Freeman who in my day took Religious Education.  That class was taken in the old College building on a Monday.  'Gummy' was a director of Portsmouth FC in those days, and if they had got a good result on the Saturday, the whole lesson could be taken up with an 'action replay'!

 

Joe Cannon was another character I remember well.  He taught French in Room 11 (on the top floor anyway) in Weymouth House.  The problem with that was the railway station could be seen quite clearly.  Joe was an enthusiastic train spotter - as were many of us - and he was for ever peering out of the window to let us know what loco was hauling what train!  I never did learn any French!!

 

The Annual School Service was held in Bath Abbey, where Ray Jones (woodwork Teacher)  was assistant organist.  Some say that he was a better organist than Bill Maynard who was THE Abbey Organist.  Somewher in the Abbey there probably is to be found a book shelf.  This was made by a few of us in the woodworking class somwhere around 1957/8 I think.

Thanks for that little bit of the past life of Weymouth House Dave, sounds as if you enjoyed your time there, I remember the bare wooden and dusty floors, the high ceilings,the smells of Fishy Evans at lunchtime, the sound of pigs being unloaded from wagons across the road at Spears factory and  that smell of fresh pork pies baking in the afternoon, being able to wander around town at lunchtime, looking at the kits in the Modellers Den,up to the Coop for school dinners, over to Tommy Bests to look at the army surplus then on to Oldfield Park for woodwork or metalwork walking along the footpath next to the railway line hoping to spot a train on the way.

Sadly this only lasted a year for me and most of the guys on here as we moved on to Brougham Hayes and the new school where once in the gates we stayed for the rest of the day untill it was time to go home with the exeption of woodwork and rugby at the old jail and Combe Down. I hope this has stirred a few memory cells for some of you, there are plenty more !!

Hi Dave.

         How nice to hear from you, your recollections certainly scored many nostalgia points. I think it may have been me that first mentioned 'Gummy' Freeman, although I will admit that I had forgotten about Portsmouth FC. 

       I did not know about Joe Cannon's enthusiasm for railways, but he never taught our class as we did German with Herr Ault, so I knew little about him.

     Like you I still have happy memories of Weymouth House with 'Archie' Alvis teaching us geography, 'Stan' Stennett Biology, 'Pete' Moore maths, Taff Griffiths english and 'Pop' Webb history etc.

   I could go on but it's getting late and I'm sure there will be many opportunities to drag up old times in th future.

                                                         Bi for now.

                                                               John.