Bath Tec School

Norwegian Blue is it Chris?

This parrot is dead!!!

Dead wot? Steve.

I smell a Rat !! or is it a Hamster ...?

Parrotty has asked me to say that she greatly appreciates all your kind sentiments BUT she denies ANY Scandanavian ancestry. She does however regret that any Norse or Viking distantly racially connected parrots have died. She thinks they probably succumbed to the cold of northern climes (hence the tinge of blue), and thinks them foolish to have made the trip there in the first place.

 

She also wishes me to impart the information that:

 

NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE A PARROT.   She doubts you will understand this witty remark of hers, but she's used that.

Oh! now we've got a punny parrot.

 

I want to know does she swallow ... or spit !!

Yes Anthony she is a she.......she has proved it by laying eggs for me. She also wishes me to mate with her.

I think it's wonderful that at my age ANY living organism whould wish me to engage with them in what we ( in Mrs W's and my more "exciteable" moments long ago)  used to call "intimate congress".

 

And don't sneer as it's all rather wonderful for both of us, and frees up Mrs W for more important things like polishing the chair castors and planting misembriathimums (whatever they are...even when spelt correctly)

 

 

AND Anthony........no more" IT" if you please....Parroty was very offended.

Speechless, eh. Steve?

Your right Stu, lost for words!!!!  Do you all remember Freddie "Parrot Face" Davies?

 

Sorry, tea is ready.

 

cheers

 

Steve

Hi Guys.

You are obviously all very misled, observe the following facts:

1. She is not dead, demised, shuffled off her mortal coil or snuffed it, in fact she is not an ex-parrot.

2. She appears to have a compete distaste for Nordic Countries.

3. She is obviously not a Norwegian Blue, but an African Grey, a sensible bird from a country with much more acceptable climate (For a bird of her sunny disposition) 

Finally all I can say is 'Have fun with your parrot', Chris.

Bi to all.

Sticky  

Hi Guys,

Added a real colourful parrot.  Have these in the backyard but this photograph taken by the wife on the south coast.  Now off to your birdy books and to name this fellow?

 

Ken

Rainbow lorikeet I'd suggest.  Parrotty thinks it a bit flash.

Chris et al,

You know your parrots.   Parroty is right, very flashie but probably worth a motza in UK, if you could get one.  The main visitors to our garden are Eastern Rozellas, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Galahs my wife has photographs somewhere on this system of each at our bird bath.  Talking of Bird Baths, that is one of the items we made at the Tech whilst in second year of Brick Work and Masonery and possibly my third year at the Tech.   Who was the guy in the blue overalls who assisted the teacher and who was the teacher for that subject  I use to take those lessons before we moved to B. Hayes and the classrooms for this were at the Lower Bristol Road end and separate from the main complex.   Guy in the blue overalls use to help make the muck when we were learning to lay bricks.

 

On the woodwork front with Jones, think the first thing we all made in my year was a 'Seed Label' all that paring with a one inch chiesel  ('paring' think that is how you spell it) for one little Seed Label and about six double lessons in woodwork to achieve same.  The purpose of the excerise was to get use to using chiesels, I think?

 

Well off on to visit the kids in Melbourne in the morning, nice 8 hour drive from Canberra with 37C temps and higher forecast for tomorrow.  It has been the hottest Nov in history in this part of Aust (almost half way between Sydney and Melb) and in land.  Yes and we are still two weeks away from the start of Summer.

 

Cheers,

Ken

 

Ken

Hi Tony & Ken

 

I think the Tech COLLEGE used to do their mason/brickie training there. We never did either at the Tech school.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Hi all.

Ken is spot on, we did brickwork and masonry for one year, and painting and decorating for one year, this was in the second and third, but can't remember for the life of me which way around it was. I can't remember the names of the tutors either, but what did 'Clinker' Clayton teach?

We made a bird bath from Bath stone also, mine was at home in the garden until my parents moved house when they retired. I don't know what happened to it then, it probably got left behind!

Didn't do much in the way of brickwork I can only remember having to knock down some fireplaces that had been constructed by the tech coll students, and having to clean off the bricks for reuse. It was OK because they weren't permitted to use cement in the 'muck', it was just lime mortar and came off easily.

Painting and decorating was fun, they had numerous second hand doors all heavily painted, each student was alocated a door and during the term had to burn it off with a blowlamp, make good, prime, fill, sand, first under coat, sand and fill if necessary, second undercaoat, sand and gloss coat. The finish was expected to be as good as one would expect to see on a car.

I'm sure everyone can imagine the noise in a relatively small workshop with seven or eight blowlamps going. Incidentally, some were petrol and some were paraffin. Can't imagine what Health and Safety woulds make of it today! I guess most of the so called inspectors would have a nervous breakdown. Volatile liquids, naked flames, students determined to burn the place down etc.

Surprisingly we all survived the experience and I'm sure we were all better off for it! I know that many of the things learned in B and M, also Paint and Dec has served me in good stead many a time since.

Cant go rambling on for ever,

got to go now.

Regards to all.

Sticky.

Hi Anth.

Yes, at various times we had Brickwork and Masonry, Painting and Decorating, Metalwork and even Physics in the old hutments.

The metalwork shop was a lot more modern than all the others, more of a terrapin building, as I recall. The remainder were all military style wooden structures.

Regards.

Sticky.

Hi Tony

 

I am sure I can remember having woodwork lessons in the hutments with Ray. Metal work was also taught there. But, as you say, there was nver any offer of brickwork etc.

 I think the photo was taken just before a lesson with Ray.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Hi all,

 

I remember in our last year (1966) having metalwork in the huts with Jack Cosnett, but it wasn't for long and why we weren't in our usual place I can't recall.

 

Rich

Hi Anth and all.

You are right about Ray Jones, I can never recall him giving anyone detention, either.

From my memories he was a placid man, but managed to maintain discipline somehow (Most of the time).

Just to put the record straight for you young 'uns. Back in the old Weymouth House days the hutments were used broadly as I outlined earlier, but woodwork and metalwork (Blacksmithing) both took place at the old gaol at Twerton.

Have to go now, dinner ready!

Regards to all.

Sticky.

PS All done now. Beef Satay and fried rice delivered from the local take away. Very nice too!

Compliments of 'She who must be obeyed'.

Dear Alle

 

certainly I remember walking over to Twerton from Brougham hayes for metal work and woodwork.  But I didnt realise it was the old gaol. We didn't have Ray Jones but another bloke who was much less congenial...although he didn't invite us "up to the wood store" !

 

I still use the book case I made and took home on the bus to keynsham...seemed enormous at the time. also making garden lines in metalwork. Who was the metalwork master who used to threaten us with the straight edge of a steel rule if we rested our hands on the big shiney bench we had to cluster round to listen to him.?  Very grumpy man.     We got our own back by turning up the fan on the forge and spraying white hot coals about!

 

God!! It was another world. Where was health and safety!  Remember all those experiments with Sammy Seale where poison gases pervaded theplace and boiling acid, fizzing sodium or potassium and free mercury were normal. Do you think we can sue!?

 

Bit off the parrot subject....but I did have a budgie called Joey in those days....an excellent training for the real thing.

 

Glad to see Darracott aboard...I would never have got A level physics without cribbing all his work.

 

 

Blessynngges rayne douwne upponne ye alle

 

Good morning all

 

I cannot remember Ray giving a detention but if he took a dislike to you then he would make life difficult and I am sure there were boys who did not have side burns or a pair of winklepickers who wish they had not chosen woodwork over metalwork. That said, if you were one of 'Ray's boys' then woodwork lessons were light relief from the likes of Spike Minniken and Dickie Harber!! My bookcase is still in my father's house with books still on it's shelfs!!!!

 

My memory tells me that we had metalwork and woodwork in the old goal for our first year ('59) and when we moved to Brougham Hayes the lessons were moved to the huts. Who was the short grey haired guy in a brown coat that used to help Ray in woodwork , getting the wood out etc. To my knowledge he did not move with us to the hutments.

 

I can remember the old forges and the great fun making 'volcanoes'!!! Also can recall playing with mercury and Sammy's 'brown fumes'!! With all that mercury it is no wonder we are all as mad as a hatter.

 

I remember in the third we had to make a choice, either history and metalwork or geography and woodwork. Sod's law dictated that I wanted to do history and woodwork!!!! But the draw of being one of 'Ray's boys' meant I did geography and not histotry which I proved to have talent for.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Hello Steve et al, al - e - main and al - e - minor. Cannons to the left, cannons to the right of us. How`s the weather across the Channel then?

 

O.K, keyboard madness over, back to (relative) normailty now:

 

Do you know for the life of me I cannot recall any woodwork in the huts, only at the old Gaol. Was it possible that we could do both things metal work & wood work for some years? I seem to recall that more than once the "projects" seemed to overlap or relate in some way. Handles (no, not 4 candles) come to mind.

 

Like I said in a recent post, all I can remember in the Huts was Harry Mowers` lathes. All the rest of "forge / bashing" processes were with Mr, Cosnett. It may haunt me for the rest of my life now .. where the missing hutment days have gone, that is. tech Drawing .. justa thought who used to take Tech drawing?  ... I can remember getting poor marks for this subject (didn`t use to wear my glasses for vanity reason in latter years .. wonder why?

 

Regards.  (oh, Say hello to Parroty for me Chris.)

Heellooo! says Parrotty to francis and to alle,

 

when I arrived in 1960 to form 3P we had technical drawing in the huts, but I can't remember who took us. The next year ? we were in the main school and Harry Mower was doing it. I was good at tech drawing and harry took some of my drawings for some reason. When I asked for them back he told me they had been put in the bottom of the babies pram and peed on....so he said!!

 

Hi all,

 

We had Harry Mower for Tech Drawing too in 1961. I remember him clouting Pete Chidley on the back of the head for having lines like train tracks. This caused his head to meet the drawing board with quite a bit of force. Harry then hit him again for getting blood on his paperwork !! True story !! The kids of today etc..........

 

 

Rich

Good Moaning All

 

I can remember having to make the choice too Steve, and I remember that there was a third option also, Biology and Art, in my case it was the lesser of three evils. I can remember opting for Geography and Metalwork, was useless with such dangerous items as chisels, (still am), so woodwork was out, trainspotting wasn't on the curriculum and Geography was my best subject, had to keep at least one where I looked at least average. Oddly enough History never did anything for me at school at all, but I recent years I have become fascinated by it, maybe because of traveling and correlating world history and english history, as well as having specific interests.

Harry Mower took us for tech drawing, at least for the third year, wasn't any good at that either, mine looked like someone had dipped a spider in ink and thrown it at the paper before playing football with it, strange that when I returned to college as an adult student I got distinction for my drawing, and helped others in the class with theirs. Same with art, couldn't tell one end of a paintbrush from the other at school, yet having taking up painter in recent years have sold nine to date, I think if I could have started school at about 40 I might have been more of a success, obviously a late developer, (very late developer).

 

Stu

Hello Stu,

Westward ho! still suffering gales like us in Somersetshire? .. This  "corry wats it" with world  history, ithat`s a big word for a "late developer" isn`t it? It is raisng the tone of the thread somewhat. You`ll have us all talking in real Angleterra Spiel soon .. Ha Ha.

 

I do love hearing all the episodes that I was not party to (or if I was, have faded from memory). I am going to treat myself to a somewhat bigger computer monitor, it will assist in improving the comprehension of the typing, and might also increase the current laughter factor in some of the stories posted on here.

 

The weekend and all its` chores is here, weather preventing any outdoor adventures or excursions, ( hey that`s a big word for a change.. wonder how that slipped out). Have a good weekend all, and for those in sunnier climes .. post a hot "piccie" or two please.

 

Regards.

Spell checkers were definately a great invention Bill, it's raining cats and wotsits here, still saved me from a fate worse than death, "CHRISTMAS SHOPPING", Shirls threatening to take me to Bristol next Saturday, based purely on the principle that there's more shops in Bristol. I may have to feign illness and get a sicknote. Not too many signed up for the reunion yet is there, I've applied for membership on the PubPals site, 'spose it'll take forever to be approved, and please don't encourage those in warmer climes to send pics of sunshine SAD doesn't usually kick in until after Christmas, I don't want to be all miserable and depressed until Easter.

 

Stu

Choices!

 

yes, but it meant that as I chose geography and history I couldn't do German or French....GREAT at the time thought I,  but a bit of a handicap when I came to apply to uni. Almost every Med School wanted an O level language! And as Tony says it would have been useful now, at least to hang a language course on. Maybe kiddies an't the best judge of what's good for them. Sometimes it's better to be taken out of our comfort zones......at least until Mrs W tries to get ME out of all of mine!!!!

 

 

Guten Tag alles,

Mein herren, Ich habe sehr gut von mein schule tagen bekommen. Etwas ein kleine dame habst macht mein brain !

 

Don`t know if that made any sense, some of it seems familiar as being the correct words, not neccessarily in the right order mind you, and not all ze correct inflection or gender eizer. But the best I could do "off the cuff" without a translator (oder spiel-checken-sie-wats-it!)

 

I chose "Ya" fur Deutsch, and "Non" au Francaise (sp?) .. always thought most anglophiles are descended from east european and scandinavian origins. So, and with a penchant for swedish girls, I opted for the German as being appropriate for a british male person aged 11 & 3/4.

 

Lots of "gobbildy gook" pop up into view when I`m on this laptop on these wet afternoons. As for attending school from 40 onward, I thought that`s what we are still doing, (serving our time in the school of life that is). I have learnt more this year about myself and people than I ever had previously. I have come of age ( Don`t worry Stu, it`s only when I type), I think.

 

Regards. (another of those P.S.s, have rejoined "Friends Reunited" .. you have been warned! ..ha ha.)

 

 

Hi all and Parrotty.

You guys had it hard! We were not given any choices so didn't have to deliberate about that.

By the way Bill, it's Ja not Ya and when you say kleine dame do you mean madchen. I have to admit my Deutsch was lower than a snakes belly, but that is what I finished up with. During my working life have visited Germany several times and wished I had paid more attention. Like you guys, couldn't work up any enthusiasm for history either. Again see it differently now! You are dead right we should have started school at forty, or even fifty. 

Chris is spot on, it was Harry Mower for tech drawing besides metalwork and metalwork technology, yes, we did all those subjects

also physics, chemistry and biology and both history and geography. Had to stay behind after school if we wanted to do art. I can't understand anyone being daunted by Dickie Harbor, I agree he ran a fairly tight ship and didn't tolerate any mucking about, but if you got him talking about his younger days and the motor bikes he had owned you were in for a real treat. Always had a lot of respect for the man, which is probably why I've spent the rest of my life involved in electrical engineering.

The weather here has been as bad as reported by the Frome contingent, absolutely hissing down. So decided to do  paperwork.

Inland revenue, Dept of pensions etc etc. really exciting stuff. Thought I'd have a look at what you guys were up to to break the tedium, ah well, back to it.

Regards to all and Parrotty.

Sticky.

Hello John,

Yes .. told you wrong order etc .. Ja nicht Ya .. o.k. yah? ... and young girl .. couldn`t think of anything else but Fraulein oder "little dame" .. Madchen (with the umlaut) spot on .. easy when someone else writes it .. not all of it is remembered very well, the genders used to get me .. der die das etc .. as well as the singular plural, first party second etc. You have probably also found out (on your travels around that country) that the "flavour" of German we were taught at School was Hanovarian of "Hoch Deutch", German equivalent of the dialectless "Queens English" so preferred by the B.B.C. at one time.

 

A one time co-director of mine who spent a lot of time (and whos` wife is Swiss) in the south of Germany, can speak several of the dialects fluently, as well as Dutch. Makes you sick doesn`t it?. Especially when I can`t even do English very well sometimes .. ha ha. I blame it on all the alcohol I consumed as a teenager. 

 

Still I keep trying, my mother always used to say I was trying, (most of the time) .. Regards.

Dunno about dead parrots. Heard this story about dead bees.

New zookeeper, see. Keen and didn't want to make mistakes. Told to go and feed the zoo's swarm of prize bees. So he does. Next morning he comes to work and finds the bees all dead. Doesn't want to remind the head keeper that he fed them in case he gets sacked, so he mashes down the bees into a pulp and feeds them to the fish. Next morning he comes to work and all the fish are dead. Poor new keeper. Doesn't want to own up to what he did with the bees so he has a bright idea. He feeds all the dead fish to the chimpanzees. Next morning he comes to work and all the chimpanzees are dead. No, not dead parrots. Dead chimpanzees. Pay attention. Anyway, said new zookeeper panics and feeds all the dead chimpanzees to the elephants. Guess what. Next morning all the elephants are dead. At this point the poor guy gives up. He'll never dispose of the elephants. So he goes to the head keeper and puts his hand up. "Please sir, all the elephants are dead and it was me wot fed 'em."

"What sort of food have you been giving the animals?" asks the head keeper.

"Oh, nothing special. Fish, chimps and mushy bees."

See, told you, No dead parrots.

Time to slink away.

Ha ha ha !! .. Wondered where it was all going, I thought it was going to be a Monty Python sketch for a minute David .. brilliant .. ... Ha Ha.Ha...

 

On another subject now, have you considered posting a few of your short stories for all to appreciate on here?

 

Oh, and have you listened to "Blaster Bates" after dinner speech yet?

 

Questions, questions .. all I know is questions .. sorry about this .. Regards.

Hi Bill and all.

Sorry about correcting your German, but thought it might help. I agree this gender thing is a bit of a sod! I could never get me head around the fact that Madchen was neuter, as in das Madchen (With an umlout). It's as though all females were neuter as long as they were virgins, p'raps the idea was that a virgin was some kind of mythical creature!!!!

Great story, David, provoked a real belly laugh. Keep up the good work.

Just heard a DJ on the radio say that a bloke had donated one million pounds to 'Children in need'  but the cheque would not clear until the neutron collider in Switzerland had sucked us all up. Or at least he thinks the man said 'Sucked'.  

Completed the tedious paperwork now. Much relieved! Shame the forcast for tomorrow not much better, could have got on with something more interesting.

Got to go now. Oh, and bi bi to Parrotty

Sticky.

Listened to both the "after dinner" tapes, Francis. They're brilliant even after several listenings. But I can't do short stories. Every time I try they end up as full length novels. I blame that English teacher at Bath Tech. Griffiths? Yes, I'm sure it was him. Left before we moved to Brougham Hayes and was replaced by Mrs Williams.

Hello David, John and all who sail these hyper-text pages, (any one who is hyper ..let me know what you`re on please)

 

David, the stories, could be novels .. don`t have to be short. The sound files .. I have a collection of the "Goon Shows", and loads from Benny Hill, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Joyce Grenfell etc etc. I`ll post a collection on here for those moments when the world looks grey.

 

News flash :- Just found this on Roger Coombes web site (see "skydrive" - "Favourites" folder - "old boys websites") .. the link to this particular funny is  http://www.roleplaytime.co.uk/helpdesk01.wmv

 

John, I`m always open to learn stuff about anything .. please don`t apologise .. "Made Chen" could be the original spelling, woman made chin (full of stubble, perhaps), or just could have been a description for those unfortunates born with both sets of bits. (bits, I said, your minds..terrible really ..ha ha)

 

Well, the blustery is still here in darkest Somersetshire, and the precipitation is causing rivers on the drive, all manner of debris is accumulating on the roadway. But its mild, very mild..makes you wonder what`s coming to us this winter. Just told wife Carole the joke about the zoo keeper .. embelished it a bit (to mount the tension), she roared, .. I ran .. just in case she bit me!

What I didn't tell you, Francis, is that I first heard that story thirty odd years ago. Wet Sunday morning in Scotland (as usual) and two of us were sitting in this very old wartime building controlling aeroplanes. Only two of us 'cos it was Sunday morning and we worked a system called "band-boxing" at quiet times. We linked all the sector frequencies onto two control positions and freed up the rest of the watch to lounge around the staff rest room getting high on caffeine. Anyway, there we were, idly zinging aeroplanes round the sky, when the other guy said, "You heard the one about the zookeeper..." The building was so old the rain came in through the ceiling light fittings so the engineers turned the glass lampshades upside down to catch all the water. God knows how they didn't electrocute themselves. One day I'll tell you how I grew so many huge tomatoes in the control room at Tiree aerodrome I couldn't see out the window. Had to get the pilots to tell me where they were on the airfield. Or how I controlled a busy traffic flow from a radar console in my string vest (shades of Rab C Nesbitt) after a delightful lady assistant spilt coffee all over my clothes. What the travelling public never knew...! But I suppose your own careers were just as full of "don't tell anyone" stories. On the matter of reminiscing, I've been studying those pictures of Weymouth House on the photo section and I'm having problems orienting myself with where they were taken from. I remember the big school yard at the front of the building with the latrines at one side of it. And I remember the school gates alongside Fishy Evans shop around the back of Weymouth House. And I remember being able to see Manvers Hall as it appears in the 1957 photo. But the other photos just don't seem to fit with my (rather poor) memory. Any clues?

 

Hi David, Bill and all.

Keep up the good work, David, these reminiscenses of yours about your ATC days are fascinating.

Amazing the things that happened in those days isn't it?

Followed the link you mentioned, Bill, very funny, but humour limited to people with experience of Mr Gates I fancy.

None the less very good, why do you imagine, did this appear on the Coombs boy's web site?

Rough old day again today, what with the wind and intermittant rain, pretty miserable!

Not a lot done except indoor activities.

By the way this seems to have strayed a long way from Parrotty, should we start a new theme do you fancy?

Regards to all.

Sticky.

PS Yes, David, it was 'Taff' Griffiths for English before 1960. He taught us as well.

Hi All,

Just back from a short break.  I was glad that Sticky was able to back me up with the Brick Work and Masonery Classes.  It was after all a Tech School. Not quite the same as what they had at Bristol Tech where my brother-in-law attended. That was strictly a tech school.  However racking the old brain box, and talking about the curriculum at BT.  I did not get to do the Painting and Decorating although it was on.  We did Tech Drawing and then Engineering Drawing both in the huts at B. Hayes.  Also for the first couple of years we did General Science before spliting into Chem, Biology and Physics.  I assume this is because of the limit labs at Weymouth House.

Ken