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Drilling Class

Swedish Drill we presume, although the style of dress precludes any violent exercise. This from the days as my grandmother used to say: ” ladies ‘glowed’, men ‘perspired’ and horses “sweat”! As we commented in the previous post does the room look familiar?

Image courtesy of a promotional brochure for Towers School at the turn of the 19th century.

Lunch is Served

The dining hall for Towers School pupils obviously had a dual role as you will note in the image. This view carefully conceals the gym equipment evident in other images on the site of the school’s facilities; truly a multi-functional space.

Image courtesy of a promotional brochure for Towers School at the turn of the 19th century.

HOW’S ZATT?

I wonder if they won more matches than the mens England team? Not the usual attire for a cricket team; but the Towers School pupils Saltburn were of course all girls in the photograph. They are shown on their ‘playing field’ under the Halfpenny bridge over the valley; in those days there was no miniature railway to get in the way!

Image from a collection received by the Archive which included promotional material for Towers School. All the Towers School images were loaned to us by a person who does not wish to be named, to whom we are grateful.

Art Class

Once again a Towers School photograph, not a lot of pupils in the class; the range of subjects available gives an indication of the school’s aims – “To provide an education to prepare young ladies to take a proper place in society” – which the promotional material projects. I wonder what the subject to be drawn, sketched or painted were?

Image from a collection received by the Archive which included promotional material for Towers School. All the Towers School images were loaned to us by a person who does not wish to be named, to whom we are grateful.

Woodwork Class

A lovely photograph of pupils from the Towers school Saltburn; not quite what you would expect in a woodwork class. The style of dress gives an idea for dating the image; but in today’s world of ‘elf and safety’ clearly not appropriate!

Image from a collection received by the Archive which included promotional material for Towers School. All the Towers School images were loaned to us by a person who does not wish to be named, to whom we are grateful.

Towers School Pupils 1937

Jose Mawson, was a pupil at the Towers from 1937 to 1941, and was there when the school was evacuated to Rusland Hall in 1940. Her great friend was Patricia Burn; other friends were Elizabeth Leathly-Shaw, Hilary Toy, Anne Clinkard, Heather Dorman, Pamela Radge, Marie Locke, Rosetta Bolton, and Joan and Pam Howell – whose parents were in India. Her photo shows Jose and friends in the grounds of the School in c.1938.
Back row (standing): ??, ??, possibly Pamela Radge< ??< ??, possibly Elizabeth Leathly-Shaw.
Middle row (kneeling): ??, Jose Mawson, Patricia Burn, possibly Anne Clinkard (whose parents had the shoe-shop).
Front row (seated): ??, ??, Marie Locke.

David Howell asks: “I am intrigued by the mention of Joan & Pam Howell, whose parents were in India. Could this be Joan and Sheila Howell – daughters of William Frederick Howell who worked for Jessop & Co Steel works in Calcutta, around this time. I am his son from his second marriage to Joan Hartley and these would be my half sisters. I would be most grateful for any additional information about them. My Dad also worked as an apprentice plater at the Skinning Grove Steelworks around 1917 before joining the RFC in the last year of the Great War.” Whilst Katharine Broome adds: “It is interesting to see this wonderful collection of photographs of The Towers. I went there for several months from late 1939 until it evacuated. My aunt Maureen Drake was one of the “big girls”. In later years, Anne Clinkard & I became great friends. After the school evacuated, I went to Upleatham Street School until it was bombed. Shortly after, our own house was destroyed by a bomb and we moved away until it was rebuilt in 1948. My main memory of the Towers is the horrid food – tripe and cochineal coloured tapioca pudding!”

Image and information courtesy of Amanda Stobbs, thanks to David Howell and Katharine Broome for the updates.

Miss Pybus at Russland School

Miss Pybus, Headmistress of Saltburn’s Towers School is pictured c.1940 at Rusland Hall, this was where the Towers School was evacuated in World War II. After the War started, but before the school was evacuated, the boarders used to be taken into the vaults of the Zetland Hotel to shelter when the air-raid sirens sounded. She also remembers having ”midnight feasts”, but with food in short supply thanks to the war, they used to eat toothpaste! Jose Mawson, was a pupil at the Towers from 1937 to 1941; and was there when the school was evacuated to Rusland Hall in 1940. Her great friend was Patricia Burn; other friends were Elizabeth Leathly-Shaw, Hilary Toy, Anne Clinkard, Heather Dorman, Pamela Radge, Marie Locke, Rosetta Bolton, and Joan and Pam Howell (whose parents were in India). After an outbreak of illness thanks to the Rusland Hall drains being unable to cope with the large numbers of people when the school was evacuated, my mother and her sister Helen left the school in 1941, and my mother subsequently attended Durham Girls’ County School. Jose Mawson has memories of the Headmistress, Miss Pybus, had a little white dog called Zeppi, and that all the boarders used to be invited round to Miss Pybus’s house (next door to the Towers) on a Sunday, where they were each given a ”Dainty Dinah” toffee! 

Image and information courtesy of Amanda Stobbs.

Towers School Clothing List 1937

This Towers School Clothing List was supplied to Jose Mawson’s mother prior to her attending the school; it makes interesting reading. Included in the list is the bedding pupils would need for boarding. Jose Mawson, was a pupil at the Towers from 1937 to 1941, and was there when the school was evacuated to Rusland Hall in 1940. She remembers that they used to have different colour exercise books for different subjects. Her daughter Amanda Stobbs tells us: “ I remember being given a much larger red one to draw in when I was a small child. Don’t know what became of it, though. One blue backed book still survives because my mother used the spare pages to record her wedding presents! The gold logo on the front is quite spectacular compared to nowadays – also the fact that it’s hard-back.”

Image and information courtesy of Amanda Stobbs.

May Day in Moorsholm

Pupils of Moorsholm school celebrating May Day in the late 1950s. Ann Jackson tells us: ”Marian Wardell was May Queen so it will have been about 1959 I think”.  Can anybody assist with additional names?
Back row: Alwyn Stiff, Aubrey Wood, Ann Jackson, Adrian Taylor, John Ainsley, Colin Greensmith, Les Burton, Clarence Raine, Judith Ellingham, Arnold Lancaster.
Middle row: Michael Greensmith, Dave Lancaster, Michael Liddell, ??, ??, ??.
Front row: Ken Bulmer, Elizabeth Smith, Valerie Bunting, Yvonne Lightwing and Gillian Brown.

Image and some names courtesy of Irene Greensmith, also many thanks to Ann Jackson for the dating and additional names.

Loftus Zetland Juniors 1958

Miss Marion Lightfoot’s class with their summer class photograph 0f 1958.
Back row: Derek Miller, Tony Temple, Graham Lightfoot, Douglas Johnson, David Peggs, Ronald Watson, John Summerfield, William Boal, Peter Laverick.
Middle row: Ian Legge, John Chipchase, Anne Stephenson, Rita Markham, Tina Wilson, Christine Lee, Joan Verrill, Kathleen Danby, Cynthia Tyreman, Christine Sickling, Frances Vincent, Judy Williams, Brian Richardson, Michael Wilson.
Front row: Barbara Mead, Christine Drew, Pat Dyke, Anne Marie Elliott, MarilynWale, June Lightfoot, Miss Marion Lightfoot (teacher), Dorothy Collins, Marilyn Leng, Florence Cornforth, Ann Rowland, Annie Preston, Ann Horner.
As there were more 40 or more pupils, some were known to have been absent from this image; including Elizabeth Harris, Sheila Dorgan and Cody Hutchinson. Pat Sparkes (nee Dyke) adds: “This is fantastic it is the only school photo I have found I am sure I use to have this one but not been able to find it!”

Image and names to date courtesy of a viewer who ”spent a happy hour remembering time tables, steam trains, lino and nearly empty roads!”; thanks also to Pat Sparkes for the update.