Memories...

Memories, as the song goes, tend to lurk in the corners of the mind. Those little snippets of information that suddenly come back to you without warning and raise a smile as you recall some really daft moment from perhaps 20 or even 50 years ago as if it were only yesterday. Like catching your shin on the door stays as you ran too close to the buildings in the new end of the school (heck that used to hurt!). Or trying to pluck up the courage to chat up that girl you fancied during the school fete (she never even noticed me!). Or perhaps it was a favourite teacher, like Mr Backhouse with his wild crop of curly hair, speeding along on his knackered old bike grinning from ear to ear. Whatever you remember fondly, let me know, and I'll include it here for others to smile at too...
 

I was at Gosport Grammar School from 1966-1971 (decided to explore the big wide world and left part-way through the Lower 6th, much to my mother’s and my teachers’ fury!). My sister, Susan was a year below me at GCGS and she managed to stay the course, doing her A levels and then going on to become a teacher. My memories of GCGS are rather misty now, but I remember having a Form Teacher (Form 1B?) called Jane Broughton, who got married not long after we joined GCGS. I had an awful crush on our maths teacher, Eric Barnett (poor bloke!), and my friends and I used to go and see him perform in Gilbert & Sullivan musicals with the Portsmouth Players over in Southsea. I also remember with affection Mrs Jackson, our Latin Teacher (Form 3L), and I was one of the 3 girls who, along with Amanda Field and ?Margaret Batterbury, studied Greek O level – I’d like to say that it came in handy, however……..
Anne Chandler (nee Curran)

I wonder if anyone has a copy of the 1970 GCGS school photo – mine has gone missing over the years and I’d love to see it again. I’m happy for you to put all this info (including my email address) onto the website.
I was privileged to attend the school (Gosport County Grammar) from 1958-65 starting in form 1D with English teacher Mrs Woodcocks, a small strict lady with a flowing black gown. Teachers were great characters who inspired us. We had an introduction to a great variety of sports and activities. Discipline was maintained and there was a good sense of belonging.
School Uniform  - The boys wore caps, shirt and tie, a blazer with the school badge sewn to the pocket, grey trousers and proper shoes (not trainers). We were supposed to wear our caps outside school, so we used to put them on just before we arrived at the gate otherwise the prefects standing outside would give us detention. We had to ask permission to remove our blazers in class. Girls wore a beret (or optionally a straw boater in summer). They wore blouses (tucked in) with the school tie and skirts in winter, green and white checked dresses in summer.
Physics Teacher on Fire - Does anybody else remember this? - We used to have Physics lessons in a lab with Mr. Morrison (nicknamed Mog or Moggy). He was quite a character. We would have regular fingernail inspections and he would dish out lines or housepoints in copious amounts. In the winter he would light up a row of gas bunsen burners on the long teacher's bench across the front of the class in order to warm up the classroom. He would then stand at the front in his gown (graduate teachers mostly wore their gowns) with his back to the burners waving his arms around as he conducted his lesson. One day the inevitable happened and smoke started billowing up from behind him. Someone (C.Geere I believe) shouted, "Sir, you're on fire!", whereupon Mr Morrison whipped off his gown, stamping on it frantically to extinguish the flames.
Lend me your Ears  - Mr. Hunt the Latin teacher would hand out 100 lines to the whole class if there was as much as a whisper coming from the class before he arrived for the lesson. If anyone talked in class, he would grab them by the ear and twist it until they squealed! Of all the teachers he was feared the most, yet we look back and remember him with respect.
Stokes Bay - Out of Bounds - School rules stated that we were not to go to Stokes Bay beach during lunch break. The prefects (generally disliked for their apparent lack of discretion) would be on patrol. One day they brought back an offender, dripping wet from his swim, who then had to explain himself to Mr. Walker the headmaster.
Mr Tanton Takes a Short Cut - We had a double period in the afternoon in a classroom in one of the three-storey blocks. Half way through the period Mr Tanton the History teacher would always take a short cut through our classroom via the double doorway that separated our classroom from the one in the adjoining block. He did this to save going the long way round down the stairs of one block and back up the stairs in the next block for his next lesson. For a prank we joined up the handles internally with a thick elastic band and waited. At the appointed time there were some tugs at the door and a grunt or two before he gave up and went the long way round.
Steve Golding (formerly Stephen Goldgewicht)

I was a pupil at G.C.G.S. from the ‘51/’52 year until June ’54 when my parents bore the family away to the former prison colony of Australia.[Or were we deported and they kept it from me?] I feel as though I’m in a time warp having found this website and long lost mem’ries come flooding back, as well as the school song. With all the well educated ex-pupils out there how come there are so few contributors to this website? Come on people, we’d all love to hear your stories! You don’t have to be a great writer……….No one’s marking anymore!!! And thanks to Dave for maintaining it so well. I now live in Edmonton, Canada after having served 10 years of my life in Wollongong N.S.W. and am retired but would like to share some of my most memorable moments with you all. So at the risk of being risqué…………read on
Lady Luverly’s Chatter
It was a particularly hot day and our co-ed class of 3L2 was disturbed. More than usual I may add! This was a class of 13 year olds who had only recently become aware of the facts of life from browsing their biology book that year as most parents, derelict in their duty, had hoped they would. Hormones and wild fantasies rode rampant fuelled by the fact that our teacher, let us call her Lady” L”, had chosen to wear a very loose blouse which combined with the way she was leaning forward sitting at her desk presented a biology lesson to die for ! Some of the more artistic among us may claim we were merely observing a figurative art opportunity but no one believed us. As everyone gradually became aware of this unexpected and very early Christmas present, the tittering, [pun intended], became louder. Even the girls, as embarrassed as they may be, dare not say anything for fear of dying from the aforementioned embarrassment. Lady “L” by this time was trying to get everyone to work quietly but with little success and the class continued with muffled giggles and whispered chatter until the period was over and mammaries oops! memories were all we had left. Bursting at the seams we boasted of our good fortune to all who would listen, watching them turn green with envy.
I sometimes wonder if, in her dotage, Lady “L” rocks knowingly away and smiles at the day she showed those twits in her class a thing or two
Michael Kennedy

My main memories are of having to travel between four different buildings to take lessons. St. Mathews was one, and another was Clarence. Bay House of course, and the fourth was the building now housing the museum. Teachers I remember were Miss. Nicholson ( music ), Miss. (Jenny ) Wren, ( history ), Miss Howell, ( English, I think ) Mr. Head,( French ) .  I was also a member of the Army Cadet Force, and I fondly remember being let loose on an unsuspecting Gosport with a pocket full of blanks and thunder flashes. Absolute, wonderful, mayhem.
Barry Slater

I was among the first pupils to move into Bay House just after the army moved out. The army cadet force group under Major Carroll met there each week and one of our games was running over the roof of the old building at night.
Pete Smith

I remember Miss Howell and Mr Mansbridge, and Mr Walker was headmaster. I was in the school choir at the opening of the new school at Bay House by Sir John Wolfenden - Frank McGinn was head boy at the time. I was also at the twinning ceremony with Royan which took place at the school. I loved the music side and choir led by Miss Jean Nicholas. I remember several teachers apart from Mr Mansbridge, who started teaching at the school when I was there (Wasn't he a former pupil?) and Miss Howell. Miss Nicholas had the greatest influence on me, encouraging what became a passion for classical music. She wouldn't allow us to take music 'o' level unless we joined the choral society, and although I joined reluctantly my years in her choir were the happiest of my school career. I also remember Mr Morrison 'Moggy' - physics - a real eccentric who give the boys 0/10 for their homework if they had dirty nails. I was ok, he liked the girls. Mr Edwards didn't, and wouldn't allow girls in his 'A' level maths set! There was Mr Tanton - history, Mr Carroll and Mr Head - French, Miss Millington and Mrs Woodcock - English, Mr Cooper - Art, Miss Symonds - biology, Mr Wilson - chemistry (who also sang tenor in the choir), Mrs Bush and Mr Brumhead - geography and Miss Davies or Davis who married Mr Rule.
Anthea White (nee Eadington)

The main building - which contained the public library - contained the laboratories and the girls’ gym which was also used for assembly. Clarence Square was used for the boys’ gym and also for school dinners as well as having classrooms. There was also another building called St. Matthews which besides having classrooms was also used for woodwork and music lessons, this building like Clarence Square was a few minutes walk from the main building. At this time Bay House consisted only of the old building, our timetable was arranged so that we went there on games day and had lessons there in the morning and went for games at the Avenue sports field in the afternoon. During my time there Mr Walker was headmaster and besides those teachers already mentioned I can remember the following - the names in brackets are what we called them. though not to their faces - Mr Morrison (Mogey) the physics master, Mr Wilson the chemistry master who also taught Engineering Drawing, Mr (Jimmy) Booker the sports master, Mr Hunt the Latin master and Miss Nichollas the music teacher. As to myself, I was house captain for Stoke, There were three houses - Stoke whose colours were yellow, Meon whose colours were blue and Solent whose colours were red. Prefects had green tassels on their caps while house captains who were prefects had tassels in their house colours. Besides playing football and cricket for the school I was also Victor Ludorum at the school sports day. During my final years at the school my father was caretaker at Bay house - he was a grade A starter and because of his interest in athletics presented several cups for various athletic events.
Mick Ellick

The walking around town between St Mathews, Clarence and the Library in Forton Rd was an interesting way of schooling.  We had to catch the bus or use our bikes to transfer to Bay House or go to the games fields.  I can remember moving to the "new school" at Bay House.  Parts of the old house conversion had not been completed so we had some lessons in corridors until the builders had finished.
Mike Thorn

I loved Bay House and have loads of memories of my five years there. My best mate Mel and I (still very much in contact) were always up to something odd, and we were infamous for doing weird things. There was always something to look forward to at Bay House, that's how I remember it. Whether it was a noisy, bouncy Geography lesson with mad Mr. Backhouse or an English lesson with dry, sarcastic but motherly Mrs. Marriot, the regular school day had enough to keep us entertained. I never, ever, remember waking up and not wanting to go to school. I never liked French lessons, probably because I wasn't any good at French. I wish I could come back and say hello to everyone, especially all my science teachers; they'd be dead happy to know that this last year I've helped to write 17 Key Stage Three science workbooks, a Physics GCSE revision guide and a Maths coursework book. I especially remember Mr Jones, the head of Science, who was so modest he couldn't believe we found his lessons interesting. Other teachers I loved were... Mr Thomason, a geography teacher who was ever so sarcastic and had a low, sexy drawl of a voice. He was always giving me threatening messages about coursework for my brother, who never handed anything in. I remember him telling me that he liked Van Morrison. He always wore his blue trousers baggy and hanging really low. I thought he was lovely, really amusing.... Mr Isaac! Bless him, Mr Isaac was the most stressed out, pent-up person in the world! Usually he let us do whatever we wanted because we were good at music and sang in the choir, but he was a right old git to anyone who didn't have any natural aptitude. He could be dead scary sometimes as well. We were awful to him; we'd scrawl innuendos all over his whiteboard and play his piano strings with rulers. The thing that sticks out in my mind about Bob was his party trick of throwing a screwed up piece of paper over the classroom door and landing it perfectly in the bin on the other side :-).. Mr Essex and Mr Murton, the drama teachers. I adored Mr Murton, thought he was absolutely hilarious. He should have been a stand-up comedian, he's wasted in teaching. Mr Essex was universally loved but I've never forgiven him for never giving me a decent part in any school productions :-). When it got to year 11 and I'd only made it into the chorus of 'My Fair Lady' with all the year 8's, all my pals having big speaking parts, it felt really odd. I can't have been that rubbish, surely??? ...Mr Magnus!!! He was a top bloke. Nothing more you can say to that; he was such a character, everyone loved him. Ooooh, Mr Poyser. He didn't like me, no way. It was this one incident where I started off trying to sketch him and it somehow ended up looking more like a certain fascist dictator than the head of Art. When he asked who it was, I admitted that it looked like a sort of cross between him and Hitler. Thinking I'd intended this outcome, he really wasn't amused. I tried to persuade him it was an artistic accident but he wasn't having any of it... I'd love him to know that I'm now earning £20 an hour for portrait sketches and £15 an hour for murals...
Lindsay Ellen Jordan

I still recall the Hants & Dorset bus that used to reverse up the main drive every break time that first year we went comprehensive, to take pupils between the two sites for lessons.  I'm sure it wasn't til the year after that it was arranged that all lower-school lessons were at Privett, and all upper-school ones stayed at Bay House!
Nigel Newman

When I started there in 1949, the GCGS used most of the building that is now the Gosport Museum, except the two rooms either side of the Grand front doors.  They were the library to the left, and the Reference Library to the right.  There was even a temporary classroom squashed in the small courtyard around the western side, facing the St Georges playing fields, where I sat many a day learning Geometry and Algebra, I think with Mr Peek, French with Miss Bell.  I wonder why I excelled at the two former subjects, but could not master Arithmetic! The long room on the first floor over the Library rooms, was the Art Room, so beautifully pictured in the GCGS book. Most of the statues had gone, and Mr Cooper taught art, but only seemed to teach the boys any techniques at all, and they were things like the "vanishing points" etc.  He never ever attempted to teach me anything, and I took the subject to O level!  It left me feeling that an Artist was "born"  not "made".  I must have had something, as I was praised, and work exhibited, and did get my O Level. I loved the design of the building.....the wide spiral staircase just inside the School front door, on the right of the picture.  The "Botany Corridor", the laboratories, the long balcony above the hall.  The beautifully varnished gym bars and equipment, the wood block floors, and the heating coming up through black metal ornamental grids at the edges of all the corridors.  To me it was a palace, I had never seen anything like it. Obviously even the additional use of annexes like St Matthews, and Clarence Square, couldn't meet the demands, so I suppose that's where Bay House came to the rescue, in my second year. I remember when the school first used Bay House, before all the alterations....the camelia filled "Cloisters" with the Music Room at the end, the tower (forbidden to pupils), the small garden at the corner of the front bay window,  where each form had its box-hedged bed to tend.  I used to arrive very early on "Bay House days" because the grounds were so lovely, especially the pieces in front towards the gate, it was all woodland each side.  We started with two days each week, and the rest were still spent at the  Town "Library" school or St Matthews.  Does anyone remember buying that lovely sherbert at the little tuck shop in St Matthews Square?  The music room used to be at St Matthews, and Miss Nicholas taught us our O level music....grand days! It was always strange to have the playing fields so far from any of the schools, and a bicycle was an essential part of every pupils equipment.  I was a very keen athlete, and often cycled up to he grounds to train alone after school.  We used to use the concreted rear of the old Ritz cinema (bombed in the war)  as the playground for the "library" part of the school. The shell of the building was standing, but the inside was gutted.
Sheila Mountifield (nee Watts)

My biggest memories were of Jeans 'n' Jumpers, the dance group set up by Jim Braid, who took the drama activities on (I think it was weds. afternoons). I remember winning a few competitions with the drama group, and would be particularly interested in any information that would help me find Jim, a great teacher.
Paul Taylor

I remember the first Christmas at Bay House, the French teacher "beakey" Carol sent us out in groups to devise charades in French, and then return to act them out.  While one group were acting we shot off down the drive and picked loads of holly and then lashed it to our bikes and then rushed back in for our turn.
Brian Adams

Mrs Gadd confiscated the key to the bell tower off me on my last day, I'd had a second one cut ... but she knew all the time! [Ed note- for those too young to remember - there was a tradition at BHS that on the last day in school the sixth form would get into the bell tower to inscribe their names upon the wall there]
Martin Dawkins and I once wall papered the outside of the old building with ready pasted paper...we hung the roll out the common room window and let the wind slap it on to the wall ...
Adam Rawls

I went to Gosport Grammar in it's last year - 1971, and left Bay House Sixth Form in 1978.  During my time there I was a Careers Librarian, a Prefect and also House Captain of Genge House.  I also served on the School Council as a pupil representative. However, I haven't told you about the other 'naughty' me.  On one occasion my 'friends' chained me to a radiator in the crush hall just as Mr Young was doing his rounds.  It was difficult to explain why I couldn't pick up the litter, which was his obsession.  I also had a part in locking our English teacher in the stock room of the temporary classrooms and 'twas me who threw the key out of the window.  I was also known to sit behind the curtain for a whole history lesson in Old Bay House pretending to be absent, but my piece de resistance was on the last day of school.  Many may remember that it was a long-established custom to climb out of the bell tower window, perch precariously on the roof and carve our names on the slates on our last day of school.  I had the misfortune to be locked out on the roof while I was doing this, and forgotten about.  Nobody knows just how embarrassing it was to have to wait there until Miss Howell, Head of Sixth form, left the building.  I had to shout down to her and tell her what had happened so she could come and get me down!
Erica Wilkie (nee Cadle).

I recall many of us learning the Hallelujah chorus and performing it at the now defunct Coliseum Theatre in Portsmouth before the then Master of the Kings Music, Sir Arnold Bax. Of my teachers I remember  Mr Peek, Mr Reeves{Physics-who also had a son and daughter at the school), Miss Bellchamber and the Head, Mr Walker, from whom I remember the phrase "swearing shows a lamentable lack of adjectives".
Derek Ashworth

Each school morning my sister, Betty, and I  would catch the Hants and Dorset bus from Lee-on-Solent at 8.30 to school. The big heavy entrance door lead into the circular stairway to the upper level to our form room past the balcony that opened into the assembly hall. We would gather for prayers at assembly after which the school song was sung and then retire to our respective room according to class subject. Mr Tanton would delight in raising a pupil to their feet by pinching the short hair at the back of the neck for any misdemeanour. For Physics Mr Evans would seriously pound his theories and I often wondered if Mr Gregson would dread another day teaching chemistry. He was unable to control his class... remember 'stink bombs' !    'Polly' Bell for French in the  'outside classrooms' would dish-out lines to those who "forgot" their homework books. I must have held the record for writing lines! Past the Head Master's Office to the arts room and the undraped statues. Now, my memory fails me in trying to recall the Ladies and Gentlemen who taught English, Geography, Maths, Algebra and Geometry.  Yes - lunch at the Ritz - and then explore the mysteries of the reference library, or wander Privett park, or gaze up at the racing yacht Endeavour in the Nicholson Yard on the edge of Portsmouth Harbour. The vaulting horse in the gym at Clarence Hall, woodwork class across the square at the St Matthews building, and the catastrophe when Peter Collins chiselled the top of his finger off despite the warning to "keep your fingers behind cutting edges!" Out to the Bury Road Sports field where Mr Malone one day gave 'dribbling tactics'  and Harmer 'dribbled' in six goals past a mesmerized goal tender earning him Outside Left on the school 1st Eleven evermore. Mr ' Beakey' Carrol and, I believe ,Mr Malone,  escorted a troupe of Secondary School Tykes to Dinard in Northern France for a school venture in Summer '36?-'37? The highlight was a trip to Mount St Michael where one could walk to across wet sand at low tide but if one lingered before the tide changed.... well! I do have photographs of the Kit Inspection and the canvas tents. Still vivid as memories. Class buddies -Eric Watson who played the organ in church, 'Spud' Taylor would venture out to Lee to frolic, Paul Truckle, always a smile and Peter Collins Head Boy. I have a vague idea that Mr Keating was Head Master before Mr Walker! September 1939 Evacuation to Eastleigh School. And the world changed. Fifteen years old and accepted to Air Artificer Apprenticeship Royal Navy,- ventures to the Arctic Ocean where the midnight sun shone on the frozen horizon, to the Indian Ocean and the desolate beggars of Bombay, to the Pacific Ocean and the atomic bomb. And  the world changed. Now September 2001. And the world changed!!! Yes, to Gosport Secondary School of  Clarence Square under the guidance of Head Master, Mr Walker "----Wth heart undaunted and courage e'er cool, Playing the game we will put into practice Lessons we learned at -- the School" and  to all the dedicated teachers responsible for my education I say "Thank You".
John Harmer

Being at the old school during the 'flower power era' I remember Mr Sanders - the RI teacher - patrolling the Hydrangeas to prevent pilfering by would be 'flower children'!
Margaret Humby (now Barnard)

I was there from 1947-1951. Does anyone remember the days at the old school in Walpole Road? Only girls and teachers could go in the front door, boys were relegated to the back door.
Colin Jeffery

I started at Gosport Grammar the first year it moved to Bay House, everything was new and clean and  all very exiting. My first form teacher was Mr Derek Challen who taught French and all the girls fancied him. I finished up doing languages in 4 and 5L and he was in charge of them.  Alan Walker was Headmaster and he always knew not only the names of every pupil  in the school but also how well they were performing. Other teachers I can remember are Mrs Rogers, English, Mrs Woodcock, Mr Peek for Maths, Mrs Fry for sport and hockey and of course Mr Carroll. He liked to play jokes on people and was particularly good at April Fool jokes.  The best one I can remember is when he put a notice on the staff notice board asking for them to park their cars in the Stokes Bay Car Park on the Ist of April as work was being done on the school drive and they all did. I played  in the school hockey, tennis and athletic teams, hockey being my favourite. For many years after I played in the Old Gosportians Ladies Hockey Team and so did my mum (Betty Metherell, ne Cheer) who was also an Old Gosportian. Are the Old Gosportians still going as an organisation? Whilst at school I went on the Dunera Cruise to Russia, Denmark and Sweden in 1962, and to the Rome Olympics in 1960.
Jan Metherell (now Collins)

My only claim to fame was being part of the six man team who in 1973 won a place in the Guinness Book of Records for continuous playing of Snakes and Ladders. The record was 68 and a quarter hours and we pushed it to 100 hours to raise money for charity, the team was: Peter Blake, Andrew McKenzie, Melvyn Hiscock, Richard Holt, Colin Sharpey, and myself  Elton Jonsson. If I recall correctly we raised about £2000 (it was 1973!) for what was then the Spastics Society. I've still got the tie that was awarded to World Record holders.
Elton Jonsson

I was in Mrs French's class (1D) which was a small room in the main building, where there were 3 rows of desks along the room and we all sat in alphabetical order - girls in front & boys at the back.  My second year was with Mr Peek at form teacher, and the third was in one of the labs with Mr Oxborough.  I also remember Miss White (sewing & cooking), Mr Neumann (French), Miss Masters (Music - Initials MAM - we called her Mavis although I never knew if that was her name or not), Mrs Woodcock was a very elderly English teacher, & Mr Baker (Geog), who was also a news reader for local TV.  He had a wacky recording of the William Tell Overture which he used to play occasionally. I also remember the first hovercrafts from Stokes Bay going to the IOW. We used to watch them in our lunch hour.  Another memory is going to the hockey pitch somewhere near The Avenue, and being able to get home quicker as it was nearer to home.
Margaret Binks (nee Davis)

I was a scholarship boy from Alverstoke and remember much of the events and people described in Lesley Burton's book which relate to the 1935 -39 period.  In 1935, Leslie Keating was still Headmaster after over 30 years service. He taught Religious Knowledge in a rather impersonal way. The other teachers are described mainly as I remember them. "Bunny" Dent led the school camp at Bridport where we had our camp song "While we are camping in Dorset" including the lines "We'll peel the spuds each morning and we'll wash our socks with glee, while we are camping in Dorset" sung to "John Brown's Body".  There was also a fad for drawing "Fiddy Machines" named after "Fishy" Evans which were on the lines of Heath-Robinson's creations.  "Sandy" Day was famous for his open top touring car but he fell ill and we saw him no more. John Gregson, who replaced him was new to teaching and had a great deal of trouble with the older boys. One story in particular is not really suitable for printing! "Polly" Bell was admired by all of us and I still remember the French songs she taught us. "Ricker" Russell's exercises often had a mental as well as a physical discipline and I can still do "Arms bending and stretching,- left arm leading". His successor (Davis?) instituted cross-country running out over Browndown across Apple Dumpling Bridge to the level crossing and back via Stokes Bay. Woodwork was taught by "Soapy" Hudson whose maxims "Keep the wood as long as you can as long as you can" "Keep the saw kerf in the waste wood" and "Always keep your fingers behind the sharp edge" still ring in my ears.  In the run up to the war we had to practice evacuations of the school to slit trenches dug in Walpole Park. Bay House then was the home of Col. Sloane-Stanley who played a part in the early days of the L.D.V. (later Home Guard) and was the subject of a ribald marching song "We are Sloane-Stanley's Army"
Fellow pupils remembered are:  Archie Collins, Ginger Smith, Alan Levitt, Frank Gunton Frank Flowers, Russell Taylor, Paul Truckle, Ron Starkey, Hubert Annells, Peter Cheer, George Cave, Fred Warner, Langridge, Nixon, Corney, Harmer ,Maber Morris. Barbara Fox (Alverstoke School also), Hazel Naunton Anita Gurrovitz?.,Audrey Hillier, Pat Mullins Mary Francis.
Eric Richard Edser, Gosport County School 1935 - 1939.

I came from the City of Portsmouth College of Education to teach Physics under Mr J O (Moggy) Morrison. P2 was my laboratory. E G (Willy) Wilson, C D (Colin) Mansbridge and technician Mr Milburn (never known as Charlie) made up the rest of the department. Jack Johnson (mad on sailing) and Ray Oxborrow were the Chemistry Dept - helped by Mr J K (John) Baker who also taught Printing and raced off after school each afternoon to read the Southern News on TV from Southampton. Len Sanders and Joan Simonds taught the Biology. Mrs Sanders (BVS) also taught at the school. In September 1968, a Miss Christine Bryce arrived to teach Geography in John Pickering's dept. We were engaged 10 days later, married the following Easter, and celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary a few days ago. One never forgets one's first pupils though others may come and go as the years pass. I have fond memories of teaching Physics to three very bright  girls from Mary Jackson's Latin class (3L). They were Celia Wright (who melted my galvanometer!), Susan Blakeway and Alison Brown - hard to think that those 14 year olds must be close to 50 now, but I was 27 then and am now 62.I also remember Maria Lane and Jane Howroyd who helped me so much to ease into my new job as a 5th form tutor - lunch money, registers etc etc They also persuaded me to take them up the 'out-of-bounds' bell tower one lunch time. Fine views out over the Solent then and all the big liners still sailing past. Jane Crocker was my prefect in 1970 and organised a 'whip round' so the class could present us with a teddy bear when the first of our 4 children was born. My first 5th form Physics class consisted of very able, pleasant and understanding people who also helped me a lot. I remember the names Pike, Swannell, Stubbs. Alan Walker was Headmaster, Don (Major) Head and Amy Bush (later Barclay) were Deputies. Did you know the school awarded blue 'deportment sashes' to the senior girls who had some? They were tied around the waist and hung at one side down to their skirt's hem. Those were very happy days with all students having passed their 11+ exam and a lot of work of a high standard was done. In 1974 we had combined staff meetings with Privett School in their school hall and eventually Bay House, under headmaster G Young, was formed from the merger. B N (Neil) Smith was the Head at the Lower School on the site in Privett Road. I remember him standing on a stool (though at 6' 5", he had no need to) in the playground with a 'bullhorn' and calling out the names of the 400 new Form One children as they went off to their 14 rooms with their 14 registration teachers. I decided to teach General Science down there, under B H (Brian) Chase, with Fred (Dave) Davies, Phil Travis and the wonderful motherly Molly Fox (technician).
John Lewis, Physics teacher at the school from 1967

I  joined Bay House when it first moved to its new premises off Gomer Lane. It was a six form entry, the largest that had been for some time. The classes were 1A, 1B, and 1C which did French as a foreign language, and then 1D, 1E & 1F that did German. I was in class IC with Mr Challen and another teacher who taught Art. Our form room was A1, there was another classroom next door called A2. Mr Challen French, and then Mrs Woodcock, English, Mr Hunt(Isaiah) Classical English, which was going around the class reading "Men & Gods". Doug Pearce taught PE & Gym and another teacher did games as well. Anyone any ideas who he was? We did Woodwork, Metalwork, Biology and Music. I then went into 2B and then 3A, where we did Latin, just a year of it. Then we had a choice to specialise, either languages or science. Which was 4A (Arts) or 4S (Science) However in that year, 1962, it was decided to create a class that was neither Arts or Science, a class of 29 pupils, 26 girls and three boys and I was one of the boys.
The main teaching blocks were of 3 stories high and it was possible to drop your school bag from the top floor all the way down to the bottom of the stairwell making a very satisfying crash at the bottom. I always enjoyed Games and PE. The school playing fields were down "The Avenue", which meant a lunchtime walk to the changing rooms.
John Readman

I was at GCGS from 1966-72 and remember that very first day, setting off on my bicycle, resplendent in my new uniform with blazer, tie and beret (prefects fined you at the gate if you arrived without your beret). Sadly, I joined slightly too late to earn the right to wear the splendid straw boater in summer... My teachers included Mr Head, Mr Wilmshurst and Mrs Gittings (French); Mrs Munro, Miss Howell and Miss Shaw (English); Mrs Jackson (Latin and Greek - three of us persuaded her that it was time GCGS re-introduced a Greek O-level); Mr Oxborrow (Chemistry); Moggy Morrison (Physics) - who always ended the class with a fingernail and handkerchief inspection - Mr Hunt, Mr Paterson and Mr George (History); and Mr Barnett and Mr Edwards (he of the unerring aim with the piece of chalk) for Maths; Mrs Chapman (Spanish); Mr Pickering (Geography); Mr Sanders (Biology), and Miss Gand for PE, who never did succeed in teaching me to swim despite strenuously blowing her whistle at me on every conceivable occasion. I'd love to have tackled Printing, led by TV-star Mr Baker, but that was only for the boys - us girls were stuck with dressmaking and home economics. Mr Walker was still headmaster for much of my time at the school: the changeover to comprehensive happened when I was in the sixth form and the atmosphere was never quite the same again. Many of the teachers still wore their academic gowns at this time, the splendour of which (flapping behind them like bats) made me want to be a teacher. Thankfully, reality dawned and I did not pursue this ambition!
Amanda Field