#dhsbmemories

My strongest memories are of 3 teachers who managed to keep me out of trouble despite my best efforts....Messrs Burrows, Bowden and Docherty. If my kids get teachers like that they will be very lucky. It was Skinner, Watson and the previously mentioned Phsyco Gibson who did not like me......at all.

Wilf Nash - PE, Chas Coombe - physics, Percy Wayne - English, Bunny Warren - Maths and of course Doc Cresswell as the Head. Those were the days.

Is Mr Sandercock still there?

Some great times at that school.

It's like a school reunion on here!

We had the Old Sutts love in a few months back too.

We do seem to have a fair few Grammar School chaps on here. Back in the 60's, the 11+ creamed off roughly the top 20% IQ wise children and sent them to DHS , SHS and DHS Girls, PHS Girls I think. I just scraped in as not everyone took up their place.
Didn't the top 20 boys get offered a scholarship at Plymouth College each year, so that the school would achieve outstanding examination results, encouraging more wealthy families to pay for their kids to go there ?
Then there were the 'B' pass schools like Public and Tamar, Widey Tech and the Sec mods.

Throughout my teaching career I always believed that Technical Schools were the way forward for many children, not academically inclined but very good with their hands.
So many youngsters were forced to endure years of failing at subjects they had no interest or ability in.
In recent years, far too many kids have been encouraged to 'go to uni' when they would have been far better advised and suited to learning a trade or a practical skill imo.

I had a Scottish form tutor (Mr Healy maybe?), used to send us out for mars bars and coke from the vending machine.

Tippet was always a legend, randomly screaming at students and driving a battered capri?

Mr Mason was the scariest teacher I ever met!!

coke in the vending machine? we were only allowed the brown stuff, just as a sedative you know...

Tippet was a decent fella.

Tippet is still around and as funny as ever, Mr Bowden still is there, Mr Hardie still there, Mr Sandercock retired a couple years back

GreenWhiteBlack wrote:

Is Mr Sandercock still there?

Some great times at that school.

Is that the same Sandercock who taught IT - I had him at Ivybridge CC. Didnt like and have subsequently heard some disturbing rumours......

Sandercock taught Geography and Cornish Language at DHS and was nicknamed Gritdick- apparently the Sandercock at Ivybridge had the same nickname-

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Is Mrs Reeve the 'female' IT teacher still there and does 'she' still have an adam's apple?

vincent_vega wrote:

GreenWhiteBlack wrote:

Is Mr Sandercock still there?

Some great times at that school.

Is that the same Sandercock who taught IT - I had him at Ivybridge CC. Didnt like and have subsequently heard some disturbing rumours......

I think he was a Geography teacher mate

My brother went to DHS, and in terms of education, one of the biggest mistakes my mother ever made, was when my parents split up, and we moved to live in Crownhill - a five minute walk from Widey Tech.

Everyone in our Junior school was encouraged to opt out of the 11+, and go to the newly opened Eggbuckland Comp. Only four of us took the exam, and after passing, my mum put down Widey as first choice. A silly decision, based purely on geography....and one that omits me from this great thread.

It would seem that a lot of guys using this website went to DHS...we could have an old boys reunion....

Czarcasm wrote:

My brother went to DHS, and in terms of education, one of the biggest mistakes my mother ever made, was when my parents split up, and we moved to live in Crownhill - a five minute walk from Widey Tech.

Everyone in our Junior school was encouraged to opt out of the 11+, and go to the newly opened Eggbuckland Comp. Only four of us took the exam, and after passing, my mum put down Widey as first choice. A silly decision, based purely on geography....and one that omits me from this great thread.

Do you think you are worse off career/work wise for not going to the Grammar School ?

Personally, I feel attending DHSB was a huge mistake in my life.

It put me off education for years, only now at 28 do I have the confidence in the system to study a degree.

Shame really because this learning thing is actually quite fun.

I'm a B pass and even worse a second attempt attempt B pass when I was 13 and I went to Widey. I remember hammering DHSb on the rugby pitch

I went to Crownhill, we used to fight the Widey boys although it was more common to fight the Bishop Vaughn wankers, or better still our arch rivals Honicknowle. I didn't really get into the learning thing I was more into fighting boys and trying to cop on with girls which actually took up most of my time. My whole school career was a kind of meteoric decline. I started off coming 1st in the entrance exam to West Buckland in North Devon and winning a free bursary. I fecked around and got thrown out after 2 years and went to Braunton Comp. More fighting (at least they had girls I could cop on to) and after a couple of years my parents moved to Plymouth because I had "got in with a bad crowd". Unfortunately Plymouth had much more of a "bad crowd" than North Devon has ever had and I made it my mission to be-friend most of them. Anyway after feckin around for about 3 years of my school career only Crownhill would have me so I idled away my time there until I left school, which I really couldn't wait for.
I have to agree with Tring about practical skills, I was always made to study academic subjects (because I had ability) yet I have always been a practical person who wanted to make things, that it was I did when I left school and I haven't done too badly at it and have enjoyed it as well.

Tringreen wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

My brother went to DHS, and in terms of education, one of the biggest mistakes my mother ever made, was when my parents split up, and we moved to live in Crownhill - a five minute walk from Widey Tech.

Everyone in our Junior school was encouraged to opt out of the 11+, and go to the newly opened Eggbuckland Comp. Only four of us took the exam, and after passing, my mum put down Widey as first choice. A silly decision, based purely on geography....and one that omits me from this great thread.

Do you think you are worse off career/work wise for not going to the Grammar School ?

Difficult to say really, Tring. Thing is, I totally enjoyed my schooldays - best years of my life, by a distance. But the reason I enjoyed them so much is because I basically just f*cked around the whole time and had fun. I wasn't really taken to task about it, and so took advantage of being able to get away with it.

I'm not totally sure if going to DHS may have meant I would tread a different path - my brother only ended up with one more 'O' level than me - but I kind of feel it was a silly parental decision.

fLea - it's funny you say that, because my brother was pretty much the same as far as Uni or further education went. Left DHS, and then spent the next five summers working the bars and beaches in (mainly) Spain - living the life to the full, then coming back and finding dead-end work for the winter to tide himself over till the next years summer in Europe. Only then did he get his head together and do his degree.

When I look back I realise that those years that span 16-24 can be a crossroads. Do you get yourself properly qualified to set yourself up earnings wise? Or do you do what my brother did, and just drink and shag your way around the Med while you are 'in your prime'?

If I had my time again, I would almost certainly still go for the latter.

Czarcasm wrote:

Tringreen wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

My brother went to DHS, and in terms of education, one of the biggest mistakes my mother ever made, was when my parents split up, and we moved to live in Crownhill - a five minute walk from Widey Tech.

Everyone in our Junior school was encouraged to opt out of the 11+, and go to the newly opened Eggbuckland Comp. Only four of us took the exam, and after passing, my mum put down Widey as first choice. A silly decision, based purely on geography....and one that omits me from this great thread.

Do you think you are worse off career/work wise for not going to the Grammar School ?

Difficult to say really, Tring. Thing is, I totally enjoyed my schooldays - best years of my life, by a distance. But the reason I enjoyed them so much is because I basically just f*cked around the whole time and had fun. I wasn't really taken to task about it, and so took advantage of being able to get away with it.

I'm not totally sure if going to DHS may have meant I would tread a different path - my brother only ended up with one more 'O' level than me - but I kind of feel it was a silly parental decision.

fLea - it's funny you say that, because my brother was pretty much the same as far as Uni or further education went. Left DHS, and then spent the next five summers working the bars and beaches in (mainly) Spain - living the life to the full, then coming back and finding dead-end work for the winter to tide himself over till the next years summer in Europe. Only then did he get his head together and do his degree.

When I look back I realise that those years that span 16-24 can be a crossroads. Do you get yourself properly qualified to set yourself up earnings wise? Or do you do what my brother did, and just drink and shag your way around the Med while you are 'in your prime'?

If I had my time again, I would almost certainly still go for the latter.

It's what a lot of graduates and those with few qualifications are doing nowadays. Few decent work opportunities, little to look forward to in the short term, likely to live and have to work for a long time, so might as well go walkabout and have some fun.
Your Mum may have had financial concerns re the Grammar etc. It is strange as most parents enjoy the snob value of grammar schools. I don't, particularly if they're single sex schools. A child will achieve academically, just as well at a good comprehensive school.

I remember Doc Cresswell, Howard Mallinson, Al Roath, Taffy Radler , Emod, Vanstone, Bowden, Wilf, Primo Milton, Morgan, among others

Good times

I was terrible at music, but Farrow was a star teacher. Jesus Smith, RE and Badminton.

Taffy Radler, the head says give me names.........

Taffy Radler taught me Latin, circa 1972.

Same ere, I left in 76.