Balshaw's Grammar School

[JBax]

Noel, on page 5 you mention 'Scrat' Harry the woodwork teacher. He was a great friend at woodwork, which was a wonderful escape from the rigors of academia. Mr Leatherbarrow. He took it upon himself to award small prizes to pupils for their practical work at O Level Woodwork, and I still have, and use, the chisel he presented. There was a small room behind the toilet block where he stored his precious timber, a wonderful aroma of oak and mahogany planks. It was very sad when he passed away.
We played a small trick on him one summer, carefully removing a chocolate biscuit from its wrapper and replacing it with a small block of wood. This was left in the woodwork room after class. Most teachers would have taken it away to eat but Scrat endeavoured to find the owner. Days later, he discovered it had been nailed to a bench.
Teaching us schoolboys to appreciate the beauty of hardwoods, working with dovetail joints, or mortice and tenon, he nevertheless confessed to owning shares in a chipboard company. They would be worth a lot of money had he lived longer.

[noel]

Songs of Praise, that takes me back too Audrey.

[brian]

I remember the RE lessons in the school hall. We had to sit 2 chairs apart so we were spread all over the hall. Vic used to walk up and down the hall as we read in silence. One day, I think the lad's name was Shorrock, was sitting at the back of the hall. As Vic walked towards the front of the hall Shorrock went out of the back door and went upstairs to appear and wave from the balcony when Vic was walking underneath. It certainly brightened the lesson.

[dottymapley]

I believe there's a Balshaw's reunion evening at the school this year on Friday, October 14th. Also,if you click onto the Balshaw's website there's a really interesting virtual tour of the school (apologies to those who've already seen this!)

[noel]

I'm not into reunions Dorothy but I'll certainly have look at the virtual tour you mention.
Brian, that would be John Shorrock, I got quite pally with him. Smallish lad with black hair, smoked like a factory chimney.

[Black Five]

Audrey and Noel, certainly I too remember the thin blue "Songs of Praise" book. The current Sunday 5.30pm BBC 1 hymn-singing programme has the same title (presented for some time by Aled Jones, who has since moved on to better things, which he does very well).
The woodwork teacher named Leatherbarrow evidently came after my time. The one when I was at Balshaws in the 1940s, also a Harry, was named Hewertson (or Hewitson), and I believe he also taught classes at Hutton Grammar School. He had a brown shrivelled stump at the end of one finger, which we learned was the result of an accident with a chisel a few years previously. It was impossible not to think of that every time we watched him skilfully sharpening a pencil to a fine point using a chisel. His lessons were a pleasure, and I still have and use two items that I made with his enthusiastic encouragement.

[rocketmanjohn]

Leatherbarrow taught science when I was there. He went to prison for GBH. He beat the living daylights out of someone [not me] with a razor strap.
John

[anacortesdamp]

Black Five:

I was in awe of Harry Hewitson's skills as a woodworker, but definitely not as a teacher. I was a total klutz. When we made a jewel box, my dovetail joints were so inaccurate, the jewels would have fallen through the cracks. My Mum loved it though. Learning French polishing was a skill I've never used since!

Harry never managed to impart the idea of accuracy. I didn't catch on until I became an engineering apprentice at Egnlish Electric (Warton) and started working to metal-worker's tolerances. The only thing I would like to replicate was his use of big granite (I think) sharpening wheel. It was about 8" thick and about 4 feet diameter and had a hand crank to get it turning. There was a water reservoir that kept the stone wet. The sharpness Harry could get on his chisels using that thing would shame a surgeon.

On a recent visit to a local museum in Anacortes, I spotted a wheel like Harry had. I tried to buy it, since it obviously wasn't being used, but was rebuffed.

I remember Leatherbarrow, John, but I guess his fall from grace was after I left (1958) or emigrated (1968). I didn't keep up to speed on the Balshaw's news once we left Leyland for the Midlands in 1964. I guess it was "least said, soonest mended" or "out of sight, out of mind". I certainly don't look back on my time at Balshaw's with any good feelings. The whole 5+ years (1st form through early Lower 6th) was a real drudge. I still hate the place and wouldn't consider going to a reunion if I lived 4 miles away rather than 4,000.


Frank

[Black Five]

Frank, I'm please to learn that you remember Harry Hewitson, even though your impression was very different from mine. Yes, the jewel box! It's one of the two craftwork items that I still have, and when I look at it now (containing bits of old rubbish, no jewels) I have to say that my dovetail joints are pretty good. I remember that the big grinding wheel on which he sharpened tools was in very frequent use. I suppose it worked on the inertia principle rather than an electric motor, and so was ahead of its time in sustainable technology. Pity you didn't manage to get the one you saw. Incidentally, I had wondered where your nom-de-plume came from, and your mention of Anacortes now provides the answer.
John, the Leatherbarrow razor-strap story sounds intriguing. I see that JBax, who had a better impression of Hewitson, also mentions Leatherbarrow. I searched in vain on page 5 (back in 2002) for Noel's mention of Leatherbarrow, so the page number or some other detail must be wrong - perhaps it was in a different topic.

[anacortesdamp]

We've lived in Anacortes for close on 12 years now, Jack. We moved here from Everett soon after I retired from Boeing. It's a wonderful place to live. The population is around 16,000. A friend who grew up here says it's the kind of place where, if you get into trouble as a kid, your folks know about it before you get home.

The scenery is a combination of Swiss Alps, Scandinavian fjords and islands like the Hebrides. The climate is moderate - we don't get much snow. I think we had snow on the ground for three days last winter. It's very rare for a winter day high temperature to be less than about 40F. Summer highs are about 78F and we usually get six or seven rain-free weeks in August and September. It's been cooler this year, we haven't hit 80F yet and may not make it.

If you go through some of the old posts in "Places of Interest", you may see a few photos of the area, though I'm not sure the links will still work.


Frank