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2006 Southern Reunion - hosted by Trish Gooding (nee Allinson) |
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Those present were: Trish & Terry Gooding, Kirsty & Ray Mathews, Heinz Herschmann, |
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2006 Northern Reunion - hosted by Liz Clark. Liz Clark made all the arrangements for the day on 20 May and what a splendid turnout we had for the day’s events. We all met for a sturdy lunch at the ‘Rampant Bull’ in Mitchell’s Livestock Centre on the outskirts of Cockermouth. What seemed like several miles of Cumberland sausage was enjoyed by nearly 50 in attendance. Thanks went to Sandra Hipwell (nee Miller) at Mitchell’s for managing our lunch and it was duly noted that she was also a former pupil at Brookfield, leaving in 1963. We succeeded in getting some former pupils to attend who were not yet members of our association. This proved to be well worthwhile as they have now joined us in WOSA and we look forward to meeting them again at future reunions. During the afternoon, we split into several groups and headed off to visit various locations including Pardshaw Hall, Wordsworth House, Whinlatter Visitors Centre and the Chapel at Mosser. Later in the day, we reconvened in The Granary at Liz & Dick’s farm at Mosser Mains for a sumptuous afternoon tea. Many thanks to Liz for all her efforts in organising a thoroughly enjoyable day out. |
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Those in attendance were: Judy Beeby, Fay & Rachael, Jean Dalzell, Sylvia Marshal, |
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Cumbria Reunion Weekend, 8 & 9 July 2006 |
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Group Photo at Aspatria Rugby Club Attending the weekend reunion were ...... Evelyn Tickle, Jo & Colin Lawton, Katheleen Slack, Margaret & Irving Coulthard, Agnes Edwards, Janet Grindley, Mary Graham, Archie Rankin, Barbara Jamieson, John Bell, Olive & Peter Manix, Harry Routledge, Sheila Rankin, June Walker, Jill & Tony Kemp, David Kemp, Elaine & Malcolm Atkinson, Alison Hetherington, Joyce Nanson, Avril Solari, Joan Little, Arnold Snowball, Hector Cameron & Maggie, Hans Kurer, Greta Saul, Cameron Walker, Peter Kurer, Margaret Smith, Bob Williamson, Beryl Risino, Heather McIntosh, Mary & Ronnie Robinson, Ivan & Irene Prachar, Margaret & Michael Taylor, Sheila Baylis, Sylvia Marshall, Doris Parsons, Kate English, Joyce Laidlaw, Edna Wood, Bill & Carole Sykes, Charmion & David Brock, Judith Beeby, Mary & John Peile, Paul & Ivy Graham, George & Penny Coulthard.
July 2006 Reunion - Outgoing President’s Address by Bill Sykes: Madam Chairman, Old Scholars and friends, My time at school falls firmly within the Kenneth Greaves era - from 1962 to 1967 in my case. Hector Cameron gave you an eloquent insight into this period of the school’s history in his Presidential Address two years ago, so I will not go over that ground again. Instead, I would like to share a few memories from my own time at school before going on to talk about the Old Scholars Association. I imagine that for all of us, recalling certain parts of Brookfield brings back memories of our school days, so let’s take a tour around. My favorite room for lessons was undoubtedly the wood workshop; with Fred Bell in charge of course. Woodwork was my favorite subject and, for a long time, the only one that I really applied myself to. I still have two items at home that I made in the workshop. My only regret is not having gone on to do metalwork as well, as this would also have been very useful for my career as a civil engineer. Next favorite for me has to be the science lab. I remember the first experiment that Charles Marshall demonstrated to us was the one where he filled an oil can with steam by boiling water inside it. Then, with the cap replaced, plunging it into cold water where it promptly collapsed to a crumpled mess. Very dramatic. A very memorable incident in the lab occurred when Mr. Marshall was delicately cutting a slice of Phosphorus from a larger stick. Now phosphorus bursts into flames following a short exposure to air. A small chip of phosphorous flew off the laboratory table into the mixed audience below and appeared to have gone down the front of Kieron Hill’s shirt. To this day, I have never seen anyone strip off there clothing as fast he did. Another one of Charles’s little tricks was to dip a finger into some foul tasting liquid and claim that it tasted good, skillfully switching fingers before putting it into his own mouth. Physics, mathematics and geometrical & engineering drawing became my A’level subjects when I moved to FleetwoodGrammar School for my sixth form years. The model making room was another firm favorite where we produced many an aircraft and boat powered by small combustion engines, jetex or good old rubber bands. Gliders were popular as well and Kieron built a huge one that we flew several times on the playing fields using a line and system of pulleys to launch it to great heights I have continued to dabble with model making in later life, most enjoyably in Hong Kong where we had a radio control model yacht club, with regular meetings at a scenic reservoir on Sunday mornings. These Marblehead class boats are seven feet high out of the water and quite challenging to race competitively. The third one of these that I built was made entirely from Teak and is lovingly stored in my loft, along with three six-foot wing-span radio controlled aircraft. The geography room also brings back memories of both learning and mischief. I remember one time that a group of us took it into our minds to build a pyramid using all the furniture in there one day, although I don’t recall the consequences. Shortly before leaving school, several of us squeezed behind the rotating blackboard to write our names on the wall and were gratified to find them still there during several reunion weekends. Geography and travel have remained a passion for me and I am still trying to achieve an ambition of visiting as many countries as my age. My seventeen years of overseas work have helped greatly with this but I seem to constantly remain about four countries short of achieving it. But then, this is an ambition that is nicer to keep chasing rather than to actually achieve. The new music rooms also held fond memories. Peter Illife had a reputation for mild eccentricity which he demonstrated on more than one occasion. I remember one of the lads being forced to climb out the window for some minor misdemeanor. I also recall the filing cabinet being stuffed full of the newly invented smoky bacon crisps that he obviously adored. While thoroughly enjoying being in the choir, I was a dismal failure when it came to musical instruments. Hours of practice with both piano and clarinet all came to nothing. However, one of the music practice rooms was particularly memorable for being the scene of my first kiss. To my dismay, I still recall having to stand on the heating pipes, as Tansy was somewhat taller than I. Night times were spent in the dormitories of course. A favorite pastime after lights out was u-boating under the beds. Beware being caught out of bed by Peter Illife though, unless you liked cold baths. While at Hillside with Fred Bell, the penalty might involve taking a brick for a run down cuddy, to be left at a predetermined spot under a bridge, perhaps being observed in the process by Fred in his Rover. Moving outdoors, the sports field always played a significant part in school life. I remember the cold winter in the 1960’s when we got snowed in and cut off from the outside world. We had great fun digging tunnels in the snow around the playing field. One time we also dug a tunnel through the sand in the pole-vault pit and buried Kieron Hill in it. There has some frantic digging to be done to get him out again. I had trouble coming to terms with rugby at Brookfield and I always seemed to end up in the second row with sore ears. However it must have been a good foundation, as I went on to win my colours playing as a hooker at Grammar School and going on to play club rugby with the Thornton-Cleveleys Rugby Club. Visits to the public swimming baths were a highlight of the week for me. Swimming was my strongest sport and I gained several awards while at Brookfield, including the Life Saving Award of Merit and the Instructors Award. Away from the school grounds altogether, cycling outings always played a big part in our weekends. My great friend Jonty Hampson and I were always riding off in all directions, the object being to get as thoroughly lost as possible before eventually finding our way back to Brookfield. Cycling up to the radio masts at Caldbeck was a favorite and I remember we used to call in at a farm for afternoon tea, although I can not recall the connection this had with the school. On the high speed return journey, it was always with great reluctance that we applied the brakes when approaching the cross-roads at Red Dial. On another day, we cycled to Silloth and back – twice – just because it was there I suppose. I also remember we stood on the railway bridge close to school and decided it would be a great wheeze to see if we could lean over the parapet and spit down the funnel of a passing steam train. Afterwards, we were indeed wheezing with black faces and rolling around in hysterical laughter at our own foolishness. Moving further a field, I recall an extremely cold winters day when we set off with Peter Iliffe on a tarn mapping outing. A hard climb up the fell with all the equipment was followed by a bone-chilling few hours in an inflatable raft plumbing the depths of the tarn. The balloons floating on the tarn to mark the sounding points were encased in ice. I believe the results of these tarn mapping outings were subsequently used by the Ordinance Survey for depth contours on their maps. On leaving Brookfield in 1967 to transfer to FleetwoodGrammar School for my sixth form years, I took out a lifetime membership of the old scholars’ association. My early attendances at the July reunions were fun occasions, with plenty of friends in attendance. There was always plenty to do over the weekends in and around the school, culminating in those wonderful treasure hunts on Sundays taking us to beautiful places we would otherwise never have discovered. After three years studying for a Degree in civil engineering at LeedsUniversity my career has taken me overseas for many years, working on major construction projects in Pakistan, Hong Kong, Israel and Taiwan. During this period I have worked on large dams, sea defenses, landslide prevention works, power stations, nuclear facilities and, for the last fifteen years, airports and railways. However since then, I have been taking an extended break while looking for just the right job on which to finish my career. I am not going to go into any more of that here though, as I have two Power-Point (slide) presentations on my ‘Career in Construction’ and on our years in Taiwan that I hope to be able to present to you at a future gathering. Of course working overseas has made it harder to keep in touch with friends and to attend reunions. However, since my return from Hong Kong in 1998, I have been able to attend reunions a little more regularly and also to launch the WOSA website in 2001. Since then we have had nearly 10,000 visits to the website and this has gone some way to improving communication between former pupils and in bringing in new members to the Association. The internet has opened up new channels of communication for society and the young people of today are taking full advantage of this. For a number of years now, many of the younger former pupils from our school have also been keeping in touch with each other via the ‘Friends Reunited’ website and holding occasional reunions. Some of these former pupils are now joining our association and I very much hope that this trend will continue and that they will play an increasingly active part in the future. Thank you for listening and for your support..
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