"When I started there were quite a lot of 'substitute' teachers, who were really standing in for those who had been called up during WW2. I put Billy Lumb in that category, and didn't realise he was there pre-war. There were some good women, like 'Dotty' Ray who took form 2A when I was in it, and Miss Whitehouse, who started me in English language and German. My first-form (1B) mistress in 1944-45 was Peggy Rosser, a passionate classicist who a decade later was an institution at a girls' school, at which a girlfriend of mine did teacher training. But the outstanding woman was Agnete Wulff, a feisty Danish lady who had personality, teaching ability and good looks. We all had fantasies about her! There was also Baggy Barrows, a quiet bespectacled lady who specialised in Latin but had to leave in about 1949 when she became Mrs Pinder.

I think Mr Fox, the woodwork teacher may have been called up during the war, as there was a Mr Stephens, until Mr Fox appeared in 1946. Music was in the hands of Vernon Harris, an accomplished pianist and singer, who took time off to broadcast with the BBC Midland Singers. He also took us in the first year for 'Choral Speech', which was what you might call elecution lessons, to beat the Brummy out of us. The other regular pianist for assembly was Billy Chivers, who as an organist always provided a very fruity bass line, even without a pedal board.

I think it was in the second year that we first had Billy Mayers for English, and I remember when he made a side remark about Walker's Rhyming Dictionary being a useful crib for would-be poets, the others turned round to me. "Ah, you're Walker I see", he said, "I taught your father twenty years ago" He did of course, as did Billy Chivers and Mr Bentley, and we once had a 1924 school photo which shows these young men sitting on the chairs in the front row.

Colin Tyson was my form teacher in 4B, and he was brilliant, then new to the school, straight from the forces. My dad went to see him at his home one evening because he was worried about my attitude to the school, after which Colin took me on one side and gave me a good talking to, "You've got to stand on your own feet, can't be tied to your mother's apron strings", and so on. At the end of the year I did well in exams and won the few prizes I ever won that year. I also remember Mr Pinder for his sense of humour and his passionate belief in values and standards. He was another fine teacher. What about red-haired Mr Arthurs, who lived in the biology lab, and took us non-scientists for 'general science' in the 5th and 6th forms. I remember him especially for his masterly presentation on 'the facts of life'. This was at a time when a lot of schools avoided the subject, (like many parents).

Also a distinction for the beak. Len Brandon loved teaching, and he gave us some excellent talks on citizenship, politics, religion, economics and so on." (Peter Walker)