Class Reunion 2011

A little bit of history

Our school days seem to be a long way in the past and sometimes hard to recall details from.
Lynne was born and bred in Chase Terrace so she began in Chase Terrace Primary School in 1958.
I joined class 2 of the Primary School in 1959 when my family moved to the area from West Bromwich.
We later moved across the playground to Chase Terrace Junior School in 1961 and then on to
Chase Terrace Comprehensive School in 1965, the year that the school
transformed from being Secondary Modern to Comprehensive. The new title meant that students were no longer
sent to different schools according to ability (ie 11plus exam results), but students could be placed in
different streams in a single school appropriate to their ability (even for different subjects).

Our first year at Comprehensive School comprised A, Alpha, B, Beta, P, Q and L streams with
around 30 kids in each class. In fact our arrival at the school bought its student population to over 1000.
As a result, mobile classrooms were erected all over the school grounds to accommodate the new numbers.
A new gymnasium and swimming pool had already been opened and later, a brand new wing was
built at the back of the School containing a new library, Science and Arts departments.

Our year was the first to try many things including a new educational curriculum called the
School Mathematics Project (SMP) which had been introduced in an effort to update our classical
and outdated educational patterns and to help prepare students for a new scientific age.
(ie Sputnik launched by the USSR in 1957 had shocked the Western world out of its complacency)

Class Re-unions

Our classmates from Chase Terrace Comprehensive School have held a number of re-unions over the past years
but 2011 was the first occasion when Lynne and I were able to attend. During a walk around Castle Ring, we took this group photo.

Left to right on the photo

Pam Court (nee Grylls), Sue Benson (nee Emberton), Gillian Burton (nee Tasker), Jill Gregory (nee Obrey), Sue Lomas (Geoff’s sister),
Phil Burton, Geoffrey Lomas, Graham Rothery, Stephen Taylor and Lynne Taylor (nee Gozzard).

We were later joined at the dinner by Roy Streatham and his wife Hazel seen here on the left

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Our walk around Castle Ring, led by Graham Rothery, was a pleasant reminder of past days when we used to visit the ring for picnics (as family outings) or just to play as kids. It also reminded me that back in those days, the whole family would gladly walk 2-3 miles there and back for a day out, whereas today people will barely walk a hundred yards before they start thinking of their transport options. Cannock Chase looked as it always had but the view is now dominated by Rugeley Power Station which has been added since we left the area.

The Re-union meal was held at the Windmill Pub, which I was pleased to see looked exactly as it had in my youth. Furthermore, the meal was excellent and quickly served. Conversation around the table consisted of people catching up on where we had been, what we had done and what we were up to now. Having left the area before most others had even left school, it was great to be able to catch up and I was also happy to see how so many of our fellow school sufferers had made really interesting lives for themselves.