Extracts from School Magazines: 50 Years Ago
Old Girls' Association - Business Report, 1974-75
Our Winter Meeting was held on Saturday 25th January 1975. We were very pleased to be well entertained by another excellent Staff Pantomime, Bluebeard, and to meeting again so many members of Staff at supper afterwards.
The Annual General Meeting was held on Friday 11th July 1975. The weather was kind and a croquet tournament was enjoyed both by competitors and spectators, and finally won by Tina Powell (our very own current committee member!). After the Business Meeting, Mrs Parsonson gave an interesting and amusing talk about her year as Mayoress.
I am again pleased to welcome a large number of new members, and would also like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Hasler and my fellow Committee Members for their help and support,
Hilary Motson (Dowrick), Honorary Secretary​
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M5 Geography Weekend
The coach departed from the school at about one o‘clock on Friday afternoon. We saw many envious faces peering down at us from the classroom windows, which all added to the excitement of travelling north to Shrewsbury and the Black Country when we would all be slaving away at our lessons during a normal afternoon.
The journey took about six hours, with a couple of stops on the way at motorway service stations. We arrived at the Shrewsbury Youth Hostel round about seven o’clock.The evening meal was at eight, and so we were left with an hour to scrounge for beds in the dormitories, unpack and then go to see what we could find out about the lovely old town of Shrewsbury. It’s a fascinating place with the Welsh and English bridges over the River, which almost completely encircles the town. The castle stands at the top of the hilly streets - a grim-looking fortress. One of the most noticeable features was the incredible number of pubs –there seemed to be one about every hundred yards.
The night was rather hectic, especially for those sleeping on the top bunks, which were decidedly rickety. We heard plenty of stories in the morning about falling out of bed on to the hard wooden floor beneath.
Saturday morning was devoted to visiting the famous Iron Bridge and the adjacent museum.
We were supposed to be admiring the almost non-existent old furnaces, but it was rather difficult when all we could see was a few bricks perched precariously on top of each other.
In the afternoon, after eating our meagre packed lunch, we strolled round the Blists Hill Open Air Museum. Some of the exhibits here were very interesting, particularly an old steam engine used for pulling the ‘cage’ up an old mineshaft. It was in perfect working order.
Our next port of call was Telford New Town. Maybe it was not improved by the miserable drizzle falling, but it is not one of the places where I would willingly choose to live. It consisted of modern factories and warehouses, all similar in design, and new houses which appeared to be composed almost entirely of plywood!
On Sunday, we woke up to a beautiful bright morning. The coach departed at nine-thirty on the first stage of the long trek back to Colchester. We stopped on the outskirts of Birmingham to see some brickworks. These were quite a revelation – I had expected some frighteningly scientific factory – instead it was three crumbling kilns built of heat-proof bricks. It all looked a little dilapidated and not very efficient
We had lunch in Dudley Park, prior to commencing our journey back home. On the way we passed over thenotorious Spaghetti Junction, which isn’t half as impressive as it looks from the aerial photographs. The coach sped for long monotonous hours along the M1 and finally reached its destination of the school carpark. at seven o’clock.
It was a really enjoyable weekend, thanks to the continued efforts of Mrs Farquhar, Miss Jackson and last but by no means least, Mr Jones. If the M5 Field Weekend is held again next year, I would thoroughly recommend anyone who possibly can to join the expedition.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​