Frederick Bird School

Yes Paul, I do remember Miss Brown, thin woman with short hair. Could Miss Bishop be the pottery teacher I mentioned? She was in the concrete classroom opposite the tennis courts.

Hi mickw, sorry I can't remember if Miss Bishop was the pottery teacher but I do remember that she had long painted finger nails and she was fit. Miss Brown is at Sidney Stringer teaching and a rep for Duke of Edinburgh Award and Prince's Trust. I saw her the other day and said "Do you remember me, I was one your pupils in the 60s" and she was shocked but she is still going strong.

I've just remembered another teacher, Mr Mangat (hope I've spelt it right) an Indian gentleman of the Sikh religion, he took us for TD for three of the four years I was there, a very polite man, a lot more approachable than the bully Douglas that we had for TD in our final year and a far better teacher too.

Yes I remember him and ok you have spelt right, maybe Mangat was more patient and helped you where he could, we had Douglas for our final year as well.

Went by this morning and this is the brickwork from the old school.

I've read all the comments on Freddies but not many people have mentioned the Junior School. I went there from 56-60 and the only teacher I can remember was a Mr Wild (a Welshman) who I adored and had as my teacher for 2 consecutive years. I can't remember the names of any of the other teachers or the Head, unless it was a Mr Lewis? Can anyone recall any more facts of interest.

Sorry coventry49, I can't remember any teachers from the junior school as I only started school in 1961 in the infants but carried right through to the secondary modern.

I was at Freddies juniors from 1964 to 1968. Mr. Lewis was the headmaster until 1967 when Mr. Holbrook took over. I don't remember a Mr. Wild during my time there. Some of the teachers I recall are Mrs. Cogley, Mrs. Webber, Mr. Hammond, Mr. Ridley, Mr. Morton and Miss Barr (Mrs. Brown after she married). I think there was a Miss Mottershaw at some point. At least one, and maybe both, of the first year junior classes in 1964 were in the huts between the infants school and the lawn that bordered Swan Lane.

Thanks Paul & Primrose. I think you must both be a bit younger than me, but Mrs Webber sounds familiar. I can't recall huts at the Junior school, but I do remember a hut at the left side of the Infants, adjacent to the Dairy. In my memory the playing field seemed enormous, but we only went on it occasionally in the Summer for rounders.

I was at Freddies from 1948-1958 so went through Infants, Juniors and Senior school. Teachers I recall from the Juniors are Mr Williams, loved him, Mr Lewis, the head, a nice man, Mr Hartwell, scared me to death, used to make the boys go to the front of the class if they misbehaved. He would make them bend and touch their toes, then proceed to whack their behinds with the blackboard rubber, horrid man. Was Mrs Bullock in the Juniors or the Infants, not sure? I recall Mrs Pears, cookery teacher, suppose that would have been Senior school, also Miss Bonnell, science teacher.

Thanks Mayjan. You were there a bit before me. Mrs Bullock's name rings a bell. I was at the Infants & Juniors from about 1954 until 1960. I can remember most of the girls' names I was there with but not many of the boys.

coventry49, there was a very enormous field at the back of the secondary modern, I remember playing rugby with Mr Golby, but the huts you refer to were with Miss Simpson who took science, which was next to the dairy which was part of the secondary modern, unless you know otherwise. I know this is a long shot, is anyone up for a school reunion

Hi Paul, a reunion sounds a great idea, but unfortunately I live in Devon! You are possibly right about the hut as I don't recall ever having a class inside it. It was 1960 when I left Freddies - 55 yrs ago! Why on earth did they change the name to Sydney Stringer?

hello coventry49, the reason they called it Sidney Stringer was it is now an academy with over 2,000 pupils and so I have been told it is the best school in Coventry, nothing like the old days. Glad to hear you moved to Devon, I never had the opportunity but one day as I'm now reaching retirement and I wish they would have kept Freddies as it was because the one thing I truly hate is change I would like to see Coventry how it was back in the 50s, 60s and 70s, they were truly the good old days but I guess that's what they call progress (fat lot that's done)

I totally agree with your sentiments. I was born in Cambridge Street and lived there until I was 8. Everyone around us was poor but clean and we never felt fearful of crime when we were out and about. When I look at photographs on this site of present day Coventry I don't recognise it and feel very sad.