This photograph shows the Richard Hind Secondary School Junior (under 13) football team in 1956. Photo courtesy of Ken Sawyer. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
This photograph shows the Richard Hind Secondary School Junior (under 13) football team in 1956. Photo courtesy of Ken Sawyer.
Another one of Ken Sawyer’s Richard Hind school teams that done the double winning the league & cup.
This Richard Hind team had Alan Kitching in goal, Caldwell & Groake full backs, with skipper Brian Summerhill at centre half – all big strong schoolboys – defenders, Gilhooley, Pogson, Elliot & Cattermole – all good & industrious in the middle of the park and Wheelhouse, Shaw & Emmerson up front with lots of pace. This was the team that played on the Victoria Ground in the final rounds. Wheelhouse & Howells were a year younger than the rest, the late Norman Howells was a good wing half & later played for Stockton F.C.
Hi Anon, it would be great to know who you are as you seem to know a lot about these times and it would be interesting to speak to you. It’s good to know what the shield and cup are, they must have been a good team. I didn’t mean the scouts were there to watch just my Dad but the team as a whole, you’re right it was probably Dougie that they were interested in, but my Grandad used to tell the story to wind my Dad up that he should have kept his temper during an important match (maybe a final or something) and it was typical that there were Boro scouts there too. It would be great to hear any more stories or details, thanks for the comments and all the best.
No disrespect to the late Keith Wheelhouse, but if there were any Boro scouts watching this team they would have been watching Dougie Cattermole who signed professional for Middlesbrough F.C., as mentioned elsewhere on the site after he was outstanding for the Boro Juniors against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the F.A.Youth Cup. In the Evening Gazette they claimed Boro had found the next Golden Boy after the great Wilf Mannion. Other Stockton Schoolboys about this time that played for the Boro Juniors were Norman Liggett (another pro), Freddie (Barney) Iceton, John Kirk (all Arthur Head), Gordon Jones (Boro skipper) & Davie Hawke (both Holy Trinity), Norman Fisher (Tilery) & Donny Heath (another pro.Newham Grange).16/12/2011 16:34:15
Keith Wheelhouse played outside right in this team. The team won the league which the shield represents and the Salmon Cup, which was a knockout competition with the semi-final and final games played on the Victoria Ground, the home of Stockton F.C.
My Dad was Keith Wheelhouse who is on the far left front row. He unfortunately died in 1993. It is great to see this photo and the comments to learn more about the team as he didn’t really say much about his time footballing, so I know nothing about where he played or how well the team did. There is a family tale that my Grandad used to tell when I was a boy about my Dad losing his temper with a player that kept fouling him and being sent off during an important match with Boro scouts watching, but how true that is I don’t know. As mentioned my Dad never said much about football and didn’t even come and watch the Boro with me and my Grandad (maybe can’t blame him for that though!) It would be great to know more about the team and I pass my best wishes on to all who knew him and played in the team.
Great to see a picture of a lot of old friends. Sorry to hear that Jim Shaw has passed away. I remember him well from days at Constantine College along with Brian Summerhill when they worked at Dorman Long. I no longer live in Teesside so am out of touch with everyone allthough I saw Geoff Groarke at a funeral a couple of years back with his wife Delia.
The sinter plants mentioned by Dr F Starr were built at Head Wrightson, Thornaby. The whole plant were built up in either Billy Price’s shop in the bridgeyard or the fitting shop, the fitters used to build up the frames ie:-freeze the wheel shafts in the ends & assemble the bearings in the wheels prior to fitting the ends to the frames. The late Jim Shaw was a member of the St Johns Youth Club in Alma Street.
Ken Sawyer must have been a good coach & motivator of football when you see his teams that won the double(ie League & Cup).But only a small number make it into senior football.
Dougie Cattermole & the late Norman Howells both played for Stockton F.C.
Of course, that should have been Alan “western rolling”. Shows that I did not proof read my comment before sending! 3/10?
Re Anon”s comment about Alan Kitching”s high jumping prowess. I have just unearthed a photo of Ian “western rolling” at the high jump pit constructed in the space at the back of the school adjacent to the room used principally by the erstwhile EGL Plummer in teaching Technical Drawing. There was also a long jump run up and pit parallel to the fence behind which ran the railway. Lots of work went into preparing those pits and the ash run ups. Photos of Cliff Fowler and Brian Blackburn in mid air jumping into the sand!
Alan Kitching in this photo was also the best high jumper in the Stockton Schools in his age group, so it was not hard to see how he got the nickname The Cat. One of the best defenders he played behind must have been his skipper at Billingham Synthonia Juniors Paddy Basnett who played for the County N.A.B.C. Team & was at Chelsea, he was a local version of Duncan Edwards, he also played for Whitby Town & Stockton F.C.
In his comment of 03/10/2008 Bob Irwin was right to observe that as a (relatively) young man my career thoughts were further afield. Stockton as an excepted division of Durham County had a limited education vision, although this was several years post war and the 1944 Education Act”s vision of grammar, technical and secondary modern schools. As many who post comments on this excellent site also had some vision of progressing in their professions, trades or other careers this sometimes necessitated moving elsewhere or to another establishment. Mr Rosser only had problems of trying to retain staff when his opportunities to so do were restrained by the lack of a “pot” from which to encourage them.
As a Richard Hind and West End old boy may I send you my sincere condolences in your loss.
My sincere condolences Ken. You will recall that I helped form an arch at your wedding those 50 years ago. I”m sure that you will find comfort in such a long and happy marriage.
In due course I will respond more fully to comments and queries. Just now I have other priorities. My wife Pat died peacefully 3 weeks ago today in our local hospice here in Elland/Halifax after a brave fight with lung cancer + secondaries. When we married in 1957 she had been teaching at Mill Lane Girls” School.
Brian your new Brazilian style strip certainly was the envy of all the other schools,we all still had the old style flannel shirts & knee length shorts,I think you first wore this strip against our school Newham Grange in the Semi Final of the Salmon Cup on the Victoria Ground.Dougie Cattermole was one of the best Stockton schoolboy flare players of our era,along with Billy Wilkinson(St Bedes)Trevor Cockerill(Newham Grange)Norman(Knocker)Fisher(Tilery)& Freddy(Barney)Iceton(Arthur Head).I did not know Ken Sawyer as a teacher but his contribution to this website has been great to read.
My husband and I met at Richard Hind School which we attended from 1957 to 1962 – although we were supposed to be strictly segregated in those days! We still have Speech Day programmes from both schools, and the title was Richard Hind Secondary Technical School for Girls (Boys) I not only did GCEs there, but also left with RSA certificates in shorthand, typing and bookkeeping. We had a good all round education, including cookery and needlework, and were the only school in the town to offer all these subjects. I loved my time there.The Girls school had a sixth form for anyone wanting to do A levels, but the Boys did not. My husband had to go on to the Sixth Form at Grangefield.
“How things must have changed” I was at the Richard Hind School from 1940 to Just before Christmas 1944. My first headmaster was Mr Webster and I have a memory of him inviting the school choir to his house to sing Christmas Carols. We then got Mr Rawlings followed by Mr Rosser. He and I did not see eye to eye, more so when I told him it was pointless moving his table back after six of the best as I was sure to be back. We all started in the the Academic side of the school then split into Technical or academic. My class was the second year of the “T” classes, there had only been the one before us. The class was small so the teachers could give some personal instruction. The Technical drawing was at St Peters Hall with Mr Plumber, we also took one of the English Periods down there plus “PT” under Mr Sid Williams the Egyptian swimming champion. (don”t ask I do not know how that happened). We also walked down to the Ropner Park a few minutes at most for field games in season. The swimming was not very often and we would bus to the baths and back, that was wartime so what happened to the bus after we left? All school dinners were in St Peters hall for the boys and in the main school hall for the girls. There was a table on the stage at St Peters where the Teachers sat looking down on the rows of boys eating, fail to eat with decorum and the sword of Damocles fell on your head. The Science Lab and Woodwork rooms were on the side of the high wall dividing the boys from the girls. The girls cookery class room was backed onto those rooms and the pantry had a window onto the corridor to Mr Rossers room. One of the girls gave me a jam tart she had made and I was eating it when Mr Rosser opened his door and caught me, he was not best pleased. I got six for eating an apple on the school bus, six for taking my cap off on the school bus and six for being downstairs with the girls when I should have been upstairs with the boys. I got my own back on the telltale prefects by bowling very fast spinners at them in cricket, body line bowling at its best or in their case worst. The technical training was superb and most of the lads in those first two “T” classes went on to do well in the local engineering works. It gave me a love of engineering that set me up for life including a comfortable retirement. That is one of the reasons I will hear no ill of the Richard Hind Teaching record. Well done those wartime teachers.
Richard Hind was not the only school in Stockton that was short of facilities and space but on the whole it was well off. Seperate Chemistry and Physics Labs and a Woodworking Classroom. Even a room for Technical Drawing! I went on to Stockton Grammer, on the corner of Garbutt Street where the playground was about half the size of that of RH. Furthermore, what was obviously a new block, at Stockton Grammar, was built on two floors, and had taken up part of the playground. The dining hall was away from the school.For sports, Stockton Grammar had to use the same out-of-town playing fields, used by Richard Hind, and for the first year pupils there was the walk to the Swimming Baths. In this respect my recollection is different to Bob Irwin, I am certain that a bus took us back to RH after the swimming lesson, and we made our own way down to the baths after dinner(lunch). So not much time was wasted. And in my time RH was never referred to as a Grammar. But perhaps Ken Sawyer can throw some light on these matters.
When I started RH it was called Richard Hind Central School and we all wore caps with all the initials on. That was about 1942. We didn”t get to the baths that much in those days of the war and it was difficult to get to Ropner Park and have a decent game of football or cricket.But we survived and probably had (in those olden days)the most sport orintated school in Stockton and dont forget Bob the best school in the Stockton area. We never did well at swimming because, as has been said, we were to far away from Stockton baths but we finished once or twice behind Bailey Street who could fall out of school straight into the pool, a very good swimming team every year. We at the time had a very good swimmer by the name of Clive Marrison who just about swam in every race at all styles and although he won a lot of individual races the school could never win the big team trophy. the school did well at cricket and also at sports meetings. The name did change when I was there and we became a seconary modern school and I also agree that John Rosser and his fantastic staff did a good job with an old fashioned school building. Great days.
I believe that the exact title for the school was Richard Hind Secondary Grammar School. The obvious choice would to have a building as the Grangefield Grammar School had after leaving the school they had in the town. Regarding the teaching at the RH it was very good and the technical side of it helped me in my job when leaving school. At night school I was being taught the things that were taught to me at RH, so I was at least 1 year ahead when leaving, but a lot of time wasting was to be had by the way it had to be run. 20 minutes in the water for a double lesson period. A double bus trip to the far side of Fairfield and also to prepare a class for lessons as part of the lesson should not have been standard. I would think Mr Rosser was aware of this and would have a hard job administering it all.
I actually thought Richard Hind was pretty good, and gave training to boys who wanted to join some kind of technical based profession. That is we were taught the basics of things like commercial illustration, technical drawing, English for journalism, wood and metalwork, chemistry and physics to those who wanted to join a science based profession. Richard Hind was not a Secondary Modern school, it was a Secondary Technical, whose bias was towards getting pupils, who were not quite good enough for a Grammar school, into jobs which were both worthwhile and satisfying. And as for the need to walk down to dining hall and physical training at St Peter”s, so what! It gave those of us,like me who were useless at sports, some good exercise. And,what about the walk back through Ropner Park from the dining hall? It was a chance to indulge in light hearted chat, or with people like Derick Graham and Frank Kirkley, hear some quite deep thinking.
For a Secondary Modern School I thought the RH was a run down school. Classes and PT at the St Peters Hall, also the meals until the Huts in Malborough Road. Games held at Ropner Park and then the Ropner Playing Fields. A full lesson to take you to and from Stockton Baths and that was marching either way with a single lesson learning to swim. The school was small and there was no room for expansion. Anyone with ambitions could see that there was no chance to further ones career. Mr Sawyer was a young man and at the beginning of his career and although I can”t speak for him I suppose his thoughts were further away from Richard Hind.
It is nice to see a colour picture of Mr Ken Sawyer, who as the teacher of Religious Knowledge, and Physical Education, at Richard Hind School,up to 1955, struck me as being a throroughly decent type. Although I had no interest in sport myself,he was recognised as the man who had got our football team to a high level. We were all mystified at why he decided to leave, but as I have mentioned elsewhere, Mr Rosser, the headmaster had great trouble recruiting staff. I was also sorry to hear about Jim Shaw who used to be one of my workmates when I was at Dorman Long.The last time I saw Jim was at the sinter plant in 1970.Did he stay in steel for the rest of his time?
Many thanks Ken Sawyer for the photograph, difficult to believe that over fifty years have slipped by since it was taken. I remember clearly the new football strip arriving and it being the most modern in the school league, a far cry from the old styles worn by the other teams Also many thanks for all the effort you put into team training and tactics, as centre half I still remember the pivot system of defence you instilled into the team. I am sure we did not fully appreciate the time you gave towards out of school activities which included athletics, folk dancing etc. Hope you are keeping well and glad to know that the memories are still alive. I have lost touch with most of the team,remained in close contact with Jim Shaw until his sad death a couple of years back, and Alan Kitching until his move to New Zealand. Geoff Groake and I bump into each other occasionally. I am still involved in sport but nothing too energetic only bowls at Ropner Park, if any of the team read this and are still in the area we are always short of members. Many thanks to Anon for the names, some had slipped my memory. Peter Laverick is a member of Thornaby Bowls Club and plays indoor bowls at the Thornaby Pavilion.
A notable absentee from the photo & the squad of this age group mentioned by Geoff Groake elsewhere is Peter Laverick who was a good senior Teesside League player.
This photo is the (under 15)team. Back row L to R Ken Sawyer(Teacher), Jim Shaw, Tony Gilhooley, Geoff Groake, Alan Kitching, Tony Elliot, Ray Caldwell, Ray Pogson. Front row Keith Wheelhouse, Doug Cattermole, Brian Summerhill, Norman Howells, Norman Emmerson.