This photograph was taken in 1950/51 and shows the staff from Grangefield Boys Grammar School shortly after the school had moved to Grangefield from the premises in Nelson Terrace. Courtesy of Cliff Thornton. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
I attended the Stockton Secondary School from 1946–1951. I remember some of those teachers in the photograph, Mr Rhys, Mr. Rattenberry, Mr Wright, and the principal,, fondly referred to as ‘The Boss”,. and had some good memories of the time spent at the school on Neson Street and later at the Grangefield Grammar Schoot. Although I did not complete my full education there, I did continue my education in Canada through the University of Alberta, becoming the CAO of one of the largest counties on Alberta, a position I held for 15 years after being the Assistant CAO for 16 years. Since my retirement in 1992, I supervised the development of a Regional Waste Management system, serving and area of approximately 5000 square miles.
I have been involved with many volunteer organizations and along with my wife was a foster parent for almost 40 years, providing a home for 40 children and youth over that period.
My wife and I currently operate a Society providing support for individuals experiencing life’s losses.
I have appreciated the experiences during my school years and the lessons that life itself provides.
John Scott
Kitscoty, Alberta, Canada
John, thank you for posting your interesting memories of your education in Stockton.
You would not recognise the old town these days.!
Re the subjects of various teachers, 3rd from the left on the back row is Mr Stockill who was my form master and maths teacher during my time at Grangefield, most of the others have already been identified. I left in 1957 and worked for a while in the labs at H W Teesdale, Eaglescliffe Iron foundry & HW Stampings at Seaton before moving on to pastures new.
In March 2001, Ridley Scott answered fans questions in an online session for BBC News “Talking Point”. This session can still be found on the BBC News website. Talking about his early years Scott said – “In fact probably one of the reasons that led me to being a director was that I had an Art Master at Grangefield Grammar School, called Mr Clayland, and I have no idea whether he is still alive – he ought to be because he was a young teacher then. So Mr Clayland was the guy who recognised that I was a dimwit but that I was really good at art. He advised me to leave grammar school and go to art school. The choice was Middlesborough or Hartlepool and that is what I did and for the first time in my life I stopped watching the clock. So thanks Mr Clayland.” Mr Cleeland, left Grangefield about 1956 to go to a comprehensive school in Liverpool. He must have been a decent artist as one of his works was included in the Royal Academy”s Summer Exhibition (about 1955).
Re Paul Dee”s comments about Ridley Scott, the following is taken from The Stocktonian Year Book for 1961-62, the details might be useful to a future biographer of this famous film producer. “On leaving school Ridley Scott (1950-4) joined the West Hartlepool School of Art and while there was responsible for a number of cinema publicity displays illustrating films to be shown locally while he also designed an inn sign now hanging in Stokesley High Street. Later, in the face of great competition, he was successful in securing entrance to the Royal College of Art, London. Now, at the end of his course there, he has gained his A.R.C.A. with First Class Honours and has been awarded a £600 Travelling Scholarship which he will use to go to the USA in order to further his studies in Television Production and Design. At the moment he is in the Design Dept of BBC Television, London.”
“A fool can always find a bigger fool to laugh at him” was Ducks D”Arcy”s favourite dinnertime punishment line. I must have filled in a few exercise books with this repetitive line, but indoors on freezing January days it was worth it, as the rest of the school was confined outdoors or to the cold cloakrooms at dinnertime. D.D. always had a smart British built sports car in my era, which got him respect from the boys. He organised and took the boys on a coach trip to tour Doncaster Loco Works and Shed, Leeds Holbeck and York Depots on 12 May 1973. I have got photos of this trip. Some Grangefield masters defected to Stockton Sixth Form College when it opened in autumn 1973, but not D.D. All the published photos I have seen of the first weeks of the Sixth Form College look rather fake, and certainly not real life. I remember them well, as I appear in at least one. The photographer(s) staged managed them, selecting “the right kind of students”(ie right mix of boys and girls, boys hair not too long, not too short or tall, they went for perfect appearance mainly) moving them round like actors at various trendy looking locations (library, views from balconies) to get the results they and the “authorities” wanted.
A report card on some of the masters after 50 – 60 years! Nobby Morris; an excellent teacher. I loved geography (or “Joga” as we knew it) I still pore over maps. My US educated children are surprised at my knowledge of world geography, much of it due to Mr Morris. They don”t teach “Joga” in US schools helping to explain the general lack of knowledge of the world here. Taffy Rhys; many eccentricities and a teacher by rote. Tough on me because I am left handed – something he couldn”t abide. Nevertheless I was fond of him. A great cyclist. Mr Rattenbury; Such an affable and pleasant man and a good teacher. I helped to establish a school prize in his name. Messrs Dennis, Durrant and Lee; First class teachers of science and nice people. Add in Mr Stockhill for advanced maths. Bull Wright; A great friend of the boys – helped with Rugby teams and led many YHA trips in the Dales, the Lake District and N.Yorks. Curiously he had difficulty keeping control in his classes. Black Jack White; A tough customer but he turned our Rugby programme around – we begin to win our matches after years in the doldrums. Dr Kinnis; An austere and awesome Scot. We were required on day 1 to choose either latin for form 1A or chemistry for form 1B – probably not accidental that we were regarded as the Bs. Chalky White; A nice man. I enjoyed his classes although I was never very handy. He did move to Mill Lane School as Head. Syd Dumble; I could never get over the fact that he taught my father just before WW1. Could be tough but was a very pleasant man off duty. I used to meet him from time to time on his way to the West End Bowling Club in Hartburn. He always stopped for a little chat. I do wonder if the kids these days have the same cluster of good teachers in a disciplined atmosphere.
I believe Mr Cleeland (back row left} was the art master. If so it was Mr Cleeland who mentored Ridley Scott and encouraged him to go on the Art School (as a result to go on to fame and a knighthood). Mr Cleeland was probably in his early twenties in my time at school – he could well be still alive. However, he soon moved on from Grangefield G.S. and , as far as I know, people lost track of him. An excellent group of teachers – I am very grateful to many of these masters.
I would not have believed that a photograph like this could have awakened so many memories. It is a picture that I will treasure, as it brings back, for me, those far off days of the nineteen fourties. My memories are concerned mainly with the front row of Masters, as the back rows arrived on the scene after I had left the “Sec in 1946. If I may modify a couple of points, the folically challenged gentleman at the left of the front row is Nobby Morris (not Clark) and he taught Geography. Gordon Rattenbury rejoined the Staff after service in the Forces during the War. And I feel sure that Syd Dumble, who took Sport and also stood in as Mathematics Master, would not have been amused to see his name spelled as Dumbell. I can still hear his, “Stick to Rugby Rhodes, Stick to Rugby” after trying to introduce me to the arcane mysteries of Geometry. Third left is that most loved Master T.B.(Tibby) Brooke who took English Language and Literature. He advised me to take Ecclesiastical Orders, but a life in the Merchant Navy held more attraction for me. Next is Taffy Rhys and who could ever forget his voice as he ordered us to “Get your fat bellies from under the desk”. His fanatical quest for fresh air, by opening all of the classroom windows and making us do deep breathing exercises in the aisle. Mainly maths I think. Every window frame in the school bore the chalk dust from his frensied beating of the board duster on the outside of the wall. Doctor J.R. Kinnes was indeed known as Jacky or The Boss. A stern man who, on several occassions, brought his dreaded Butterpat into close contact with my backside. But a good teacher of English Literature and French. Apart from teaching Mathematics I can not remember a great deal about Mr.T. Laverick. I claim to be the pupil who first met Mr.Lee and gave him the name of Tashy, when I ran into him on his first day at the School. He taught Physics when he replaced Pop Bremner. Tot Munday was Latin Master and, as such, I had very little contact with him other than at the end of a short cane that he kept in his briefcase, something to do with a disturbance during detention. These men were good Teachers and good men and their like is sadly missing today. Others remembered are Mr.C. King(English) and “Jute” Armstrong (History). Of Creamy Manners (French) I have no information. They were happy days despite, or because of, discipline that would see them behind bars today.
I attended Stockton Sec. from 1945 to July 1950. In Sept the school restarted at Grangefield. Grangefield was a little odd as the school was completely built before the war and used as some kind of storage depot during the war, only opening as a school in 1950. When, as kids during the war, we went up to the Cuckoo Railway via a path that ran next to the school we never saw a soul there. Ref.the photo: Front row, left to right; Nobby Morris, Geography. Rattenbury, French. Tibby Brookes, English Lan/Lit – one of the best teachers there. Taffy Rhys, French/Chemistry. Dr.Kinnis Headmaster, Syd Dumble sport albeit one track Rugby which was not too popular in those days compared with football. Laverick, Algebra. Tashy Lee, Physics. Tot Munday, Latin. Mid row, Right to Left; Cable, History. Second Dennis, Chem/Physics. Back row, Left to Right; Fourth, Bull Wright, Engish Plus a bit of Sport. Fifth, Chalky White, Woodwork/Metalwork (mainly for those who turned out no good at Latin which included myself!!) Believe he went on to be Headmaster of Mill Lane. I do not recognise most of the others so assume there must have been some new starts. One of my couins did teach there, Alan [Bubbles] Thompson. My first school was Oxbridge Lane and I lived in Grays Road.
Some of these teachers (masters as they then were) are very familiar to me, having had my presence in their classes from 1955 to 1962. The teachers I remember were (Bull) Wright (English), Ken Whitfield (Geography), Jimmy Durante (Chemistry), (Black Jack) White (PE) -who was replaced by (Rock) Hudson during my time there; (Ducks) D”Arcy (French), (Ratts) Rattenbury (Modern Languages), (Tashy) Lee (Physics), (Tot) Munday (Latin and Depute Head). Presumably, most of the others had retired or moved away by 1955. I was surprised to see that (Ike) Collingwood (English) was absent from the photo as I had always believed he was in with the bricks and he retired in about 1956/7). It would be interesting to know the subjects of the other teachers shown in the photo. Throughout my time, the Head was the physically small, but still quite fearsome R.E Bradshaw who had me quaking on his carpet two or three times over the seven years he knew me. (In those days, the cane, strap, gym shoe sole (Whitfield) and other sundry implements were regularly in use to remind the pupils who was in charge)
The nicknames and names of the teachers are written on the back of the photo as follows; Back row: (Pansy) Cleeland, (Errol) Flynn, (G) Stockhill, (Bull) Wright, (Chalky) White, (Bowless) White. Middle row: Caretaker, (Corny) Whitfield, (Snozzle) Durante, (Black Jack) White, (Tom) Piper, (Max) Miller, D’Arcy, (Fuzzy) Dennis, (Junior) Cable. Front row: (Nobby) Clark, Rattenbury, (Tibby) Brooks, (Taffy) Rhys, The Boss, Jacky, (Syd) Dumbell, (Tom) Laverick, (Tashy) Lee, (Tot) Munday.