A photograph of my father, James Allen (2nd from right), with his tank crew in Belgium 1944/45. He taught at several schools in the Stockton area after the war. He ended his career as the headmaster of Harrowgate Junior School on Hardwick.
Photograph and details courtesy of David Allen.
Open the enclosed link to see your dad with the Newtown School Football Team on this site:- https://picturestocktonarchive.com/2016/01/04/newtown-school-football-team-19551956/
Mr Alkan was a great Headmaster. Im not sure if he was awarded any medels in the army but certainly deserved one teaching me and my mates. He was a gentleman but he could crack the cane too, which I remember!555
I remember Mr Allen from Harrowgate, nice bloke.
I must agree with Derek and Paulo on this, Mr Allen had everyones respect in the school when I attended (1963-69) and people were genuinely saddened when hearing of his passing. Other teachers I remember from my time there are Derek Graham (of course) Mr Mallaby, Mrs Brack, Mrs Keating, Mrs Pritchard and the already mentioned Mr Fitzgerald, a happy school remembered with great fondness.
Mr Allen was at Newtown as Garth Flack mentions, when I attended from 1953 to 1959. He taught year 3 if I remember, although my teachers were Mr Wadsworth, Miss Denton, Mrs Dinning and Mr Carr. I echo the earlier comments – those teachers were excellent, good teachers, both discipline and the art of teaching; they were extremely conscientious and Newtown had an excellent reputation.
I remember Mr Allen at Newtown, even though he was never my teacher. I recollect that those who were taught by him had great respect for him. I am not sure he taught year 3. When you and I were in class 3a taught by Miss Dinning we were in one of the two ‘prefab’ classrooms in the playground. Class 3b were in the other such classroom. I recall that their teacher was a woman – Mrs Patterson?
I did not join you in Mr Carr’s class for the final year as we left Stockton in August 1958 when my father got a job in the Midlands. I have always felt that we had excellent teachers at Newtown.
Great to see this picture of your dad in the army. I was a teacher in Harrow Gate from 1964 to 1977. Your father was great to work for and he commanded a very loyal staff. Most of the children who went through the school remember him with great fondness, he was firm but fair.
I remember him telling me stories about his time in the war, how their tank, he said, was a communications tank and was not fitted out like the others. He also related about when they entered Germany and the devastation they found.
He and Mike Fitzgerald (his deputy for a short while) told stories of the Emergency Teacher Training after the war and some of the laughs they had together.
I went to Harrowgate jr School after moving from the gas house area of Stockton. I have fond memories of Mr Allan. He was a excellent Headmaster. I still remember the times I did wrong and ended up picking up rubbish around the school yard. His deputy there was my old headmaster from Bailey St, Mr Fitzgerald. I attended Harrowgate for four years, very happy times. Thank you for submitting this photo of your father. When at junior school you imagine the headmaster was born a headmaster. This photo shows quite a different man.
Mr Allen was at Newtown Juniors in the fifties teaching with Ernie Wadsworth, Syd Knowles and headmaster Norman Wynn. Great school, super teachers. We were lucky to have such fine teachers