Photos and articles about Brighton and Hove in the time of coronavirus. See our collection and add your own!

Class 5 1951

I found this old school photo of Balfour Road Juniour School Taken in 1951 of class 5. I am third from the left in the back row. Some of the names of the other children are, Maurice Mepham, Phillip Lloyd, Alex Beal, Peter Palmer, Jacqueline Clarke, Ann Healey, Janet Robson, Roy Cooper and Tony Winscull. Please excuse me if I have spelt the surnames incorrectly. I feel sure that visitors to this site will be able to add more names.

Class 5 1951
From the private collection of Malcolm Staley

Comments about this page

  • I think I recognise one of the faces on this school photo. Is there a Susan Maggs on it?

    By Judi Lunt (16/02/2008)
  • I went to Balfour Road School from 1945 to 1949. It was a greal school. The headmaster was Mr Slater. My favourite teacher was Miss Williams. I lived with Phillip Lloyd and Peter Lloyd who also attended Balfour Road School in the 40s and early 50s. I remember Miss Drake and Miss Bushel.
    Such nice memories

    johntz@videotron.ca

    By John Tozer (24/01/2009)
  • I also was at Balfour Road from 1945 to 1950. And yes, Mr E D Slater was the headmaster(and a great one). My very first teacher was a Miss Bottomley, my last teacher was a Mrs Cowtan. I wonder if the Peter Lloyd referred to was the same one that I knew. He lived in Balfour Road almost opposite the school entrance. I think all the “Gordon Road Gang” were at the school at this time (Brian Blacker, Alan Whatling, Frank Saunders etc). Let me just briefly mention the school activities. There was emphasis on the 3Rs with rote learning of tables etc and practice intelligence tests. There was also a great ethos on competitive sports especially playing against other schools; once or twice a year there were set sports of boys vs girls. I remember that we had our own little vegetable plot and as we got older we were set various special projects which entailed going to the reference library in Church St. All this in the 40s. They were indeed great days.

    By John Wingate (11/03/2009)
  • I was at Balfour Rd School in 1936. The Head Mistress Miss Seward, Then in 1940, the school was converted into a Military Hospital. Has anyone more memories?

    By John Booker (09/08/2010)
  • I attended Balfour CP school from 1961-63. My teachers were Miss Bishop, Miss Bacon, Mrs Moore and Miss Cowtan. Yes, Mr Slater was an excellent headmaster and the school had a great reputation. I remember Mr Slater used to award coloured badges each week for different academic achievements. I remember lining up on his wooden staircase to receive our badges. I remember knitting with Mrs Moore – we made hot water bottle covers. Also decorating the classrooms at Christmas time. Mrs Moore always made big crepe paper pompoms. Miss Cowtan’s class always made the 12 days of Christmas to decorate the room. We went to Mr Jackson for Science. I remember him teaching us about air pressure with a fountain pen and ink, and an old oil can. Also, ink wells and blotting paper. I remember learning to sing Jerusalem and loving it. Also, Mrs Moore sitting on the radiator near my desk, and I could see her long bloomers! We did country dancing, and had an open day where we performed for parents. Loved it!

    By Sally Atkinson (17/08/2011)
  • I was just looking at this site and I thought I recognised my mum in your photo. On reading, you’ve correctly named her as Ann Healey. I will let mum know and get her to check the photo as she may also remember some of the other class mates. This has made my night.

    By Joanne Poulter (24/10/2011)
  • I think I’m in this photo, in the front row. If anyone remembers me please get in touch.

    By Rod Berry (05/11/2015)
  • I lived in Lowther Road and used those Osborne Road steps (365) as I later went to Dorothy Stringer school when it opened. I remember headmaster Mr Slater and his Morris 8 car. Mr Divall, Miss Cowton, Mr Jackson and Miss Spink, Miss Bishop, Miss Brogate and Miss Bacon. Mr Austin the caretaker used the basement under Miss Brogate’s end class.

    By Peter Longstaff-Tyrrell (25/02/2017)
  • I went to Balfour Road School, in about 1950 to about 1954, having been at Preston Primary in Middle Road as an infant. I remember Mr Slater as the headmaster, Mrs Moore, Miss Bacon, Miss Cowtain, who were my class teachers at various times…and also Mr Divall was not. I recall that if one stayed for dinner, one had to go down some steps to a completely separate building. This lower area, now the entrance to another school from Loder Road, was original, I believe, an allotment and there was a pond there. The most notable event was observing the Solar Eclipse from the playground using smoked glass.
    I walked passed the school recently and it was difficult to pick out the original buildings from all the developments since, the prefabs near the school entrance having long gone.

    By Mike A Feist (25/05/2019)
  • On the 30th June 1954 there was a Partial Solar Eclipse visible from Sussex. In preparation my father constructed a viewer from two pieces of glass, smoked over a candle and mounted with a spacer of cardboard with smoked faces inwards. I took this to school, at Balfour Road Primary. Before it started the teacher put me on the spot by announcing that I was going to explain what was going to happen. Fortunately I had my trusty “Descriptive Astronomy” book with me and I carefully coped the diagram on the blackboard. I was ten years old. I used the smoked glass viewer ( no longer considered safe!!) sharing it with others to follow the eclipse from the playground and made a series of drawings of its progress. The other children were very excited to see the event and clamoured to form an astronomy club but by the next day all was forgotten and somehow my drawing disappeared too. How fickle are children’s enthusiasms!
    Perhaps others reading this remember seeing it too.
    Regards Mike Feist (Mile Oak.)

    By Mike A Feist (28/05/2019)
  • I started at Balfour Road school in 1950. It was a happy school. I recognise all the teachers mentioned in the various texts. My brother is in the photograph of Miss Marshall’s class of 1951. He is Phillip Hills and is on the top row 5th from the right. I don’t think I am on any of the photos published. I was in the last class Mr Divall taught, I remember it well. We were all very upset to see him leave and the class clubbed together and bought him cuff links as a leaving gift. I think there was enough money left to buy his wife a brooch. He was a great teacher, one of the best. I do remember Christopher and I think he had a brother. I was also interested in an article by Frank Hinton. Is this the same Frank who lived in the prefabs in Balfour Road? If it is my family also lived in the prefabs – our name is Hills. To this day I can name all the families who lived there. Happy, happy days and happy memories.

    By Cynthia Liley. Née Hills. (20/09/2019)
  • I was at this school 1950-57.
    Miss Bishop ,Miss Chaffee ( who during WW2 was evacuated to Yorkshire) Miss Bennet ,Miss Sharman and Mr Brown who rode a moped.
    Alas I have no pictures just snippets of memories including Mr Slaters efforts to raise and lower the Union Flag to half mast on the death of the King.

    By Geoff Newhouse (30/10/2022)
  • I was a classroom assistant with Miss Helen Snook’s Infant 1 class from 1958 to 1960, after which I went to train as a teacher myself. Helen was a lovely person but Mr. Slater topped them all! When he heard my sad story of being made to leave school when all I wanted was to study French at University he arranged for me to join 6th form French lessons at Varndean Girls at the top of Balfour Road, AND insisted I listen to a radio programme in the staffroom! Such kindness still moves me. Bless him wherever he is. x

    By Maureen Kermode (Lower) (09/01/2023)

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.