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Mixed Choir c.1950

I wonder if there are any visitors to this site can recognise themselves in this photo? There are a few names that my sister-in-law Barbara Newland and myself can identify which are:

Girls: Jean Holden, Joan Baldy, Marie Baldwin, Wendy Bull, June Boxall, Jean Dawes, (?) Bonwick.
Boys: I am third from the right on the bottom row next to Michael Howard, beside D. Tee with Brian Diver behind him. Tony Cox is 5th from the left on the back row.

The photo was taken in St. Bartholomew’s Church, Ann Street Brighton. I believe most of the pupils who attended the school lived in the surrounding area of New York St, New England St, Belmont St, New England St,Provedence St, Elder St, Elder Place, and Elder Row etc.

St Bartholomew's School mixed choir
From the private collection of Fred Hards

Comments about this page

  • My late dad, George Sullivan (b. Brighton in 1918) had a step sister called Marie Baldwin, and she lived with her parents Mary and Leslie Baldwin (known also as Uncle Dick for some reason) in Elder St. in the 1940s – 50s. I do vaguely remember her and her sisters Maureen and Eileen and brother Leslie. This list of names is very likely to refer to her.

    By Jan Sinkfield (03/07/2009)
  • Hi, does anyone remember my Dad David Vaughan, who attended this school in the early 1950s.

    By Jenene Craven (09/08/2009)
  • I remember Joan Baldy, Wendy Bull and Marie Baldwin – I later attended Pelham Girls School with them. I have Joan Baldy’s address.

    By Elizabeth (Bertha) Byrne (25/04/2010)
  • Hi Jenene, I started the school in 1960, aged 7. I went to Pelham Infants before and think your dad was there as well. Other boys were Adrian Welch and Karl Wendalen.
    Hi Fred, The girl in the front row, first on the right was my sister Eileen Sutton.

    By Jean Lofts (nee Sutton) (28/06/2010)
  • Hello Jenene, so sorry but it was a Dennis Vaughan who was in my class with Andre Welch. Was Dennis a relative?
    Hi Fred, At that time my sister may not have had her name changed from Eileen Smith to Sutton.

    By Jean Lofts (04/07/2010)
  • Hi Jean, great to hear from you. Yes, Dennis is my uncle and I believe they both went to Pelham School. My dad is slightly older than Dennis. Do you by any chance have any photos at all as I’m trying to do the family tree? Many thanks, Jenene.

    By Jenene Craven (25/07/2010)
  • This one’s a little bit before my time. My brother Alfred and I went to St. Bartholomews about 1954 after moving from Hove. I did know the Bonwicks though as they lived on our street Campbell Rd. My friend was Anita who was a bit older than me, she had quite a large family. She had at least two older sisters called Sally and Shirley, so it could be one of them in this photo.

    By Anne Ball was Newman (30/09/2010)
  • Hi Fred, my sister is in this photo, bottom left. Her name is Jean Cribb, now Smith and lives in Lincoln. email me alancribb@hotmail.co.uk. Alan, me again, we lived at 20 Elder Street, directly opp the Boxalls!

    By Alan Cribb (25/04/2012)
  • I went to St. Bartholomew’s School from 1964 to 1970 and have very happy memories of my time there. My late mother (then named Rosemary Bishop) and many other family members also went there. My three children have attended the school in recent years and I am still very involved with the school as a governor. It would be good to hear from anyone who remembers me.

    By Rosemary Mitchener (nee Faulkner) (21/07/2012)
  • I was in the same class as David Vaughn, Wendy Welch, Barry Brett, Denise, Margaret Stephen and Kevin about 1956-1961. The headmistress was Miss Porter, deputyhead was Mr Brown. The teacher of the infant school was Mrs Moy. The infant school was in the playground of school and backed on to the church. Very often we would have to attend the church service, then get the rest of the day off. We lived opposite the church entrance in Ann Street. My brother does a lot of the repairs to the church. We have a video of him replacing the gold cross a few years ago. It had to be blessed before it was put in place. The priests at the time were Father Hutchinson and Father Scott. They sometimes took us for Religious Knowledge lessons.

    By Christine Buxton (26/11/2013)
  • I forgot to mention in my previous post that Steven Ferrone, drummer in the Average White Band, was also in my class at St. Barts. He then went to Fawcett Secondary School. He lived in the Hanover area. Another teacher was Mrs Srace I think. We were one of the last families to move out of the area, with all the other houses being demolished around us. It was a lovely place to live, a whole community was lost when the council decided to demolish the area for the road widening of London Road. The road widening never happened. It was sad to see the area as a demolition site for over 20 years other than a car park. I think St.Bartholomews’ interior is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I’m a bit biased maybe.

    By Christine Buxton (02/12/2013)
  • My Mum was Sally Bonwick. She was the eldest Bonwick and would have left by 1950. Shirley might have been there in her last year. Antia who was younger would have been there.

    By Tina (24/03/2014)
  • I also attended St Bartholomew’s School, Infant and Juniors and I remember Mrs Moy, Miss Beasley and Mrs Dyer. Mr.Brown, Mr Radford, Miss Jupp, Mr Arzoney (not sure about the spelling but that’s how I remember it pronounced). Miss Porter was headmistress then. I had brothers Tony and Raymond who went to Patcham Fawcett.  So many memories of those days.

    By Chris Halstead (07/03/2015)
  • I went right through St Bartholomew’s Junior School and my teachers were Miss Duffield, Mr Radford, Mr Brown and Mr Wright. The headmistress was Mrs Tilney. I remember most of the children in my last class, Mr Wright’s in 1955, because we used to call out our names for the register so I remember it like the words of a song. Their names were: Raymond Alcorn, Eric Baldy, Timothy Clark, David Charlton, Michael Cooper, George Cornford, Peter Dillaway, John Flynn, Keith Golding, Sidney Gregory, Michael Hide, Patrick Murphy, Gerald Newland, Alfred Newman, Eric Shepherd, Paul Stag, Robert Steer, Jeanette Arkand, Susan Burtenshaw, Phillis Henderson, Vera Thurston, Carol Evans, Carol Lynn, Christine Manthorpe, Valerie Pearce (me). I can’t remember any more and please excuse the spelling. I do hope somebody remembers some of them. I was Valerie Pearce then.

    By Valerie Pearce (31/05/2016)
  • The reason that I looked at this fascinating page is that I wanted to know what year they pulled down St. Bartholomew’s Infant School. I can’t see it mentioned at all. It was in Elder Place where there were terraced houses and my house was joined to the school. Does anyone remember it? It was in the 50s sometime. Looking forward to a reply. Thanks

    By Valerie Pearce (03/06/2016)
  • I’ve only just discovered this discussion as I haven’t lived in Brighton for many years now.
    Absolutely fascinating to see all the names that I recognise but had forgotten. I went to St Barts in 1958 and lived in Campbell Road. I was at the school when this photo was taken but was very young so wasn’t in the choir. Reading the names mentioned in later comments I remember:
    The Bonwicks, David and Dennis Vaughan ( Dennis was in my class,  David was older), Wendy Welch, Barry Brett, Karl Wendlant. All blasts from the past. I also remember Andrew and Christopher Morgan, Jeffery Trangmar, Jasmine (can’t think of her surname),
    Also all the teachers. Miss Jupp got married just after I went to senior school (Varndean Girls Grammar) and I remember thinking she was very old to be getting married. She must have been in her early 30s. Miss Moy was there forever. I think she was still teaching when my oldest son went there in 1979 although she retired soon after. Mr Brown ruled with a rod of iron. Does anyone remember Mr Austin. He taught music, mainly recorder. I learnt with him and still play woodwind instruments now. I would love to know if anyone remembers me. I was Marilyn Friend then. You would be welcome to email me at mazcoates@hotmail.com as I probably won’t think to look at this page again for ages.

    By Marilyn Coates (30/12/2016)
  • I left the school in 1949. The girl mentioned was Shirley Bonwick who was a year younger than I. Anita Bonwick was a few years younger than Derek Bonwick and I. Derek was a good friend then and was the same age as I. l knew the family well as I lived in the same road. Sally was a close friend of my sister Marlene.  

     

    By Christopher Gammon (10/01/2017)
  • Just to mention that the infant school in Elder Place was bombed during WW2. After it was bombed, Wilmhurst Blinds used it until they got larger premises. My sisters were at the school at the time that it was bombed. Christoph Gammon We lived in Campbell Road from 1943 onwards. It was just around the corner.

     

    By Christopher Gammon (10/01/2017)
  • I remember George Austin very well as he was the organist and choir master at the church; I joined the choir in 1948. He was the repetiteur at Glyndebourne Opera house for many years before coming to St. Barts. He taught at 3 other schools including Lewes Grammar School. He died after a short illness having spent the night sleeping in the church because he could not get back home to Lewes in the snow after Midnight Mass one Christmas. 

    By Christopher Gammon (10/01/2017)
  • I attended St Barts from 1959 to 1965 and was known as Sonya Thorpe back then. Miss Porter was the headmistress and Mr Brown was my last form teacher who got me through the 11 plus by his strict teaching. I also remember Mr Austin the music teacher and played the recorder having been taught by him. Others in my class were Denise Redman, Jeffrey Tranmer, Shadub  Koucheckzada and Lynn someone, can’t remember her second name. We went to church every Friday via the secret alleyway from the playground. Father Scott and Father Chamberlain were there at the time. Remember the little spiral staircase we went up from the entrance to the classrooms and the hall was at the bottom of the stairs before you went out into the enclosed playground. Would love to go around the school again now but do not think it is there anymore. There is a new school on the front side of the church when I last visited Brighton. Love the church, it was always so big and impressive as a kid and still is when I visited recently. Lovely memories. Would love to hear from anyone who remembers me or any pictures of the school at that time. 

    By Ann Noble (was Sonya Thorpe at school) (09/04/2018)
  • I attended St Barts from 1969 to 1973. Miss Porter was the headmistress then. She was a lovely lady and used to show slides from her travels abroad, I remember the ones with table mountain. She had an elephants foot in her office. I still remember the mantra from assembly whenever anyone forgot their hanky: ‘coughs and sneezes spread diseases’.

    I also remember tricks we played on the substitute teacher where we tied a piece of string to a telephone we had in the classroom and Ruth would pull it every now and then to make the dial go round. We also used to put bulldog clips on the bottom of her skirt!

    By Amanda Tidey (18/04/2019)
  • Hi Fred, it was great to see this old photo as I’ve still got my copy and can remember the occasion really clearly, and also some of our names and some faces (but their names escape me):
    Top row 3 from right Alan Rogers, 4 from R Reggie Sizer, 7 from R Tony Cox.
    Middle row 5 from R me (looped plants, white ribbons!).
    Front row 2 from left Ruby (?Boxall), 4 from L Jacqueline ?
    We had a very good music and drama teacher who entered us in to various competition in the Brighton Musical Festival which was held on the stage at the Dome. On this occasion we had sung ” Gloria In Exchelsis Deo” with all the descents and had won something. The photo was staged in St Bart’s Church, but amazingly we were told that TV cameras were there. None of us knew what that was about as probably the first TV we ever watched would have been the Queen’s Coronation some time later! and probably in a neighbours house. In 1952 we were in Mr Wright’s class,the headmistress was Mrs Tilney. I remember that you Fred were the best in class at running and athletics. 7 of us got through the 11 plus, Reggie Sizer, Alan Rogers, Margaret Theaker, Evelyn Dilloway,Julia Brown, Julia (?), and myself. I remember the school building well, and the weekly visits on a Thursday morning for a Church servce, where,on a regular basis, one of us would faint at the overpowering wafting of the incense! I was also at the infants’ which was only a street away then. We were only allowed to use the “secret” tunnel to the church if the weather was really bad. No Health and Safety then!

    Sad it’s all gone,but good to have the memories.

    I moved to Another part of the country 42 years ago

    By Julie Mitchell (26/05/2019)

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