CHARNEY HALL The School Report
I am sure fellow Old Boys will have somewhere in a drawer or in the loft or in an unopened box in the garage School Reports from Charney Hall “CH”.
I think I have seen an earlier posting where part of the School Report was shown.
As I have nothing to hide and for wont of not boring other CH Old Boys I am appending my School Report extempore.
Quite clearly the mediocrity and failures of my later life started to show signs at CH and the rot had already set in and the Masters and Mistresses were quick to appraise and forewarn my Parents of this fact!
I started the term at 1st and it was downhill from thereon and has continued throughout the early and latter part of my life.
As a historical record the document is interesting as I have even later reports from CH where they are modernised and placed in a cardboard folder in loose leaf form.
It is wonderful to see the musings and thoughts of the Masters and Mistresses as they came up with something meaningful to say in these School Reports many times over to so many Parents.
Its good to see the neat italic handwriting of my English Teacher Mr Cockshot “HC” and also the initials of Mr McCullagh and Mr Fawcett and Maxwell Duncan and Mrs Brown. I am afraid I cannot decipher the other initials of the other Masters and Mistresses or even remember them sadly.
I note that in years before I attended CH there was “Boxing” but I suppose well before my time this must have ceased and also “Greek” was taught but again had stopped when I attended.
Memories of the Dragon Book of Verse and Kennedys Latin Primer and reciting the Maths timetable aloud and declining Amo and standing up in class and using ink wells and quills and trying to write in cursive handwriting and Sing Alongs with Mr Fairclough in the Memorial Hall and listening to Maxwell Duncan reading a Book to us and Science Lessons with Mrs Brown in the Lodge all come flooding back!
Greetings to all once again.
Tilak
TILAK’S SCHOOL REPORT
Summer 1969
Brings back memories….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Hall_Kennedy
http://millroadcemetery.org.uk/kennedy-benjamin-hall/
For those who like a bit of homework here is all 240pages of the Latin Primer…
https://archive.org/details/revisedlatinprim00kenniala/page/n3/mode/2up
Comments
I was in form 1A, and finished in 4th place, where I had been all year except two fortnights where I made it all the way up to 3rd. I should point out I think there were only around 4 boys in that form, possibly 6 at the very most...
Here are some selected comments from the various reports I have. The masters' despairing comments still make me smile after all these years (though my father was less happy), and - spoiler alert - I did pass my CE and got into a good school, and went on to University and Graduate School too!
Geography (signed by S Coverdale who as I recall was a much younger master and much more perceptive than his colleagues): "There are occasional glimpses of hard work, but only very occasional. He is a dreamer most of the time."
English: (signed by HF Cockshott) "His efort tend to be a little spasmodic".
Science: (signed by WM Brown) "He still fails to listen to instructions for experiments and thereby misses important information. He still has a great deal of work to do before he can be sure of a pass in C.E."
French: (signed by RGJ Hopkins) "He is achieving only adequate results at the moment. He has STILL not appreciated the importance of verbs and their tenses and this is his only important weakness."
Latin: (signed by ABK McCullagh) "He has worked quite well during the term, but his grasp of the subject is rather unsure and his vocabulary is weak".
Overall Summary, also from ABK McCullagh: "Andrew's average in Trial C.E. was 48%. He must make an all-out effort next term right up to the time of his C.E. so that he can raise his average well over 50%".
Thanks for the post.
In fact all credit and praise should singularly go to Keith Smith the Blog Administrator Andrew who embellished my little piece and pdf/jpegs of my School Report which I sent him with additional relevant cartoons and images and pictures. I believe if you need to attach a picture or an image to a posting you should perhaps send the text posting with the picture/pictures to Keith Smith first whose email is at the top of the Blog in the Blog Profile.
I loved reading the extracts of the Masters/Mistresses comments in your School Report Andrew. It just shows you passed the CE and entered a good school and University and Graduate School despite their comments or perhaps their comments provided the spur for you to do so well!
I hope you are keeping well and safe over in New York. You will have heard about the Storm Damage over in the UK in the last few days and I am looking at a nearly 70ft tree at the back of our garden which has come down in the storm luckily causing no personal injuries or property damage . I often wonder about the huge Monkey Puzzle Tree which adjoined the driveway leading up to Charney Hall which tree I presume was sadly knocked down so many years to allow the residential estate to be built and also wonder whether it would have withstood the storm of 1987 and the one which has just taken place.
John Mathers and I and others will be looking forward one day to meeting up with you at this long anticipated reunion perhaps up in Grange over Sands.
Tilak