Garth Technical Secondary School
The Building Workshop
By John Tipple
In October 1952, the late Mr. F. Grimme, Chairman of the Board of Governors and a great friend of the School, started the project by digging the first spadeful of the foundations. The Education Committee had sanctioned the scheme on the recommendations of the Governors and the N.E Divisional Executive Committee.
The scheme was estimated to cost about £1000 and in spite of rising prices the actual cost came in at £1,040.
The completed workshop.
Donated by Bill(Wilbur)Lake
Every boy in the third and fourth year from 1952 to 1956 played a part in this construction. The scheme was fortunate in the appointment of Mr.J.R. Strutton as the Building Master, whose broad experience in the construction industry plus his patient coaching of the boys helped to overcome numerous difficulties which would have floored many. In this he was ably assisted by Mr E.E Harden (Woodwork) and Mr Crocker (Metalwork).
The construction began in October 1952, and one year later the first of the technical stream arrived at the school.
Sadly your author, and a member of this illustrious band of artisans is very rarely seen in such endeavours owing to the fact that he could no more make a window frame than fly to the Moon!
But he did learn how to cut a ‘Queen closer’, and lay bricks, either in Flemish or English bonding; indeed he is attributed with building one of the corners of the workshop!!
Mr Harden's class.
Donated by Bill(Wilbur)Lake
As a class we were drawn from a catchment area that included Egham, Staines, Walton-on-Thames, East Molesey, Hersham, Mickleham, Dorking, Kingston, New Malden and one cheeky local lad who lived within walking distance and still arrived late!! I’m referring of course to the irrepressible Francis J. Reed.
In September of 1953 we were virtually all strangers, but by the time we had completed that workshop we were a class united by a great camaraderie and a strong bond of friendship that has endured 60 years!
Sadly the passing years have taken their toll and our numbers may have diminished, but the memories still live on.
How successful were these schools?
The Tripartite System, ( grammar, secondary technical and secondary modern) as it was known, was the brainchild of Winston Churchill, who saw it as a way of improving social mobility, and eroding class barriers.
But the resources for implementing the system were slow in coming. The logistical difficulties of building enough secondary schools for the entire country delayed the introduction of tripartite education. It was not until 1951, that the system began to be widely implemented.
Very few technical schools were opened, due to the lack of money and a shortage of suitably qualified teachers. This failure to develop the technical part of the system undermined the whole structure. The tripartite system was, in effect, a two-tier system with grammar schools for the academically gifted and secondary modern schools for the others. But these technical secondary schools provided an education for around 70% of the UK's school children.
Existing beliefs about education and the failure to develop the technical schools led to the grammar schools being perceived as the superior alternative.
Working on the roof with no safety equipment in sight.
Donated by Bill(Wilbur)Lake
Fred Mole at work.
Donated by Bill(Wilbur)Lake
In hindsight, it was a vital opportunity lost, but for those of us who were at the forefront of that development, in particular the 20 boys of the technical stream at Garth, known as 3T ( Building Construction) , it was a whole new experience in many ways.
Our bespectacled headmaster was a Welshman, indeed he was born in the coal rich valleys of South Wales, and judging by his square cut features, and stocky build you could be forgiven for thinking that he had been chiseled out of the coalface!
As a teacher he was expressive, colourful, and innovative, never afraid to step ‘outside the box’ but throughout our time at Garth he displayed a Messianic zeal and belief in his “boys”, which in many ways helped to forge long lasting links between the school and the boys.
Mr Hugh Morris OBE, Headmaster with the school prefects.
Donated by Bill(Wilbur)Lake
Class photo taken after completion of the workshop. Back row from left to right Johnny Poole, Freddie Mole, Johnnie Tipple, Chris Stocks and Mr Harry Strutton, the brickwork master, Eddie Blanchard, Roger Carnegie, Michael Ferris and Frank Reed. Front left to right; Dave Squire, Jack Roach, Peter McDonald, Gerry Batchelor, Bill Lake (Wilbur), Michael Spellar, Rob Todd and Maurice Cooper.
Donated by Bill(Wilbur)Lake
A disciplinarian, he won the respect of many in the school, but he was fair and he cared; he also believed that it was his personal mission in life to identify the latent talents that so often go un-noticed in the under-achievers.
As an individual Hugh Morris OBE possessed boundless reserves of drive, energy and enthusiasm, he was a teacher with a passion for education and teaching.
Whereas today in many secondary schools, the number of 16- to 19-year-olds rendered functionally illiterate or innumerate has failed to improve over two decades, yet every one of the twenty boys who started the new scheme in 1953, left school in 1956 with at least one pass in the General Certificate of Education, and several had five or more passes. Moreover several went on to achieve positions of seniority in the construction industry.