Glyn Jones (1943-1950): "I got to like Maths because of him. He took us for R.I. Used to sit in the corner reading the Daily Worker. Odd though, when he knew the Bible so well".

Bill Lea (1956-1962) ".....brilliant Algebra teacher, looked after the Second XI Football Team. Used to like a punch-up with the hard-knocks out of 5C and 5D, especially, I recall, Ian Peck. Abe used to sell the Morning Star at the Pier Head.{I was in 5D - don't remember any punch-ups with Abe while I was there - Tom}

David Long (1958-1965) - "Abe had the job of helping us make the change from Primary School to the real world... no more "Mrs Magillicuddy to look after you now..." - he was a dead shot with the blackboard duster, taught me everything I know about sarcasm (5 what? Elephants?), and taught plus and minus with imaginary flies going up and down the wall. He also went on the annual outward bound trip to Ullapool each Easter. They were the highlight of my time at Alsop."

David Webb (1960-1965): "My eariest memories of Mr. Abraham was double maths on a Monday morning. Not a lot of maths was taught, however. He always wanted to talk about Everton's game from the previous Saturday. It was a great way to start the week."

Geoff Thompson (1965-1972):".....from the time I had him for A-level maths, he was supposed to be teaching us Statistics (which normally led to a converation about gambling) but for some reason we got into centrifugal and centripetal force. By way of demonstration he got Flubber (Colin Higham) up at the front of the class, held him by one hand and spun around with Flubber running for all he was worth. The demo climaxed when he let go of Flubber who crashed into the wall (I think thats centrifugal)."

Phil Taylor (1969-1974): also remembers him fondly, "did he ever teach you binary numbers using the light switches?". I think he did Phil, but then again, most of my time at school I was half in the dark!

That means that Bill was at the school for a great many years - Bill is listed as one of the judges for the 1942 Sports day , and Phil didn't leave until 1974!

"Wac" Cummins is also fondly remembered by many
Alan Marsden (1956-1963) "My greatest memory of "Wac" Cummins was when I was in 6A Modern in 1961-62. He was our form master. He always wore a large voluminous black teachers' robe. Just before the Christmas holiday break after morning assembly, he came into the classroom, and from somewhere deep inside his robe he produced, like a magician out of his hat, the biggest box of chocolates I had ever seen. It was his Christmas present to his form pupils. It was so unexpected, and it speaks volumes abut the dear man's character and care for his pupils.

From Bryan Kayley (1950-1955) - "Wac" was decent enough to help me earn my Boy Scout linguist badge by asking me to give him directions to Walton Hospital in French and I wore my "Je parle Francais" badge with great pride as a result of his kindness,even though I never ever met a French-speaking "Brussel sprout" in my many years in the Organisation during the 1950's.
I also remember Wac's lessons after the Summer Exams when he taught us Esperanto although I can't remember a word of it now. Rumour has it that he caught malaria whilst serving behind enemy lines during World War 2 and this accounted for his jaundiced skin colour which was very noticeable on a "bad day".

From Brian Adams (1947-1953) "...amongst the very best I would include W.A.(“Wac”) Cummins. He was at the school long before and after my stay at Alsop. He was a tall man with a quiet, courteous and caring manner who did his best to motivate his pupils by enjoyment of the subject. I believe he was involved in Intelligence during the war. Many of us started learning French by singing “Frere Jaque” and “Quand Trois Poules” at the top of our voices under his tuition in the First Forms. When the new Library was built he was put in charge of it and some may remember the “Modern Art” pictures he had put on the walls with such enthusiasm. He was our Form Master in our final year in the Sixth Form , earned our respect and made a profound impression on all of us at a formative time in our development. I personally owe him a debt of gratitude I can never repay, as it was in that final year that I got into a scrape which involved “Nat” Cooper threatening me with expulsion, backed up by another senior master whose dignity had been offended. Mr. Cummins had the sense to realise that no malice had been intended and acted strenuously as my advocate. The affair was finally settled by my having to replace a school book. I did not have the means to do so, however, and Mr. Cummins quietly provided a book from his own resources. Speaking to the late lamented Dave Atherton last year I was saddened to hear that “Whack” had died in somewhat lonely circumstances

Other teachers of course, provoke memories as well..

Gordon Butler (1936-1940) - In 1936/7 many of came to school by bike, and this included some of the masters. I don't think I ever saw any of them use a car. School ended at 4pm. In winter, it could be after lighting-up time. Going home one evening along Queens Drive, we passed a group of cyclists who had been stopped by the Police - for riding without lights. Amongst the group, was "Paddy" Ireland on his big "sit-up-and-beg" bike. Next day, his bike, which he used to park under the stairs, sported a fine new cycle lamp. On the blackboard of the first class he took that day, there was a huge drawing of a candle in a jam jar, labelled "Paddy's lamp". He wasn't pleased, and for quite a while this symbol would appear, small, somewhere on the board of every class he went in to.

From Don Smith (1958-1965) - There was a Chemistry teacher nicknamed 'Early', because he never was; at least not for lessons. This reminds me of the occasion when we were carrying out an experiment to ascertain the effect of vanadium pentoxide catalyst on the reaction between nitric acid and copper. This produces nitrous oxide (I think) - a thick brown poisonous gas. One of us, who shall be nameless, got rather over-enthusiastic with the acid and catalyst and the experiment got out of hand. 'Early' became quite concerned and evacuated the lab. He then went to see the Head to consider evacuating a section of the school. While he was gone, the miscreant went back into the lab to add even more of the ingredients. By the time 'Early' got back there were brown fumes pouring out of the lab windows, and the Head evacuated part of the school into the yard and called the fire brigade. All very exiting!

David Long (1958-1965) - Re O.N. Jones - "He wrote Latin text books which we had to use, of course. Full of mnemonics which still haunt me (imperfectly, as they did then - so not much use!). He could not, however, teach me Latin! He used to send me out of the room in one lesson, and then send me out in the next for not knowing what he'd taught in the last. I'll always remember with loathing the "ladder" he had in the lower forms - you had to move up and down the rows in the form room depending upon whether you answered test questions correctly. I hated it!"

Geoff Thompson (1965-1972): remembers Dave Atherton's continual request when he asked a question for a "forest of hands!". Dave sadly passed away 1 February 2001

Keith Comish (1942-1952) asks "Does anyone from the 1940-50 period remember the sex education lessons? These were given in the fourth form (aged about 14) and consisted of four lessons. This was considered such a serious subject that they were given by the headmaster, the Rev. S. W. Whitehouse himself. I remember the first one when he came in and drew a flower shape on the blackboard."
"Does anyone know what this is ?"
"Yes Sir a tulip"
"Very good, and how do you know that ?" The boy named another boy in the next form who had already had the first lesson. The Head rushed next door and dragged the boy out "I won't have you filthy creatures talking about these things"

Dave Rogers (1965-1972) memory of Mr Scales is spot on! - "What I remember about Mr Scales is that he rarely appeared in the main school, his natural habitats were the Old Rectory and the Sixth Form Library, between which he commuted via the sports field. I can see him now, his black masters gown billowing in the breeze as he strode from Rectory to Library or vice versa. I also remember that he had a habit of peppering unruly pupil's heads snow-white with a chalk-duster! ...Perfect Dave!

Talking about the Rectory - Dave Rogers again..."Actually, there are two separate networks of cellars, with no connection between them. One lot is accessed from the round-entrance-room by the front door, the other lot from a wooden panel in the large entrance hall (where the "upturned boat in the corner" was kept!). The nearest we got to finding a possible tunnel was a strange bit at the far end of what looked like a food-and-wine store with shelves cut out of the solid rock ... there was a 90 degree turn at the end which couldn't be seen from the entrance to the room, and seemed to serve no useful purpose."

Dave Rogers one more time - "For Mr Mason to ever leave the room was always highly unadvisable ... I remember another occasion when some lads set the door ajar and balanced a waste-paper bin over it so that it would fall on his head when he returned, and it was one of those big HEAVY square metal bins! Fortunately, some of us weren't quite barbaric enough to allow this, and it was taken down again. It would have seriously injured, if not killed him.
I also remember when he was teaching at the blackboard, as soon as he turned to face the board there would be a hail of paper-balls and other missiles thrown at him, most of which whizzed past his head and hit the board or the wall, but he seemed to be quite oblivious to all this and would just carry on writing!"

Ken Fearon(1961-1966) - "I too remember Mr Mason marking homework by working his way around the room aisle by aisle. I was one of those hooligans who regularly hid under a desk in order to miss the check. When he had finished you just shouted out your mark out of 10 as he called the names out. I would usually award myself 9 out of 10 for my guile."

David Long (1958-1965) started with Mr Scales - "We arrived together in 1958. He was my first form master. Very nice bloke. He used to ride to school on a bike - dead upright. He was called Neville from the start - it just seemed to suit him."

From a Secret source (1966-1985) - "On the 26th of March 1969 the following bulletin was issued by L.W.Warren. It was TOP SECRET. Mine was headed Copy Number 8"
It read : "Hair: Inso far as we have a school policy, I am willing to overlook bouffant mop-like styles provided that the owner has normal vision in all positions, but I object to hair going below the jacket collar. If asked to justify this logically, I would say that hair which reached the waist would be generally regarded as unacceptable, and it is therefore necessary to fix some point of demarcation between the waist and the centre of the skull. The jacket collar will do."

Rollie Whitlock used to sling his gym shoe across the class at anyone he caught not paying attention..... he always aimed high though, so you didn't actually get hit, but the noise when it hit the wall just above your head.......

Matthew McNally (1981-1986) has a similar memory of Mr Freeman - "Mr Freeman the French Teacher was "Froggy" to our class. He had a large dampsponge (he called it a SPONG - was that french for sponge?) and he would hurl either this, or chalk, at anyone who messed around. He was uncannily accurate as well. I always had a knack for French, and was quite good - he nicknamed me "The Professor" - which really didn't help with my "street cred" .

Matthew also remembers deputy head, "Bobbie" Moore "during my years, main memory being the smell of his pipe tobacco - you could follow him around the building by the smell - it was lovely. From talking to my brother, whilst our class called him "Bobby", his nickname during the late 80's was "Penfold", the mole with glasses from the cartoon Dangermouse!"

Alan Mayes (1964-1970): "We always called Mr Cashin 'Lev'. as in Lev Cashin {Lev Yashin famous Russian goalkeeper} 'The Hodge' was by far the most feared teacher in the school. A new maths teacher arrived c.1966 called Mr. Marchbank. Young and trendy guy. Mr Brightly was my form teacher for several years and would never attend the religious part of assembly. We never knew why. But I remember we nicknamed him 'Shine on' . In woodwork I remember making a stick thing with a bit of string through it which would change colours when you pulled it through the wood. !!!! {was the teacher called Mr. James ?]
There was a history teacher called Larry Feehan who went on to teach at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk. J.D. Brightly started a school newspaper in the mid sixties called the Alsop Bugle. We thought French teacher Fred Freeman was cool because he smoked and said 'bloody' in every sentence and 'bugger' in every other sentence.

Ken Clarke (1949-1956) - re Bob Naylor: "Bob was Art master when I arrived in 1949. He tried to teach me Art in 1a. I was awful. Despite this, we became the best of friends. After the new hall and art room were opened ('53ish), I often spent lunch times with him when he would pass on to me his love of Heraldry and Lapsang Suchong tea. He would brew up, and we would then sit together sipping tea and designing armorial bearings. For several years, after I had entered the RAF, I visited him in his retirement in Wales."

Ken Clarke (1949-1956) - re Nat Cooper"No Alsopian history could be complete without a mention of Nat. He taught French and was deputy head to Rev. Whitehouse and Les Warren during my time in the school. If we feared Hodge, we went in awe of Nat. He pretended to hate little boys. He would describe in the most lurid detail, to a whole class, how much he would enjoy putting us, one by one, in a bacon slicer and slicing off our faces bit by bit until there was only a red disc left! He was a canny investor too, as well as a lover of French wine, often encouraging us to put our money in toilet-paper and whiskey shares on the grounds that people would always need both commodities."

Ken Clarke (1949-1956) - re Ethel Eriksson: "Ethel, a spinster old enough to be my mother, was school secretary during my whole time at Alsop. What can't I say about Ethel? First, she treated boys below the sixth-form like worms; but we all loved her, despite herself. I returned to the school a year or so after joining the RAF, and took her out one night on a pub-crawl in the city centre - Ma Edgerton's and all that, rounded off by dancing at the Kinkajoo. I tell you we had a terrific time. She was superb company."

Ken Clarke (1949-1956) - re Larry Rowan: "..... if Alsop ever had its Mr Chips, then Larry filled that part. Larry taught Maths, and taught me up to about the fourth-form. He was my form master in 2a, and I have a photograph of us all, with Larry centre stage, taken in 1951. It is an understatement to say that Larry was special. If ever a master was truly loved by every boy in the school, Larry was. Another gentle, caring man, he singularised himself by wearing a gown that was in complete tatters. In the bottom of each long rag hanging down his back Larry had tied a suitable object - a marble or a conker - things like that. When a boy offended, Larry would scoop the tatters from behind him with his arm, and then select a projectile suitable to the offence. The selected tatter was then whirled around and the conker, marble, or whatever, clonked on top of the boy's head with appropriate force. You will appreciate that such eccentricity sat extremely well with we boys. He retired during my time at the school - a sad day; but it wasn't too long after that Larry died - a purple-sad day indeed."

Glyn Jones (1943-1950) also remembers Mr Rowan: "Larry was very pleasant. I remember his gown was in shreds and most shreds were tied in knots, which he used, as a scourge to chastise people. I was dozing on one occasion because I had an upset stomach. Unfortunately, Larry thought I was playing the fool and whacked me on the head with a knot. One of the others told him that wasn't fair because I was unwell and he apologised profusely ( genuine too!)."

Ken Clarke (1949-1956) - re Mr. Bottomley: "Memory tells me Mr. Bottomley taught French. Thanks to him I passed GCE, and I can still sing a French Christmas carol he taught us - in French too!"

Ken Clarke (1949-1956) - re Mr. Holroyd:"Mr. Holroyd taught me Chemistry up to GCE. He retired a few years after I had left the school. He was very highly though of. The story goes that at about the time he retired, workmen were ripping out his old lab, and so the staff paid for a garden seat to be made of the teak from the front bench that he had spent his professional years teaching from. A lovely touch that."

Ian Pritchard (1973-1980) recalls - "....reminds me of when I was standing in the corridor outside the Headmaster's room, where hung a picture of JW Alsop. One of the less erudite pupils was passing, pointed at the picture, looked to me and said "That's the bastard what invented the school!"

Syd Cottle (1982-1988) remembers his first caning - "I first had the cane by Peter (Windy) Miller in the lower school..........arriving in school at the first break from a 9am Dentists appointment I was intrigued to know what was going on in the main hall (it was being used for local election voting). I was collared by 'Windy', dragged up to his office and caned for disobeying his words to stay clear of this area during that mornings assembly. If I am not mistaken Fred Schober was in the room too - he may have been head of second year at the time. I was caned again by 'Wally Rubberneck' or Mr Range - can't remember what for though, but I am pretty sure I deserved it this time!"

Also from Syd, this lovely story about Assembly -" I remember (approx 1985/6) during an assembly Mr Roberts (or 'Batman') welcomed us all back from our Christmas break with the words 'I hope you were all doing what I was doing with my wife last night.....'. The muffled laughter from the staff being drowned only by the wolf-whistles and laughter from the pupils. He did explain when the noise died down that he was referring to taking down the Christmas tree!"

Footy Memories!

Our biggest news in recent times is that the manager of Liverpool F.C., Gerard Houllier was once a teacher at Alsop! Ray Redfern (1955-1962) remembers playing with him for Alsop Old boys, when Gerard was on the staff in the 1970s. Ray also mentions the school chant and The Liverpool Daily Post printed a letter from Ray, in which he kindly gave this web page a plug. Here is the gist of it 

Tom King (Former president of the Old Boys) once payed footy for Everton! Glyn Jones (1943-1950) remembers- "He played for Everton as an amateur in 1947 then he plated for Marine. The only man I knew to hit the corner flag from a penalty."

Neil Wilkes (1973-1980) remembers "registers being taken at the end of the school day to see how many pupils had not sneaked off early to go to the Championship decider at Wolves in 1977, and missing out onthe European Cup final in 1978 because I had a woodwork CSE practical".

Sneaking off for soccer games seems to have been a popular pastime - Glyn Jones again - "One of my memories is rushing to Goodison on a Wednesday at 4.00 to see the end of England v. N.Ireland. 1-0 for N.I. when we got there, then England got 2, then at the very end, Wright lost the ball out to the left a poor cross and Peter Doherty knocked himself out with the header and scored. The only other memory was having something in my eye and not being able to go to school in the afternoon. Odd but England v. Eire at Goodison was on and I couldn't tell anyone about it"

Mike McNally (1982-1990) tells me that "Tranmere Rovers player Kenny Irons was an Alsopian between 1982-87." They were both part of the squad that went on the school football trip to Belgium at Easter 1984.

Sadly some bad soccer news for the school as well - from the Liverpool Daily Post 11 March 1998 - "A Liverpool school has been kicked out of a major soccer tournament. An alleged bust-up involving parents of a rival team has shattered Alsop High School's chances in the English Schools FA under-16 tournament. The team were due to play Liverpool's Blue Coat School in the quarter final. But Alsop have been disqualified after an incident at Park Hall School in Tamworth, Birmingham."

From David Webb (1960-1965): "I was in Mersey House and when I was in the fifth year I captained the football team, mainly because nobody else wanted to do it. I was also the scorer for the 1st eleven cricket team for two years, the highlight being when the team reached the semi-final of the schools knockout and we played St Edwards at Aigburth. We got beat (we always did against St Edwards) but it was the first time I had been in proper scoreboard. In fact it is the only time."

Not Footy, but a great quote - thanks to Ken Harcombe (1967-1973):"As Mr Lunt said, in our one and only game of rugby, 'never mind the ball, let's get on with the game'".

Other Memories

Allan Mayes (1964-1970) - "The end of term movie was always a football match between Eintracht and some other team where the score was something like 12-7 or something. Although I do remember seeing Farenheit 451 one year. The only music lesson I ever had involved Sam Sherman playing an old classical record on the balcony overlooking the hall. This must have been a 'filler' lesson because music was never on the curriculum. [The irony is I've been a professional musician for the past 20 odd years]
At the school dances [were there any girls there ?] the bands were always, Familiarity Breeds, Colonel Bagshots Incredible Bucket Band, and the Manic Depression.Manic Depression had a former Alsop boy called Eddie Jones as their lead guitar player. Eddie was probably the best guitar player in Liverpool in the Hendrix/ Clapton style.
When I was in the 5th form I joined my first band called Medium Theatre. Two guys from the 6th form, Colin Busby and Rob Harris ran this band and myself and 2 classmates Alan Brown and Ray Burnside were thrilled to be involved with these older cooler guys. We ran a poetry magazine called Medium around this time.Another old boy Steve Isbister had a psychedelic light show [Bayou Flyer Lights] and our entire concept was a multi-media rock and roll event - It was the sixties after all. Dave Morrey was the roadie for the group which was a little strange because we travelled to bookings on the bus with all our equipment in the luggage section under the stairs."

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