Greenhill Grammar school, Oldham

About the 1977 Panorama

 


 

The 1977 photo original was loaned by Isabel Lunn (nee Robinson) who was a member of staff at that time, after being a pupil at Greenhill Grammar 1959-65. It shows an estimated 400 people including staff.

The photo was taken to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of 'Greenhill School', the name Greenhill having been first used in 1952. By 1977 however the comprehensive school system had been adopted and 'grammar' had been dropped from the title. The building was a 11-14 feeder unit, along with Fitton Hill, for Hathershaw Senior (14-18) Comprehensive. In fact Isabel was among the last group of pupils to complete their education under the old regime, the change to comprehensive education being made as she left in 1966. Remaining pupils and staff transferred to Kaskenmoor at Hollinwood

The image is cropped to show the people only. The original prints have a surround with a central caption "GREENHILL SCHOOL OLDHAM, Silver Jubilee, May 1977". The original photo is 33 x 6½ inches overall.

Originally only the images of the staff members were activated as regards names and cameos. However, all 399 positions were fully activated in 2018 when Jenny Winter (nee Bee) undertook a personal project on Facebook to promote this photo.

The original print is on slightly textured paper which tends to show as light flecks in the scanned image. I have filtered this out as much as possible in the main image but it still shows strongly in some areas where the print is a little curled due to rolling. It is very obvious in the individual cameos which cannot be filtered without serious loss of definition.

As well as Isabel, there are several others in this photo who were associated with the original Greenhill Grammar:-

Graham Stanley (Headmaster 534) joined the school as P.E. master with GGS
Ann Hanaghan (Senior Mistress 533) was a GGS pupil, nee Bartlett
Pauline Whitehead (Home Economics 537) was a GGS pupil, nee Timmis
Mary Holroyd (Secretary 548) was the mother of GGS pupil Jennifer Holroyd

The photo was taken and produced by Buchanan & Co Ltd of Portslade Sussex but carries no other identification. Although other references to this company's work can be found on the web I have been unable to trace the company itself. It is believed to have ceased trading and the image to be out of copyright protection.

 

1977 Panorama