School Notes
To start on a note (forgive the pun) of welcome we were pleased to receive into our midst, at the beginning of the term, two new members of staff, Mr. Tempest and Mr. Evans. We hope that their stay at the school will be a long and happy one.
We were sorry to see Mr. Batchelor and Mr. Nicholls, and, earlier in the year, Mr. Farrar, leave us, but we join in wishing all of them success in their new posts.
Congratulations are offered to Mr. Sedgley on the birth of a son, and to our Secretary, once Miss Dunkerley, now Mrs. Diskin, on her marriage which took place early this year.
More congratulations and our best wishes to Dennis Elwell who has set an example to the whole school by being the school's first (the first of many, it is hoped) holder of a State Scholarship, and to Fred Brook who also gained a town Scholarship.
School activities, however, do not end in the academic sphere, and a great interest is taken in sport. Members of school teams have represented the town on swimming and rugby teams.
An interest in out of school activities has grown in the past months and the newly formed Dance Club, and Musical Appreciation Society, the recently formed Scientific Society, and the old-established Chess Club and Table Tennis Club all enjoy great popularity.
June Brooks and Shirley Bottomley have received medals from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for essays on wild birds. Lang, Salisbury, Hardy, Brook, Bentley and Barbara White were chosen to represent the town in the County Sports. Barbara White of Form 1 is to be congratulated on achieving a height of 4ft. l0ins. in the high jump.
Speech Night this year will be held on November 30th when the prizes will be presented, and the school addressed by Oldham's eminent historian, Mr. Hartley Bateson, whose book "The History of Oldham" is quite well-known outside the district, and whose articles on the origins of local place names, and the history of local houses, and landmarks, appear regularly in the "Oldham Weekly Chronicle." We all look forward to what I am sure will be a most interesting address.
A small group of members of staff and pupils meets every Monday at 1 p.m. in the Geography Room to sing part-songs, both Elizabethan and modern. New members will be very welcome, especially older boys who can sing tenor or bass. Ability to read music is desirable, but not indispensable.
In the library - no longer the home of the Literary Section of the Sixth Form - a selection of weekly publications, including "The Children's Newspaper," "The Listener" and "La France" has been acquired, and it is hoped, with the co-operation of members of that worthy institution situated near to the girls' entrance to the premises - the woodwork room, to put them on suitable stands so that the library may be used by pupils as a reading-room. Meanwhile they can avail themselves of the opportunity of reading these magazines now, albeit on the humble library tables.
We recall (many with dismay) the G.C.E. examinations taken during June and July, but following these came a time of rest and rejoicing for those who had but lately toiled so hard. End of term visits were paid to Kemsley House, Crown Wallpapers, Messrs. A. V. Roe, and a party visited a coal mine. These visits were enjoyed by all concerned and the school would like to extend its heartiest thanks to everyone who made them possible.
Now looking into the immediate future we can see ahead of us school Christmas parties, and the annual Prefects' Dance, which will be held at the King Street Stores soon after New Year. Of course accompanying them come the end of term and mock G.C.E. examinations, but think not of them now, for I would draw your attention away from this dull fact to the interesting matter awaiting you in the rest of the "Greenhillian."