Sadness as council moves to demolish old school building

“Sad to see my old school go. It was second only to the High School in terms of exam results when I was there (1969-76), but the rot set in with that failed experiment called comprehensive education.”

“Post Script: There were 68 balls in the drain pipe! Other recollections were efforts made to try and enter the school as at 8-45 am all doors were locked except the front entrance. Prefects were on duty at that door to take the names of those that were late which usually meant a detention on friday afternoon. The weekly crocodile of boys down to Basford Northern Baths for swimming lessons was one of the routines. Another ruse was to run down to bus stop at the railway bridge as it was a fare stage for Nottingham City Transport and we got to town for 2d instead of 3d. Similarly if you had time you could get a 2d in the morning and get off the trolley bus at Basford Nothern and join the group arriving by train at the station. They arrived by steam trains!”

“One of the amusing tales from my time at Henry Melllish was when there was a large wet patch on the wall by the Kersall Drive entrance to the front corridor. The rain water was just running down the outside of the drainpipe. It transpired the pipe was full of tennis balls that had been lost from the practice of playing hand tennis against the wall. Hand tennis consisted of a row of lads in a line and the player at the right hand of the line hit a tennis ball with the palm of his hand or sometimes his fist to hit the wall above the line of white stone that ran round the building. Whoever was near the ball after the first bounce had to hit it back above the white line. Failure to return the ball meant that the player had to leave the line and the attrition continued until there was a winner. The winner then became the right hand player to start the next game. The serve passed down the line one place every time a player was knocked out. It kept us fit and amused during lunch breaks.

Rugby Union was the main winter sport and the school was usually close to the top of the county table most year and many players went on to achieve renown such as Mick Brownhill and Dust Hare who both played for Leicester and Dust played for England. They were also quite good at cricket.

There were many pranks played on Masters at the end of term, one master had his minicar lifted onto the landing between the two flights of stairs to the sports field, less amusing was when one master had his Sturmey Archer hub filled with sand. Another favourite was pushing potato's up the car exhaust pipes. The team spirit of the school was high and whilst there were occasional bouts of exuberance there was very little trouble from the pupils outside the school”