Elliott Upper Levels     Back to Main Index

3 September 2003

The majority of these photos, were taken during a visit to the school by Andy Lambert in 2003, plus a few from the School open day in 2004. It was almost exactly forty years since I had last walked around the school and I thank Alan Morrin for the chance to do it. These are not in anyway professionally staged photos, I just saw something I liked and 'snapped' it. Many will no doubt jog a memory, or two for you.

This view is very significant for me, it is the view from our form locker room (lost when the school was rebuilt). Forty or so years earlier, after giving a quick and 'smartarse' answer to 'Porky' Parsonage (then our exasperated form teacher), he had sighed, pointed out the window and said something like "One day Lambert you are going to drive through that gate in a big flash car, just to show me how successful you have been out there in the real world". Well that's my Jag convertible forth from the top, in 'his' car park. The thing that makes me really sad was that he was not there, so I could thank him for seeing something in his pupils that few others took the time to!

Wherever you are now Porky, from me (and many others no doubt) - Thank you for everything.

Looking down on the Library with the teacher outside dining area above it

Fascinating progression of time, here is a Blackboard that had been covered by a Roller-board that had itself been covered by a pull-down Projector Screen

In my day (1958-63) these science lab benches had been solid, with cupboards underneath full of things we were not allowed to touch (but did) and some had sinks built in as well as electrical terminals and wonderful brass gas taps to connect our Bunsen burners to.

Even more modern in this class room.

Glass Storage

How did we ever do any work with views like that out the window

Modern 13 amp ring mains (not my old round pins) but no sign of the brass gas taps?

Can we make some recreational drugs please sir?

The school changing rooms and gyms, now no longer with us.

The famous Elliott Chimney still exhausting gases today

The Elliott 'open air' Theatre and behind where the old Bike Sheds and 'Smoker's Corner' had been.

At last some brass taps, but we did not do much molecular structure theory in 1958

I think we all had to share one Microscope in 58, but it was a brute as I recall

Then i was I was tipped off by a teacher, to look in room 157. A passing cleaner gladly obliged and I found this time warp room, waiting for modernisation. It looked just like it did 40 years ago apart from the fact the sinks had already been removed

The iconic Spiral Staircase where all us boys used to try and look up the girl's skirts

The top corridor linking the Geography sections. Under the refurbishment this has been turned in to one big class room with dreadful acoustics

Around 10 times a day, we would go up and down at least one flight, and often all of them.

A view out on to the Ashburton Estate in 2003

Another view of Geography

The stairs at the opposite end

The same radiator Sylvia and myself used to sit on during the winter lunch break

The view from the radiator

Looking along the corridor