Part 2: Senior school.

To get into Senior School there was an exam to pass. We were extensively coached and knew what to expect. Most of it seemed to involve ticking boxes.
There were A, B, and C streams in senior school. There were now four houses instead of two. Which house was probably down to your name alphabetically. John went into Priestley House, and it was blue, so there was no change in house colours for him. The other houses were Hook (red), Oastler (green), and De Lacy (purple).
Joseph Priestley stands outside what used to be the post office in City Square, a looking-glass in one hand, and a bowl in the other. From here he looks across to Mill Hill Chapel where he was a dissenting minister in 1767. There is another statue of him in Birstall. Priestley is described as a chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. This is quite apt as John now develops a special interest in chemistry, and then spends his life as a multi-subject educator. John's theology is not Priestley's Uniterianism, but is definitely secessionist as far as the Church of England is concerned.

John is put into the A stream on the lower floor. It is the first classroom that you come to, and also used for detention. The Juniors are no more. One class photograph includes John with Mr. Pearson as teacher in charge. He was the classics teacher. Another photo shows John in the 4th form, but still young enough for the school under 14 rugby team. John starts to be seen in glasses, although not in this one. He was in the street one day not looking where he was going, and his forehead was in collision with a post. His Mother said that his eyesight was never the same after that.
Arthur Fox was the teacher responsible for John to be known as Joe for the rest of his school life. It was when they met in class for the first time. Arthur greeted him by saying "Hello, so you're Joe Cooper's son. I taught your Father." John said that it was a great pleasure to present Arthur with his leaving present. It was in the magazine of 1955 that Arthur Fox is now reported seriously ill. John Coates wrote the following about Arthur Fox, when asked which teacher he remembered most. He said- "No one could forget the stentorian voice of Arthur Fox. Uncle Arthur, or 'Nunc,' was a man with fantastic teaching skills in a dry subject, Latin. He held us in awe. We learned our vocabs and did our homework assiduously. Otherwise impositions, or 'poultices' awaited us. He jotted it down in his diary, but rarely remembered to collect them the next day."

Music and Drama

John has always been in the choir. He started out as a soprano obviously. I could still sing soprano in the fifth year, which got me some funny looks. The school day started off with a morning assembly in the hall, with everybody attending. As saying the Lord's Prayer was not going very well, there was a decision at this time to set it to music. Everybody had a little blue hymn book. I remember liking no. 618. The school year would finish in July with a three day concert, Tuesday to Thursday. The concert programme of 1953 puts John in the tenors. In 1955 it puts him now in the basses. He is also a keen member of the Dramatic Society, and has been appointed the secretary. Finally he stars in a production called 'The Phantom Light,' playing the part of Jerry Mannett, the speed-boat king. That ran for three nights in 1955, the last night being the 1st of April. John's Mother and sister attended on one of the nights, and in the interval walked up the stairs, following the art display, then along the corridor where my oak dressing table was on show.

High Jinks

One day the senior boys managed to get hold of a master key, and with it locked the girl prefects into their common room. That meant crossing into the forbidden half. Normally things were well under control here. It was John who was summoned down into the Headmaster's study to discuss the incident. Mr. Barnshaw quietly advised John that it would be the gentlemanly thing to do to go and see Miss Guest and apologise. On his way back up the staircase he met Stan Wilson coming the other way, and the two of them started to discuss the incident. Stan did not approve of Fanny Guest, not one little bit. He asked if any of the rugby forwards were involved, and when John said yes, Stan advised him to take all the team along as well. This proved a big squash when they all tried to get into Miss Guest's room. Being surrounded like this started to drain her confidence.
Actually Stan had caught some of the senior boys and girls playing a game in the gym one lunch time. He told them to carry on, and he would come back later.
John told me of some of the things that would make a lesson in class more enjoyable. There were subtle ways of pushing a teacher so far, without tipping him right over the edge. One was the trick of feeding a certain boy wrong answers all the time, and after he had realised that, they would give him the correct ones. By that time, however, he thought these were wrong. You could tamper with the sticks of chalk, the blackboard, or the electric wall socket. John's class once gave a window the appearance of being cracked using a thin line of milk. It fooled the teacher, and caused more confusion when secretly wiped clean. You still had a free one third of a pint until Margaret Thatcher put a stop to it. The area in front of the blackboard was slightly raised as a platform. It was a good trick if you could manage to get the teacher to fall off the edge. I was told two ways of doing it.

Sporting achievements

John is at this time, Priestley House Captain. He is also Captain of the 1st XV Rugby Team (1955/56).
For this he was awarded his colours. The same badge can be seen on his blazer pocket. He is an indispensable part of the 1st X1 cricket Team, hitting a mighty six against Rothwell. John makes up the numbers in the school cross country team, and comes second in the open mile, and the 880 yards on Sports Day to help his House win.

His time in the sports teams is of interest. There was the school rule that boys should wear their school caps in the streets. The Wytherites near me would shout out "Ya, Ya, banana splits." There was something banana-like about part of the design. The First X1 of the cricket team in John's time thought that a new look should be possible, and reversed the colours. John had the year 1957 put on his cap badge. It looked good. Some of the team played for other clubs and received excellent coaching there. Dave Sullivan played with the Yorkshire Colts and Seconds. Hammond had played for the Yorkshire Under 15's. Hutchinson, the fast bowler, played for the Leeds team.
When I was made captain of the Junior De Lacy cricket team by Mr. Mounsdon, on the recommendation of fellow pupil Peter Ibbetson, I chose Hutchinson to open the bowling, then put Tom Holloway on at the other end. I cannot remember who we played against, or who won.
Cricket was played on a Saturday afternoon, or occasionally mid week later in the season. The team spirit in this First Eleven was high. Any one of several umpires might accompany the team. Harry Sharratt, the well known Bishop Auckland goalkeeper, who came here to teach, was chosen to umpire the match at Scarborough, and he arranged to join the coach in York. The boy's team wanted to prove some sort of a point, and took caretaker Mr. Sellars with them, and did not stop at York. They were a law unto themselves. The boys helped prepare and roll the wicket during the week. They beat the Old Boys in what was an undefeated season- 1957. The cricket square was surrounded by white posts, which was normal. Some boys must have organised a night time working party, because on arrival at school one day some years earlier, we found that somebody had climbed on the toilet roof and hung a white sheet covering the staff room window, with the words, 'Foggy today isn't it.' On top of the one remaining WW2 air raid shelter, used to store athletics hurdles, and other things, the word TEAS was spelled out using the white cricket posts.
As with the cricket team, the rugby players had the responsibility of arranging their own fixtures by writing to the staff of the school concerned. Some schools were a long way away. The fixture card of the 1956-1957 season was the boy's unaided work. The previous year had seen some undoubted successes, notably when Wakefield Grammar school were beaten 6 -0. This had been unheard of. Everything about Wakefield was impressive, right down to the corner flags that included a posh emblem. Our boys brought one home as a souvenir. Michael Bartley was the most successful of the team. He was chosen to play for Yorkshire against Durham. Although much congratulated on his performance, he was immediately replaced by a public school person. The team for this year had a heavy pack, and could push opponents backwards. It was Mr. Gould who looked after the rugby. He had been teaching at West Leeds for the last 35 years, and was now about to retire. When John was playing at home, his Grandfather Fenton would walk all the way from Henconner Lane to watch. Keith "Dickie" Lincoln, a fellow pupil, would involve himself providing half time refreshments.
Dickie exuded super efficiency. His mannerisms were interesting to watch. I can see him to this day.

This was John's cricket cap . In those days the 1st XI team was a law unto itself and they decided to reverse the blue and gold colours of the school cap. The Headmaster thought it was a good idea and for a few years in the 1950s, these were awarded to the 1st XI cricket team, who prbably wore them when they went out to bat.

One of these came up for sale on e-bay and nobody knew what to make of it . At first sight it looks as though it could be an early attempt at kodachrome processing gone horribly wrong in development or a school cap someone has bleached in the chem lab.

Sixth form years

Being three years in the sixth form allowed John to become Head Boy. It was the perfect choice.
John was Head Boy in the last half of 1956, and the first half of the year celebrating the Jubilee [of the school's opening in 1907], and that was 1957. He delivers the vote of thanks in the Town Hall during the Speech Day in 1956.
He said that it was rehearsed before, apart from any useful last minute ad libs.

He is invited to the council chamber when Alderman J. Hiley, our famous old boy is elected Lord Mayor. There is a photograph of the occasion in Oswald Harland's book about the school, taken at the time. He would also be invited to Old Boy functions, like the Annual Dinner, in the Guilford Hotel opposite the Town Hall.

John gave a January lecture to fellow members of the Science Club on the subject of 'Disc Recording and Reproduction.
It is thought that John was getting interested in aspects of metallurgy at this time.

At the Speech Day on the 28th November 1957, John was awarded the following-
The Head Boy's Prize. The Upper 6th Prize for Science. The Frederick Prize. His 3 A Levels.
He must have come up from Cambridge for this Speech Day in Leeds, having been accepted at Fitzwilliam House in Cambridge, and having just started there. This had been recommended by one of the school teachers. Another sixth form boy had gone there the year before.