Recognise this old building? It’s the old Meols Infants School that was once in School Lane, Meols, kindly sent in by Graham Price. For those out of the area, the site is now home to some bungalows that are accessed from both School Lane and via Beachcroft Road.
Whilst some of my old school friends attended school at the building, when I moved to Meols I went straight to school in nearby Elwyn Road. I can’t recall when this building closed, but I guess it was around the late 1970′s?
Graham wonders if any of you recognise an old family friend named Ike:
After a little search I managed to stumble upon a German fanzine site for local band OMD. They have a couple of other photos of the old school; a photo of an ex-teacher I remember, named Miss (Mrs?) Clayton and a photo of one of Hoylake’s better known landmarks – the fountain on the promenade in a lovely shade of blue!
Amazing what’s out there on the internet!
I attended the old Meols school for around two years early ’50s. My first teacher there was Mr Tomlinson, then in “top class” Miss Crawshaw or Mrs Farrow as she became.
It was a great little schhol and my two brothers also went there before we all passed the 11 plus and went on to Calday and West Kirby.
Happy Days
Thanks Sue, I remember Mrs Farrow. Four of my children went to the old school (and Elwyn Road) before we emigrated to Canada in 1975. The old school which was then mainly for kindergarten was still a going concern then.
How can anyone ever forget Ike! He was Mr. Meols of the old days and when he passed away a few years ago , so had an era of Meols. Throughout his adult life my dad used to keep a photograph in his top jacket pocket, of a group of young lads from Meols playing football, including Ike and himself.
Hello to all old Meols-ites – Including Mr. Baldock !
I’m new to this junction thing, but my son Sam and I just spent a couple of hours looking for old school lane pictures and old school photos with me in for entertainment purposes, with not much success! I lived literally next door to Ike (John) Jones and his family on the junction of School Lane and Brosters lane. Ike went to school with my Great uncle Richead (Dick) Earndan – still alive and well in Hoylake aged 93. – My Mum and Dad still live there in Brosters lane 53 years after Dad built the house himself at the age of 28. He is seriously ill at present, but his wish is for me and my family to live there one day. I attended the old Meols Annexe school back in 1972 – 74, then I went to the fairly newly built Elwyn rd. school, where my Daughter Lottie is going very soon. – All the best everyone. Myles
Tim – just saw your name – I used to be a school friend of your cousin Judith – and I think I remember you from your connection with the United Reformed Church in Meols
where are you now – abnd do you know where Judith is?
How Amazing that this picture should appear this week!!!
St John the Baptist Church Centenary is 2013, and we have just set up a group to plan the Centenary.
As a result I met with the Headteacher of Great Meols School yesterday to discuss the History of the School, which was St John’s School originally, being part of our Celebrations. She was delighted as she has long wanted to do this.
An exploratory General Get-together for anyone who is interested in helping with this School Project or has archival pictures, stories, etc and/or would be interested in a Re-union of Past Pupils is cordially invited to St John’s Church Centre on Wednesday January 19th at 7-30p.m.
Contact us at 632 2152 or 632 1661.
I went to the little school on School Lane before going to big school at Elwyn Rd….
I was at little school 1980-1982(ish), Mrs Baker(1B) Mrs Sedgewick (2S)
I think it closed a year after i left, used to play on roller-boots in the quad just out front of that photo once it closed.
Great find!
Ah how nice to see a picture of Ike! He was a lovely man – always had a smile and a few minutes for a chat. There really were some characters in Meols in those days. Hey Graham, for a minute I thought it was a picture of YOU standing outside the school! I never attended that part of the school as a child – think I was in the first year that missed that experience. Happy memories of Meols School – Miss Burns (married and living in Hoylake – see her now and again), Mrs Wynne, Mrs Grandidge, Mrs Stevenson, the lovely Mr Holland (one of my fave ever teachers), Mrs Blackburn, Miss Clayton and Mr Tomlinson. I once got a detention with The Capper Twins from Mr T with for standing on the Juniors croquet hooks! I also remember sitting in Mrs Farrows office for hours doing telephone duty – could you imagine doing that now?? And being rubber plant monitor – got out of several PE lessons to go and clean the rubber plant! Loved it there!
blast from the past, you have brought back so many memories mentioning those teachers!!! i had forgotten their names
Lovely to see the old school, I went there in the late 50′s, early 60′s and remember Mr Tomlinson and Miss Farrow well, and also Mrs Smout who was there when my father and his sisters were at the school in the 1930′s! Happy days, when all winters meant the milk bottles froze and had to be warmed up by the heating pipes, (the outside toilets froze too!) and all summers were gloriously hot and the summer fair and sports days were big events! I was so sad to see it knocked down.
I went to the school approx 1970/1971 before moving onto “Elwyn Road”. I remember there were 2 teachers one being Mrs Sedgewick. I remember singing around the piano and playing with water toys in the front yard. The building you can just see to the right was where we did christmas shows for parents and was also the dining hall where there was a really scary dinner lady who banged the ladle on the old metal bowls to make us quiet! Ike lived over the road with his brother Fred who was a caretaker at West Kirby Grammar when I went there. Good memories,
That was a real school, just like The Parade !
I went there in 67 when we moved to Meols and then moved to Elwyn Rd as soon as it opened. During the 70’s whilst I was in the Scouts based down the side lane, used to help with running the Fairs and Jumble sales there. Back then the school field was still in existence.
So many teachers names to bring back memories, especially Mr Holland. Back in the days when you could be promoted to Milk Monitor whilst the teacher sorted out the problems like they used to be able to then.
That has to be the Graham Price that I went to school with, along with Toby Stiles from the farmhouse on Park Road.
ah i remember Ike, what a great guy!! and Mrs Clayton, she was my teacher in Elwyn road.. a wonderful woman… good grief i feel old now!!!!
Hi all..Graham I still see you and Heather now and again..I remember attending here in the 60s and then the move to Elwyn Ed….I also remember something one day where Mr Tomlinson chased a man out of the girls toilets and across the front yard and out into the road and the man ran off…scary really but the girls toilets were open onto the yard..and bloomin cold in the winter hee hee….happy times….
Hi, I see my brother has made a couple of posts already! I loved my time at St. John’s school and then at Elwyn Road. I remember we weren’t allowed to cross’the line’ in the infant school-which I inevitably did and consequently got told off by Mrs Baker!! I also really liked Mr Holland at Elwyn Road-he used to address the class as’ladies and jelly-beans’ if my memory serves me well! I remember the telephone duty with Mrs Farrow too and also her recorder sessions which I really enjoyed (bar the disinfected mouthpieces-eew!).
Happy days!
I went to St John’s in the early 50′s but only for a short time.
I Joined St John’s Meols snooker & bowling club situated behind the school in the late 50′s my grand father was treasurer of the club and used to take me there for a game of snooker, you could cut the smoke with a knife, does anyone remember the whist drives there on a Monday night?
during the late sixties When the club started to fall into disrepair I volenteered to look after the maintenance of it, not thinking I would spend the next 25 years doing it, Does anyone remember the playschool attached at the back that I painted with so many vivid colours?.
When St John’s school and church hall where demolished, I arranged for the club land to be bought from the church, for the princely sum of £10000 and subsequently sold it to enable the building of the new club now situated at the side of the bowling green, after arranging with the council to build it on their land for a peppercorn rent.
In the sixties Ike his brother Fred, Myself and a couple of others would play cards in the club on a Saturday night till the early hours, Ike would always call in the club for a chat, such a friendly man and still missed in the area.
Ike. There’s a name to conjure with. What a character and what a lovely friendly man. His name was actually John Wilson Jones, and he was my Dad’s cousin. Dad reckoned Ike never bought a round in his life. The scruffy old mac he constantly wore was his treasury. He didn’t believe in banks and always carried all his cash around with him, stuffed into the lining of his old coat. On one of my infrequent visits to the Wirral, I bumped into him in the Old Quay at Parkgate, where someone had taken him for a meal, and was able to buy him a pint. Sadly he died soon after, but I was glad to have seen him again.
Looking at Grahams photo, the old school in school lane should NEVER have been knocked down.It was structurally sound. – St Georges primary in Wallasey Village is still going strong and its much older than school lane. It could well have been still put to good use as a school or small community centre as well as the new church centre at st. johns where my family and I attend currently. – Bungalows should’nt be built just replace local history !! Grrrr!
Myles- interested in your post as I went to St Georges in Wallasey before we moved and I started at Meols- St Johns. Both fantasric schools. I was 6 when i went to St Georges and was there for around 3/4 years, Finished off in the prefab clss rooms which were by the Cheshire Cheese pub. Had less than 2 years in Meols before passing 11plus to West Kirby. All downhill school wise then- hated WKGS.
I totally agree Myles – what a lack of foresight on the part of the council! Great that your children go to Meols School. I love that sense of continuity – it becomes more important the older we get, doesn’t it? My Dad went to Meols School – he would have been 100 this year and used to tell great stories about his time there! I worked there for a brief period as a classroom assistant before I went to Uni but never went there as a pupil since the infant department and the juniors swapped sites when I started.
Mr Holland – I loved him! He once gave me an out-of-date green fisheries diary as a prize for spelling “grotesque” correctly I was so chuffed – treasured it for ages! And I’m sure Mrs Grandidge used to smoke in the stockroom although I could be wrong!
Mrs Grandidge spent her time renewing her lipstick in front of the tiny sinks in the classroom, that’s when she wasn’t crying/ smoking in the toilets! Mr Holland was the best, his spelling tests were legendary and they have served me well in my adult life. I remember he used to pick up the boys by their ears tho!….and Tommy gave the ruler, but only to naughty boys!
How wonderful to see the photo of St John’s Primary School where I was at school from 1952 until I passed the 11 plus and went on to West Kirby Grammar.
Happy memories of the teachers Mr Tomlinson, Mr Corkhill, Mrs Smout, Mrs Farrow.
The big grassy hill on the playing field at the back which was wonderful to roll down!
I went to my first dance in that school hall.
Wonderful memories!!
Does anyone remember Butterworths ice cream round the corner in Forest Road?
We used to go to the house and knock on the door to buy ice cream.
Also Jack Price’s farm on the green in between Forest Road and Roman Road?
I remember the ice cream in Forest Rd although I didnt remember the name. I also remember a shop in the front room of the house junction Hoylake Rd and Banks Rd opposite the Railway Inn. My mum used to buy me sugared
mice there.
I well remember butterworths ice cream my mother would send me there with a bowl to fill up on special occasions, you got served from what seemed to be a stable door.
I worked for Jack Price as a school boy I would have been about 14
Before school at about 5.30 I would walk from Egbert road to the farm to help deliver milk, sitting on the back of his van exhaust fumes blowing in stopping every few minutes to jump of with the order and deliver to1 or 2 houses then running to catch up with van as jack would have driven further down the road, kept me fit, when van was empty we would return to farm to refill, I would then go home about 8ish to get ready for school, nice job in summer very cold in winter.
What about the shops by meols station Rosie Prices veg & fish shop,merrymans paper shop everybody had a flutter on merryman when it won the national 1963.
does anybody remember the names of other shops like the cake shop, chemist etc?
Does anyone remember the small general food shop in fornells green lane Meols and the DIY place behind it?
Starting at the Birkenhead Rd end of Station Approach you had Ann Lennie hairdressers, Woodfield Cooke chemist, Merrimans, Irwins, later taken over by Tesco. ( The manager was Mr Halewood.) Then you had Becks the baker, run by Ted Beck, then you had a baby linen and wool shop last owned by Jacky Brookes, Newton Edwards the butcher, then Rosie Price the green grocer, who for years employed Arthur. At the other side of Derwent Rd there was Tottey and Capper’s builders yard.and hardware shop and across Birkenhead Rd, where the Beauty Salon used to be was Martin’s Bank which later became Barclays.
The shop at the end of Fornalls Green used to be called Whiteleys,it was later known as Brookfield stores and eventually it became Brownbills.
Guy
Wow, you’ve a good memory! The chemists sold yummy lollipops as I recall, at some point it became a clothes shop. Think everybody knew Arthur with his huge beard! I remember all the other shops and my hubby remembers that Whiteleys sold loose cigarettes….naughty boy that he was! I also remember the sweet shop opposite the Railway Inn, useful after crossing the road with Mrs Mcclusky as our lollipop lady. happy Days
My late husband Ron Hall left the Parade School in 1938 and began an apprenticeship as a Pharmacist at Woodfield Cooke, now Something in Store.
He was trained by Mrs Johns and had to leave in 1942 to join the Army.
You could do all your shopping at Meols, remember no processed foods all fresh and home cooked and in Season Fruit and Vegetables only.
Hope the latest food scares will return us to these good food days!!!!
Am loving these posts on Meols. have wonderful memories of the school- I went there in 1950 having moved from St Georges in Wallasey. Although we lived in Hoylake many of my friends lived in Meols and I spent a lot of time there. I remember the ice cream in Forest Road, the little shop in Fornalls Green Lane. Does anyone recall the shop on Birkenhead Road- opposite the Railway Inn. You went up the garden path into a sweet shop- I don’t remember the name- but hope someone will.
I remember Meols Shops so well. Before WW2 my father in law – Bill Brumfitt- worked for Prices greengrocers. It must have been a happy time for him as he still talked about it until he died in the early ’80s.
It’s around 12 years since I was in Hoylake but have lots of memories, I was married in St Hildeburghs, and both my children christened there, one daughter born in Meols in the flat we lived in before going off to live in Africa.
I will be making a visit in April- IF anyone remembers me I’d love to meet up- Jackie I remember you as Jackie Reeves at Meols school- Jan Foster I remember you and Mike at Pet shop and Mikes’ parents house in Bertram Drive. Hope to hear from some old Hoylakians. Sue
Yes Sue. I remember well all those shops in Meols by the station. Living in Ryecroft Road I used to push the pram over the bridge most days to do my daily shop. In those days you could leave your babies in their prams outside the shops quite happily knowing they would come to no harm. I could buy everything I wanted there at the baker, greengrocer, buther and chemist. Happy days!
Hi Sue
do you remember me at all I also attended St Johns ,remembering Miss Crawshaw
Mrs Smout and Mr Corkhill.
What I remember about the sweet shop was 1 penny bags of broken crisps they
were so wonderfully greasy!
Does the name Ann Murch mean anything to you, or David Cresswell, orNigel
Bertram? these are the people I remember.
I lived in Hoylake {Grosvenor Road} whilst you lived in Alderley road Sandtoft
I believe.
Anyway happy days!
Sandra
I lived in Meols but loved going to see Clive in The Bob Bon in Hoylake. Loved that sweet shop and was sorry to see it go.
I was a Rycroft road girl too, I’m wondering if you lived at no 16?
Yes I did. I was Jill Evans then and had 6 children including twins, Daniel and Gareth.
Were you at number 20?
This question is off topic but I am curious about the name Gillian or short form Jill, is it overly popular in the Wirral pennensula? The reason I ask is my wifes name was Gillian, her best friend in Hoylake was Gillian Watson, she had a nurse from Prenton named Gillian, and many times the name Gillian pops up, not important but just wondering.
I am actually just Jill, not a Gillian. My birth certificate says Jill Elizabeth. I knew of a couple of Jill’s while at school and on the Wirral but one spelt Gill which I was told was not the shortened form of Gillian.
I have a cousin christened Jill. But regarding Richards comment- I just think Gillian, Gill and Jill were names of the time- not peculiar to Wirral.
I have loved reading all these posts. I attented the little old school with Mrs Kelly as my teacher before moving to Elwyn Road. Mr Holland was lovely but I liked Mrs Wynne who had a Jemima Puddle duck you could cuddle if you felt ill. I remember the shops in station approach. Living over the bridge we were supposed to cross the road with Mrs Mccluskey outside the railway but we never did. Happy memories having left the Wirral several years ago.
I remember when I was a lad, delivering fruit and veg on a bike with a big basket on the front for Arthur at prices green grocers , I think I got the princely sum of £1 per week… Happy days!!
before it was whiteleys it was langleys.i used to get my dad,s woodbines for him from there!