BIRKDALE NEWS
November 1991

New Principal Appointed for Birkdale

As reported in the last newsletter, Mrs Tomkinson retires from her post as Principal at the end of the Christmas term. Mrs Tomkinson started teaching at the school in 1964. She originally came into the school as a supply teacher but stayed to become Head of the Junior School in 1980. When Miss Clark retired in 1986, Mrs Tomkinson took over the reins as Principal. [On behalf of all former pupils of Birkdale, may I take this opportunity to wish Mrs Tomkinson a happy and healthy retirement - TW]

The new Principal, who officially takes over Mrs Tomkinson in January, is Mr Loxham. He is no stranger to the school as he taught in the Junior department during the 1970s. Mr Loxham is married and has five daughters. [We wish him veil in all he does as he steps into the role of Principal - TW]

High Success Rate on 1991 GCSE Results

There were a total of 17 entrants in this year's exams and between them, they achieved 58 passes. This includes a 100% pass rate in Art and Design with Jonathan Lloyd, Alasdair & Robert Pattison all achieving grade A. Nearly 50% of all the passes were awarded grade C or above.

Top of the Form

Lorraine Carrington (nee Foster) has passed her City & Guilds in Plumbing at Wigan College. Lorraine is now taking the Advanced Craft in Plumbing course. [Now who says girls can't unblock the sink! - Ed]

Twins Alasdair & Robert Pattison are both studying at Hugh Baird College in Bootle. Alasdair is learning about engineering whilst his brother is studying construction. Both lads live in Helsby in Cheshire.

Anne Telford (nee McNeil) recently passed her GCSE English Language exam. Anne still lives in the Wirral with her guide dog, Sophie.

Success for Susie

Over the last few months, Susie Storey has been a trainee with the Office Services Bureau, which is part of Southport College. She has been studying business administration, communications and typewriting skills. Because of her success on the course, Susie has gained work placement with the Littlewoods store in Southport. She is currently working in the offices of the store and one day each week Susie continues to study for the rest of her exams. Soon Susie will be going to the Littlewoods head office in Liverpool to gain more work experience.

News in Brief

Stewart Boan is now working as a Clerical Assistant at St Helens College.

Jacqueline Harrison is doing YTS Clerical Officer work for two years. She still lives in Orford, Warrington and in her spare time enjoys cycling and watersports.

Ursula Hulme is now teaching Home Economics at Birkdale. [Like me, she couldn't keep away from the place! - TW]

Richard Keen still lives in Rainford near St Helens. He works in the film and theatre business. His ambition is to be a producer/director. [There's no business like show business! - TW] In his free time, Richard likes car maintenance, DIY, photography and snooker.

Michael Lumby has been employed by J Rothwell & Son on the mushroom farm in Ormskirk for 21 years. [After that mention, do I get any free mushrooms?! - TW]

Stephanie Wilkins (nee Grimshaw) got married on 3 August 1991. Both Susan Harrison (nee Osborne) and Joanne Parker were bridesmaids at the wedding.

Pupils Design Stained Glass Window

A hand-crafted stained glass window was recently designed by about 20 pupils from the school. The four foot square window was constructed as part of a project for the Merseyside Arts Festival. The multi-coloured window was created from a collage of the pupil's designs centred around the school coat of arms. Help came from Ron and Ruth Cave who both run a stained-glass business in Southport.

The window has been on display at the Market Street Hearing Care Centre and is being installed in school later this month. The unveiling of the window will be made in honour of Mrs Tomkinson and her work at the school over the years.

Ex-pupil to Advise Newly Deafened People

It was nice to see Jacqueline Dore (nee Bairstow) in school recently. Jacqueline lives in Torpoint, Cornwall and came to the school whilst visiting relatives in Liverpool. As part of her news, Jacqueline said that she had been accepted by the British Association of the Hard of Hearing to go to Weymouth on two weekend courses to train as an advisor to newly deafened people recently issued with a hearing aid.

The Editor showed Jacqueline around the school and it was interesting to hear her comments about what it was like when she was a pupil there against the changes that have been made since.

Designs on an Artistic Future

Angela Richmond started a two-year course at Bolton Institute of Higher Education in September. She is studying for her BTEC Higher National Diploma in Design. Before this, Angela spent three years at Preston College studying for the BTEC National Diploma in General Art and Design.  During that time she also studied GCSE English Language and Photography.

Angela has settled into the course and has made some friends. She has even been on a five-day trip to Amsterdam with other students on the same course as she is doing. It was an educational trip and they were all going to the International Art Exhibition.

Reunion 1992

Neil & Dorothy Caven have sent the following information about the next reunion:

"There will be a Buffet/Disco at the Scarisbrick Hotel, Lord Street, Southport on Sunday, 3 May 1992. We hope you will be interested in attending this event. Tickets cost £8.50 and are now available. Only three tickets per former pupil are allowed and, please note, this is a 'tickets only' event.

Don't panic, you will all get home in time for work on the next working day because it's a 'Bank Holiday' weekend. The reason why the party is on a Sunday is because there is no room charge at the hotel but if we had it on a Saturday, the tickets would have cost at least £3 more to cover the expenses. We are doing our best to keep the ticket prices as low as possible.

If you are interested, please complete the form at the end of the newsletter** and return it to us with a cheque or postal order (made payable to N & D Caven) and a SAE to the following address: [address supplied]

CLOSING DATE FOR TICKETS IS 31 MARCH 1992.

We hope to see you there!

We would like to thank Tony Wright for printing this information into the newsletter."

[The midnight oil burns and I Just about manage to get it all sorted out so thanks for the compliments! - TW]

Newsletter Number 7

The next newsletter will be published in April 1992 so if you have any news, views or information for inclusion in that issue, please send them to the Editor before the end of March. The address to write to is as follows: [name & address supplied]

** Form included here in original copy for Reunion '92 ticket requests

Please note: addresses originally supplied in this issue are now out of
date & are no longer valid so they have been removed

Return to BSRA Newsletters