FRIENDS

1960/61 Robert St. School Week in Paignton - latest update (3/1/03) is at the foot of this article Click to Enlarge We are grateful to Mike Hammond for the following: I thought that you and your Yampy readers may be interested in the attached photograph that I unearthed the other day. It was taken in 1960/61 (?) outside the hotel used for the Robert Street School Week long Trip to Paignton South Devon. I can remember some of the names of the pupils in the photograph, I wonder if they are still in the area and log onto the Yampy site? Extreme rear of photograph Left: ? Right: Jimmy Posterns Main Group back row Left to Right: Phillip Croutier, Frank...?, Alan Wright, Alan Garbett, ?, ?, ?, Trevor Smart (with sheepskin coat) Front Row Left to Right: Christopher Silcox, Roger Carter (with bag), ?, Michael Hale, ? ,Peter Wood, Robert (?) Stanley. Conspicuous by their absence on the photograph are the girls in the party, but if I remember correctly some members of the party would be Jennifer Witton, Lynne Nicholls, Marie Hickman, Sandra Glover, Janet Smith and Shirley Longland. Regrettably, says Mike, he is the one behind the camera taking the photograph! * * * 3rd January 2003 Thanks to Gary Westwood for the following additional information: Trevor Smart was one year below Ian Beach at High Arcal School. Jennifer Witton is still living in the Gornal area and my dad has seen her shopping in the arcade in Upper Gornal. Lynn Nicholls was a close friend of Jennifer at High Arcal School. She unfortunately died in her early twenties. Her brother, Royston Nicholls is the 'N' part of CHN; the large plumbing and heating group from Gornal. The name Jennifer Witton rang a bell for Yampy - it's the maiden name of Jennifer Robinson, mother of Beth Moore of Gornal playgroup Noise: Creative Family Learning. Jennifer supplied many of the memories for Beth's recent Lost Pubs article. We got back in touch with Mike Hammond having confirmed with Beth that we were talking about the same Jennifer (Beth is hoping to persuade mum to send us her own Paignton holiday memories) and there followed one of those 'it's a a small world' moments. Mike writes: Quite by chance I bumped into Jennifer Robinson, (Witton) at the Hollies last week. I hadn't seen Jennifer for about 41 or 42 years. Isn't fate strange? It was good to meet her again after all those years and we had a short chat which could have gone on for hours. Jennifer did tell me that Lynn Nicholls had passed away at a very early 25 years of age. It must have been very tragic for her family. Lynn was a lovely friendly and bubbly girl as I remember. Can any Yampy reader identify others on the photo? If so please get in touch, and share your memories with us at admin@yampy.co.uk. Or, why not put your name up on our Find Old Friends page? Mike can be contacted at mikehammond@btopenworld.com