Does anyone remember

[Spitfire]

Caroline, I thought WE had THE psychopath sportsmaster. His name was Jones and as the name suggests, he came from the Welsh valleys. Any sport (boxing included) would see him humiliating 11 - 12 year olds. (all in the name of toughening them up of course).

[Caroline]

'Purportedly' our Mr. Brown at Balshaw's had it in for the Girth-Width-Challenged...

[LDunlop76]

I think bullies have self-esteem issues. Perhaps the preponderance of bullies amongst PE teachers is because they deem themselves of lesser worth than their more academic colleagues in the staffroom?

[noel]

I remember "Pop" Brown getting one lad to hold on to the top wall bars facing the wall, while he threw medicine balls at him. All because he had no plimsolls.

Nice chap Pop Brown.[]

[Lancashire-Lad]

I remember playing the game that Dave Hewitt started this topic with, we played on the open land at the top of Crown street, we didn't have a reason for playing we just did, In this same area we also played duckstone, All the players except the one that was "on" stud behind a line, the one that was ON made a pile with 4 stones that were flat on two opposite sides and then put his "DUCK" on top, in turn players threw their duck and tried to knock over the pile, if it was knocked over the one that was on had to rebuild it before the thrower could pick up his duck and get back behind the safe line, if he missed the pile he was safe until he touched his duck then he could be tagged and was "ON" however a second player could throw his duck and maybe hit the pile, then all players out in the field had to pick up their duck and run for the safe line before the pile was rebuilt and they got tagged The pile was about 20 feet out from the line and the ducks were a 8 to 10 inch diamiter egg shaped stone, the game was played fast and gettin hit was common

[anacortesdamp]

With the benefit of 50-odd years hindsight, "Pa" brown wasn't that bad, though he was the bane of my Balshaws career, since I was a rotten athlete. Some of my children have had far worse in the US school system. One music teacher gave us a lot of trouble until I threatened him with a lawsuit.

I must admit a bit of bias, as I was a good friend of his son Graham and frequently visited their house. Interestingly, I couldn't avoid calling him "Sir" even though it was a non-school social environment.


Frank

[Colin Damp]

I didn't think Pa Brown was all that bad, either, although a schoolfriend used to say of him that he'd only seen him smile once, and that was when someone hurt himself! Mind you, after a kidney operation at age 13, I was exempt games and PE for the rest of my time at Balshaw's.

[Lynne]

Duckstone sounds quite a fun game -needed a bit more thought than just brute strength it sounds like.
Being a girl I don't remember joining in those Bulldog type games.
But we did all take part in the wheel game which involved a line of kids joining hands and trying to spin the tail- ender off, rather like a whip. Looked at bit like the death spiral the pair skaters do now but involving more folk.
Some of the challenges in those days were highly dangerous -I shudder to think of it now.
Sliding across a frozen pit in mid- winter and hoping to heck the ice didn't give way. Making slides at all angles across the playground which ended up like glass.
Don't remember anyone dashing out with grit then.
Wonder why we mostly all survived.
I liked Mr Brown -but then I had him as a teacher in his first year at Balshaws in 1946 -maybe he hadn't toughened up then. Different story of my female PE teacher but then I am still trying to forget her.
Cheers

[Spitfire]

Lynne, Oh how I agree with you. Some of the slides we made on the ice in the playground would be a `compensation chasers` dream today.
This culture would not survive if the courts had the courage to simply say, `This claim is bloody stupid and groundless - take it away`.

[crooky]

I remember the slides we used to make and then hoping they hadnt melted by playtime. Who would have thought then that we would have become such a 'claim concious' society. Kids today dont get the chance to have half as much fun as we did.