Stapleton C of E School  Brinkworthy Rd, Stapleton...

Winterbourne Family History Online...

          Return to Photographs

 

Benjamin Gage, Headmaster of Brinkworthy School, retired in 1940 and was presented with a cheque by the Rev JE Staley.

Mr Gage is seen here standing next to his wife, Hyacinth.

The following song was sometimes heard in the children’s playground at Stapleton School…..

Mr Gage is a nice young man,

He goes to church on Sundays,

And prays to god

To give him strength,

To whip the kids on Mondays.”

                     From a reliable source that shall remain anonymous.

And these are some of the kids...

Stapleton C of E School No 83  -   Brinkworthy Road, Stapleton  -  Infants Class circa 1930.

Miss Agnes BE Davies was the Infants Teacher from 1898 to 1941.

3rd row, top: 6th from left: Mervyn Miles.

2nd row, left to right: 1 Ruby Green; 2 Isabel Shears; 3 Freda Joyce Lovell; 4 Mary Nicholls; 5 Barbara Guppy; 6 Joan Poole; 7 Doreen Wiltshire.

1st row, left to right: 1 Edward Shears?; 2 Margaret Evans; 5 John Willis; 6 Beryl Evans; 7 Ross Evans.

Photo kindly supplied by Joyce Lovell. Information by Joyce Lovell and Trixie Jenkins (nee Long).

Headmaster Benjamin Arthur Gage, seen here in c1915, on a picnic with his wife, Bertha Hyacinth Lorraine Gage nee Jones, and his mother-in-law, Emily Smele, formerly Jones.     Name of the dog not recorded.

     

Annie Lovell, left, was caretaker in the 1930s. Her daughter, Joyce Lovell was a pupil in c1930. Trixie Jenkins nee Long was a pupil in c1940.

Trixie married John Jenkins, a well known cricketer at Downend and later at Frenchay Cricket Club.

Trixie and Joyce were still living near the school when I met them in 2002.

Stapleton C of E School – 1934 photo taken at Stapleton Vicarage, Vicar the Rev JE Staley.

The Head Teacher from 1902 to 1940 was Benjamin Arthur Gage.

Teachers at that time were, Mrs Emma A Bullock, teacher from 1920 to 1941 and Miss Agnes BE Davies, from 1898 to 1941.

Left to right, 5th row (top): 1 Ruby Tiley, Sunday School teacher; 2 Christine Staley, daughter of the Vicar; far right, Miss Agnes BE Davies.

4th row: last boy right, Eddy _____; next, Laura Youdale.

3rd row: 1st boy left, Stanley Clark?; 4th boy Roy Green; 8th boy Billy Shears.

2nd: 1 Doreen Pike; 2 Ruby Green; 5 Kathleen Willis, 6 Kathleen Lavers; 7 Rev JE Staley; 8 BA Gage; 11 Joan Poole; 12 Barbara Guppy; 13 Freda Joyce Lovell; 14 Isabel Shears.

 Front row: 1 Margaret Evans; 2 John Mauldin; 3 Doreen Belston; 7 Ronald Willis; 10 Morris Clark; 11 Teddy or Reggy Shears.

 

Information and photograph kindly supplied by Joyce Lovell and Trixie Jenkins (nee Long)

 

 

November 2012 - Jo Goodrich has kindly sent in the following photocopy...

 

Brinkworthy Road School - c 1898

Sitting in front row, 2nd from the left, is Doris Alberta Bawn, born 23 September 1894 at Wickham Court, Stapleton. She is the grandma of Jo Goodrich.

 Does anyone know any further names, or have an original copy of this picture?

Thanks Jo.

 

   

The school became an annexe to the new Begbrook School in 1954 and closed down altogether some time after that.

The school building was gone by 1975, when Roger Lewis, a visitor to this site, moved into the School House next door.

The above two pictures taken during the demolition of the building, were supplied by local historian Sydney Marks of Whiteshill, Hambrook.

 

 

The school is still standing in this photo' on the left, and according to one source, the girl on the left is Glynis Green, but another source, Mary Cahenell, indicates that it is Hilda Milliner, with her friend Maureen Evans.

The photo' on the right was taken sometime after the demolition of the school. Perhaps someone can date it by the cars?

It shows the head master's house at No 5 Brinkworthy Rd, previously No3 until the road was further developed and re-numbered.

Roger Lewis, a visitor to this site, bought this house in 1975 and lived there until 1993.

Roger tells us that the street was once named Lippiatt Lane and that a Miss Cassell [?], who died in the late 1930s, owned Nos 1, 2 & 3 (1, 3 & 5 new style) and chopped off the rear of the properties to lease to the school as a playground.

Roger's son Kevin, another visitor to this site, tells us that he remembers as a lad playing on the open area which had been the school. It was referred to as the 'black playground', because of the cinder-like surface. At the back of their house was the 'white playground', a concrete surface.

At this time the playground was owned by the Masonic Lodge, and Kevin was often chased off the site by strange men in dark suits!

Kevin also tells us that the school house was built in 1876, so this may well be about the time that the school itself was built.

Thank you Roger and Kevin Lewis for these contributions.

 

The school log books can be read by following this link...

 

 

On the back of the above old plan there is a sketch, which seems to be of the school,

but does not show the flat roof clearly visible on the front of the building in the photographs...