Westfield Junior School pupils and staff mentions in the News and Sports Mail, March-April 1977

This is the final instalment in the year-long coverage of Westfield Junior School's pupils, staff and school matters in The News and Sports Mail from 1 September 1976 to 31 August 1977.

April 1977's copies held at the British Library are microfilmed and it's taken much longer than anticipated to scan all that month's issues.
Having said that, little was reported during March and even less during April on anything connected with Westfield Junior School. April's issues extensively covered the newspaper's centenary celebrations including special supplements.

In March, Westfield's gymnasts made more news ...

 

The News, Thursday 17 March 1977.

 

Six girls from King Richard School won the Southern Region final of the National Schools Under 13 Gymnastics Team Championships at Eastleigh, versus Westfield Middle School.

Westfield Middle School, back row, left to right: Carla Thompson, Julie Moody, Michelle Lucas, Tyree Smallwood, Sarah Smith, Julie Bowler, Wendy Elford.
They were managed by Mr I. Davis (Idris Davis).

Of those, Sarah Smith and Julie Bowler were in my year group who left Westfield in 1977, all the others were in the year group below.

 

  

The News, Tuesday 22 March.

 

   Donna Hillyer won the girls' cross-country race in the Hampshire Middle Schools' Championships at Southampton Sports Centre.

 

Chipper Club's 12th birthday celebrations for March-April 1977: Patricia Ahearn, Brandon Cherry, Michelle Lucas

Westfield Junior School pupils and staff mentions in the News and Sports Mail, May-June 1977

Apologies for this being out of sequence, this was because the first two weeks of May's issues are now only available to view on microfilm and the rest print only; compared with the print version, it's taken much longer to scan the microfilm for the two weeks that were covered.

Westfield Junior School made front page news on Thursday 16 June after a burst water main in Jubilee Avenue sent a torrent of water and mud into the classrooms.

I decided to separately photograph the accompanying photo (below) in order to identify individuals more easily.

 

Pupils and staff cleared up the mess, the only people so far identified in this photo are:

Fellow year group pupil Neil Gray in the centre of the photo holding a wide black broom, recognised by his hairstyle, facial appearance and sleeveless jumper.
Teacher Miss Capp, identified by Kevin Miller, in black dress standing near the classroom door.

 

At the time I cut out the above photo from our family's copy of the paper, but threw it away about two years later. I definitely knew Neil was in the photo (and marked it as such on my copy). In 2001 I tried locating the article and photo at the former British Library's newspaper library in Colindale, London, but somehow missed it, however it was again re-discovered in late October this year. 

 

 

In The News, Saturday 25 June, the school was mentioned as a result of a fundraising effort for the British Heart Foundation.

Kevin White, who attended the school's special unit and teacher Roy Smith showed off their trophies.

 

 

Donna Hillyer continued her athletics performances finishing 3rd in the 1500m for Portsmouth Atalanta in an Athletics League, Division I match at Chelmsford, reported in The News, Tuesday 24 May.

 

Chipper Club's 12th birthday celebrations for May-June 1977: Samantha Brown, Sarah Smith

 

Westfield Junior School pupils list for final year group, 1976-1977

There is a group page on Facebook for Westfield Middle School (Paulsgrove, UK) https://www.facebook.com/groups/20514022293/?fref=nf
but it's been dormant since 2012.
I'm unable to post anything in that group because my application's pending and there's been no replies to date from its "administrator" or members.
I'm reluctant to set up another new group because this'll duplicate the current public Facebook group about the school.

As a result of school reorganisation in Portsmouth, in September 1976, Greenfields and Westgrove Junior Schools merged to form Westfield Junior School.
The abolition of the "11 plus" exam (except for entry into Portsmouth Grammar School) and reorganisation of grammars and secondary moderns into comprehensives meant pupils left junior school during the school year when they turned 12, rather than 11.

The list was initially compiled in order to contact individuals inviting them to attend a school reunion at Westfield which I organised in 2002 (pre-Facebook era), all my paper lists generated for that purpose I've now put online.
Any corrections or additions are welcome.

CONFIRMED school pupils who I knew, 1974-1977, in my year group, born 1 September 1964-31 August 1965, in alphabetical order : 

All are listed under their maiden names as known in school during that time.

Surnames A-H:

Amanda (Mandy) Abraham, Patricia Ahearn, Wade Agar, Darren Appleton, Deborah Asplett, Mark Aubry, Bruce Baker, Donna Bendell, William Blakely, Julie Bowler, Carol Brown, Samantha Brown, Michael Burge, Brandon Cherry, Alison Cleife, Julie Colwell, Tania Cook, Tracy Coppard, Denise Copplestone, Diane Crabbe, Sharon Day, Richard Devine, Jayne Dollery, Clive Donald, Shaun Drake, Helen Drain, Wendy Elford, Richard Egerton, Carl Fisher, Tony Fisher, Terry Fleet, Brian Gates, Neil Gray, Bridget Haggar, Michael Hardy, Brian Harris, Jeanette Hawkins, John Hayden, Tracy Herrity, Donna Hillyer, Antony (Tony) Humphries

NB - Glen Cotton initially attended the special unit (below) but attended normal classes in full from September 1976.

Surnames I-P:

Ian James, Wendy Janman, Karen Jefferies, Mark Jones, Sharon Kirk, Neil Larner, David Lawrence, Gary Legg, Michelle Lucas, Darin McCloud, Terry Mark, Spencer Matthews, Melanie Medley, Kevin Miller, Kevin Mills, Julie Moody, Tracy Moore, Robert Moth, Judy Mould, Susan Mulholland, Ian Murphy, Lesley Parkes, Kevin Perrin, Bettina Pincott, Phillip Pinhorne, Mandy Pratt

Surnames R-Z:

Claire Richardson, Helen Sampson, Darren Scott, Paul Sims, Mark Slater, Tyree Smallwood, Sarah Smith, Samantha Spivey, John Sweatman, Carla Thompson, Ian Thompson, Mark Tyler, Stephen Watts, Danny Westwood, Alfred Wiltshire, Karen Wray, Angela Wyatt

CONFIRMED school pupils who I knew, born 1 September 1965-31 August 1966, in alphabetical order :

David Elliott, Liz Whalley

CONFIRMED school pupils who attended the special unit at Greenfields (later Westfield) Junior School, 1974-1977:

Rosemary Bedford, Ian Brett, Mark Brown, Glen Cotton, Robert Dobson, David Fry, Mark Fuller, Paul Goater, Alan Gumbrell, Greg Harrison, Alan McBride, Stephen Patey, Graham Pengelley, Helen Privett, Stuart Roscoe, Kevin White

UNCONFIRMED school pupils in my year group, born 1 September 1964-31 August 1965, in alphabetical order
(however some may not have attended Westfield, but I don't know the former school's catchment area) :

All are listed under their maiden names as known in school during that time.

Surnames A-M:

Jayne Archer, Mark Baxter, Michelle Betts, Andrew Blakely, Stephen Blakely, John Blower, Andrew Bryant, Deborah Byng, Darren Callaway, Richard Campbell, Michelle Clark, Stephen Clark, Deborah Clements, Tracey Corbin, Angela Crisp, Samantha Critchell, Martin Cutter, Stephen Cutter, Sean Dack, Kevin Day, Sandra Derry, Mark Edwards, Darryl Field, Sarah Ford, Mark Gallagher, Jacqueline Gibbs, Michael Goff, Trevor Gould, Timothy Gray, Anthony Gregory, Kevin Grimsey, Andrew Hallam, Jeanette Hansler, Spencer Harvey, Anita Hobson, Donna-Marie Joseph, Teresa Joseph, Mark Keeping, Amanda Littlefield, Richard Lodge, Laura Manning, Alison Mackinnon, Leanne Martin, Caroline Matthews, Christopher Miller, Patrick Mitchell, Terence Moody, Paul Mouland, Adrian Mundy

Surnames N-Z:

Mark Nisbet, Anthony Nolan, Amanda Oakley, Tracey Parkhouse, Katharine Pearson, Gordon Percy, Barbara Phillips, Nicola Pilmoor, Stephanie Pitney, Penelope Plumstead, Ann Pressley, Steven Prince, Deborah Rolfe, Ian Rose, Susan Ryan, Sally Salmon, Wendy Saunders, Brian Shelton, Darren Sime, Susan Taylor, Deborah Thomas, Alison Thomson, Susanne Turvey, Trevor Ware, Paul Warwick, Michelle Waters, Ian Wilson, Caroline Wilkins, Maria Williams, Alison Wrigley, Karen Young

Sources: Portsmouth City Council electoral registers for 1982 and 1983 when they turned 18, searching for addresses using postcode PO6 4--
Others from personal memories and some other contributions from Kevin Miller, David Lawrence.

Westfield Junior School pupils and staff mentions in the News and Sports Mail, January-February 1977

News about Westfield Junior School was relatively quiet during January and February. The bad weather meant many junior football matches were called off leading to a huge fixture backlog by the end of February.

On the other hand, a gymnastics report appeared in The News and reports of Donna Hillyer's cross-country running performances appeared in both papers during this period.

The News, Thursday 3 February 1977.
Donna Hillyer won the girl's 2000m race at Alexandra Park in 6 mins 19 secs.

But Westfield's gymnastics team was in the spotlight in The News, Wednesday 26 January 1977.
They won the 2nd round of the English Schools' Gymnastics Association national knock-out cup, beating Lake Middle School, 121-113.
Team (back from left): Julie Moody, Carla Thompson, Michelle Lucas, Julie Colwell
(front): Tyree Smallwood, Julie Bowler, Wendy Elford, Sarah Smith



Sports Mail, 5 February 1977.
Despite few matches being played during this period, Westfield's U12s were still top of the table in Middle Division II North.

 

There were no mentions of pupils' Chipper Club's 12th birthday celebrations for January-February 1977.

Westfield Junior School pupils and staff mentions in the News and Sports Mail, November-December 1976

In The News leading up to Christmas, several Portsmouth schools produced nativity plays and other dramatic activities which were reported with accompanying photos.
However Westfield hosted a 53rd Portsmouth (2nd Paulsgrove) Scout Group paper hat making event as part of a Christmas social evening. This article was buried on the back page of Thursday 16 December 1976's issue to fill a gap between other sports news.

 

Sports Mail, 6 November 1976. Westfield are top of the table in Middle II North Division.

 

This match report below mentioned several Westfield football players for the first time that season.

 

 

Sports Mail, 20 November 1976.
Although league leaders Westfield lost 3-6 against Buckland, Mills, Watts and Wiltshire scored.
Full names: Kevin Mills, Stephen Watts, Alf Wiltshire.

 

Sports Mail, 4 December 1976.
Even though Westfield were knocked out by Milton Park in the first round of the Supporters' Cup (see September-October 1976 entry) they still had another chance of winning a trophy in the Hibbs Cup when they were drawn in the second round away at Buckland.

 

 

Sports Mail, 18 December 1976 (above). Westfield are still top of the table.

 

 

The News, 3 November 1976. Meanwhile, as an example, another cross-country result for Donna Hillyer in the girls' 2500m race at Ruislip. She came in 14th place with a time of 11.19 mins.

Other mentions:

 

Chipper Club's 12th birthday celebrations for November-December 1976: Denise Copplestone, Antony (Tony) Humphries, Wendy Janman, Tracy Moore

Westfield Junior School pupils and staff mentions in the News and Sports Mail, September-October 1976

September 1976 was the beginning of my final year at Westfield Junior School.
To all intents and purposes, I was effectively in the school's mainstream, the only difference was that I lived in Southsea, rather than Paulsgrove.

I was in Peter Collett's class, except for some lessons in maths when I attended Mrs Burden's class, also received specialist teaching by Mr Clarke (art) and Idris Davis (PE) amongst others.

Fellow class members included:

Mark Aubry, Bruce Baker, William Blakely, Denise Copplestone, Clive Donald, Brian Gates, Jeanette Hawkins, Neil Larner, Mandy Pratt, Samantha Spivey, John Sweetman.

Sports teams fielded by the school:

The school fielded a football team (don't remember who participated, but I wasn't involved) and a netball team (again don't remember who participated) who competed against other junior schools in the city.

Saturday's Sports Mail was the primary source of news for junior football, but my family never bought the pink paper.
No reports of Westfield's netball team appeared during these months in either The News or Sports Mail.

Sports Mail, 4 September 1976. Westfield played in the U12s Middle Division II North, they didn't field a U11s side.

During September-October 1976, few match reports involving Westfield were printed and none mentioned any of their team.

Here's one report from the Sports Mail, 2 October 1976, between Stamshaw and Westfield (above). Westfield lost 2-0.

The Sports Mail, 30 October 1976 gave details of the Supporters' Cup 1st round replay between Milton Park and Westfield schools. Again, no mention of anyone from Westfield! Westfield lost 4-2.

Donna Hillyer was reported in the newspapers several times competing for Portsmouth Atalanta in track and field and later cross-country running during this period; to save unnecessary repetition, I've selected one example of her results.

This report in The News on Tuesday 5 October 1976 unusually mentions her full name in the opening cross-country minor girls event held at Haywards Heath, she ended in 14th place with a time of 7:22.

 

Other mentions:

 

Chipper Club's 12th birthday celebrations for September-October 1976: Clive Donald, Donna-Marie Joseph, Teresa Joseph, Helen Sampson

 

[Revised 25 November 2018 adding two more ex-pupil Chipper Club members]

A postscript after I left Westfield Junior School in July 1977

Once I started attending Priory School in September 1977, I had very little contact from, seen or heard about ex-pupils.

Kevin Miller was the only person who rang me at home once not long after I started secondary school. I didn't know anyone from my year group who attended Priory. Between 1977 and 1981 the only times I passed through Paulsgrove were occasional journeys along Southampton Road.

Tracey Goodall at Priory knew Donna Hillyer as a fellow athletics competitor.
Otherwise things were quiet until 14 March 1981 when I attended the "Child Art" exhibition at the Mountbatten Gallery, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth.
I saw works by Helen Drain (then at King Richard) and Neil Gray (then at City of Portsmouth Boys School) on display there. That sparked an interest in wondering what happened to my fellow ex-pupils ever since.

During all that time, mum taught at Mayfield School. She brought home a copy of their 1981 school year book. Richard Devine gained 4 CSEs and Helen Sampson was also mentioned, I don't think she taught either of them because her focus was on pupils with special needs.

Paul (now Ashton) Keiditsch transferred to Priory School's sixth form in 1981 from City of Portsmouth Boys School. His mum, Dora, worked in the special unit at Westfield which I attended when I first arrived when it was then known as Greenfields. My only regret was I never picked his brains on how he got on with Neil Gray!

It wasn't until the reunion which I organised in 2002 that I met significant numbers of ex-pupils. For some perverse reason I actually kept records on who I recognised or read about because it was extremely rare where I lived in Southsea to encounter them.

The only ex-pupils who I've confirmed as seen and/or recognised since July 1977 are listed below, in chronological order of last known appearance (unless indicated all locations are in Portsmouth) :
August 1977: Donna Hillyer, Lawrence Road
January or February 1978: Diane Crabbe, near South Parade Pier
21 April 1981: Carl Fisher, Commercial Road
26 August 1982: Richard Devine, Southampton Road
17 June 1989: Neil Gray, Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London
2000: Darren Scott, Almondsbury Road
21 June 2002 (reunion): Bruce Baker, Donna Bendell, Jayne Dollery, Richard Egerton, Tony Fisher, Jackie Gibbs, Victoria Gibbs, Jeanette Gray (nee Hawkins), Karen Jefferies, Mark Jones, Sharon Kirk, David Lawrence, Darin McCloud, Kevin Miller, Judy Lucas (nee Mould), Robert Moth, Phillip Pinhorne, Alf Wiltshire, Angela Wyatt, all at Westfield Junior School

Incidentally the only ex-pupils who I saw and/or recognised outside Portsmouth were Kevin Miller in London (twice between 1985-1986) and Neil Gray in London (five times between 1986-1989) and Birmingham (once in 1989).

Out of the 100 or so ex-pupils, apart from myself, I only currently know four who gained higher diplomas/degrees:
Jayne Dollery (psychology), Tony Fisher (hotel management and catering), Neil Gray (social work) and Kevin Miller (chemistry). I suspect there were more but never asked.

Similarly, apart from myself, I'm aware of very few ex-pupils who currently live outside Hampshire:
Tracey Coppard (now Webley - lives in Bristol), Richard Devine (Bristol), Tony Fisher (London), Neil Gray (Bournemouth) and Alf Wiltshire (Brighton).

A few months ago, Tony Fisher won a season ticket from Fulham FC after topping a public poll of the club's superfans https://blog.grosvenorcasinos.com/grosvenor-name-meet-fulham-ultimate-superfan/

I've also joined the Paulsgrove, Portsmouth Nostalgia closed group on Facebook and made contact with several ex-pupils who didn't attend the reunion which I organised https://www.facebook.com/groups/260603590787929/

[Revised 8 October 2018 incorporating Neil Gray's current residential location from his Facebook profile]
[Revised 10 October 2018 after Neil Gray personally clarified his current location]
[Revised 22 November 2018 to update Tracey Coppard's current location and membership of Facebook closed group]