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A variety of past members of
staff presented prizes to pupils in years 9 to 11 (or 3rd to 5th
years from 'our' era) as well as years 12 and 13, equivalent to
the old Sixth Form. The full list of all those presenting prizes
can be found in the official programme for the evening (below
right). It is the intention of this brief account of the
evening to concentrate on the comments of those members of staff
present who would be well known to those of us from the 50s, 60s
and 70s.
It was intended only to
'celebrate' at the Prize giving the achievements of the staff
and pupils of the post comprehensive era, which began with the
Headship of Mr D. Cummings. Sadly there was no
representation of teaching staff from the selective era and the
staff of the old THS, unless their tenure overlapped the two
distinct eras. The current school's librarian, Mrs Jane
Chatburn, mounted a series of posters - one for each decade from
the 50s to the new millennium - which illustrated a wide variety
of events and aspects of the history of the 3 schools. Virtually
all of this material is already to be found within the pages of
this web-site.
There
were, therefore, only three members of staff who actually
overlap the 'Buzzer era' up to 1974 and that of his successor,
Mr Cummings and these were Messers David Baker, David Spence and
Michael Joy.
David Baker (1962 - 1974) was
of course Head of Music. He particularly recalled the
Gilbert & Sullivan concerts such as 'Iolanthe' and 'Pirates of
Penzance' and the excellent co-operation of both staff and
pupils to make such events the huge successes that they were.
He also clearly recalled the famous (or maybe notorious) 'Goodbyee'
prank played by the departing Upper Sixth Formers in July 1965.
He also recalls that at least one Sixth Former (Ken Kendall) was
rather unceremoniously expelled by Buzzer on what was his last
day at school, which he suggested was a little unfair. He
now lives in a village close to Northampton and it is to be
hoped that he may make an appearance at a future reunion.
Michael Joy (1965 - 1994)
arrived at THS in September 1965 as a third Geography teacher
with Peter Fellowes and the formidable Peter (Pip) Harris as
Head of Department. Michael became Head of Department some
3 years later on the promotion of Pip Harris to Deputy Head.
Peter Fellowes reportedly left the school as Pip Harris was
promoted since, it would seem, he did not wish to be Head of
Department. Michael also recalls how he earned his first
promotion; he volunteered to help 'Nobby' Clarke to set out the
chairs for the annual Speech Day. As many will recall;
Nobby was very precise in his layout of the Hall using a couple
of carefully measured rods to ensure that each neighbouring
chair was identically & perfectly spaced out as well as the
spacing between each row being perfect. Buzzer was
apparently so impressed that the young Michael volunteered to
assist that he suggested that he could find it in his power to
'reward' him. Oh how so easily promotions were obtained in
those days! Michael remained at Trinity until 1994, when
he was then Head of Sixth Form; it is believed he is the longest
serving teacher from all 3 variations of Trinity. He still
lives close to the school and has been a School Governor.
David Spence (1967-90) was
initially a Chemistry teacher who later became the Head of the
Science Department. David seems to have a keen sense of
tradition since he well remembers the 'jumping the pond'
sessions. Mind you it is no doubt that he does so since by
the early 1970s it was not only the pupils who attempted this
feat but also the staff. The reason why David remembers it
so very clearly is because he failed!!
There is a fourth teacher who
overlaps the 2 school eras and this is John Dawkins but not
because his teaching career spanned the 2 eras. He was a
pupil from 1954 to 1961, in the days when the school was based
in the old Technology College buildings. He then came to
Trinity as a teacher of Technology from 1974 - 1998 and judging
by John's impish sense of humour and roguish smile, one must
assume he was popular with the pupils.
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