Teachers

TEACHER	DETAILS
Abbot, Rodney	Rabbit. A teacher from the grammar school days and a manic depressive, he put himself in the path of a train...
Armstrong, Frank	Barmy Army. Now in local mental hospital, the Garlands, suffering from manic depression. Ex-pupil Michael Chalmers remembers him as "a bearded character prone to amazing swings in temper usually resulting in blackboard rubbers being hurled across the room at great speed - when he was calm enough to teach he was quite good at Maths, really". Shaun Ferguson has since advised that Frank sadly passed away in 2004.
Buglass, Mary	Known to fellow teachers as "Trumpetbum".
Dare, Julian	Dan Dare. As stated elsewhere on the site, a top bloke from the US of A.
Eaton, Jim	Big Jim.
Evans, Bryn	About to leave for Spain as of 07/2001.
Ferguson, John	Woodwork teacher, now happily retired.
Foster, Norman	My 2nd year form teacher and now the head of games. What a great job title.
Gibbon,Mr	Funky. The 30-somethings and older among you will remember the song "the funky gibbon" by the Goodies, which inspired the nickname.
Harper, Mrs	Ziggy or Harpy. Head of Lower School when I joined in '79. Sue Turton says "her claim to fame was she picked her nose and flicked the snot at people. I can also remember her trying to force feed us liver croquettes when you were late into dinners (third sitting) and there was nothing else left.".
Haugh, Eric	Hairy Cuff, on account of first name. This was a teachers-only nickname as far as I know. The head of Middle School during my time, and a fiery little bloke he was too. Somewhere, I still have a tape recording I made during a "Man and Society" class wherein the lady teacher totally loses control, the class all start singing "Shaddup you face" and Eric bursts in and starts screaming. Wonderful stuff. Happily retired, living locally and attending reunions (see 'reunions' page) as of 05/2001.
Heeley-Creede, Norman	A top bloke, he taught Technical Drawing and played the trombone. He was a very rare beast among Trinity teachers in that he had a sense of humour and actually seemed to enjoy teaching. There was far too much of that old grammar school mentality among the school's teachers for my liking - scare the kids into silence first and think about making the lesson interesting second, or possibly never. Not so with Norman; his lessons were always enjoyable and you felt you could ask for help if you needed it.
Longville, Eddie	Colin Rae's constant tinkering with the Maths syllabus was too much for him to bear. He went back down under.
Morlin, Mr	Spike, old man Morlin.
Pearson, Jack	Jolly Jack.
Rae, Peter	Understand from Shaun Ferguson that Peter sadly passed away in 2004.
Rae, Colin	Ragman, on account of his disheveled appearance, ancient bicycle and totally uncontrollable hair. I can easily imagine this man working on the naval Enigma codes at Station X - Bletchley Park - in WWII. Actually, someone posted to a Carlisle message board concerning my comment and said that Mr Rae was a Spitfire pilot. I don't see his name on the Few's official roll of honour, but who knows - Shaun Ferguson tells me that the other Mr Rae (Peter, the biology teacher who married Miss Gerlach) was in the Fleet Air Arm, so that's probably how the Ragman/Spitfire story started.
Redpath, Gordon	Sadly Gordon passed away in November 2004
Richards, Martin	Morphy. A rather odd bloke who taught Chemistry, he was one of those teachers who couldn't control a class to save his life and so lighting the gas from the gas taps was raised to new heights in his lessons. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Robinson, Mr	Big man Rob. He ate chalk.
Rooney, Ronnie	Mickey.
Spottiswoode, Helen	Spotty.
Stainton, Mr	One-eyed Jack.
Vallely, Mme	Mad Val (inevitably).
Watson, Mr	Chad.
Whitworth, Mr	Ratlugs. He got off lightly.
Williams, Mr	Spoon, on account of hollow checks. AKA "pecker", on account of pecking the air like a woodpecker when he spoke! John Fearn writes: "D. J. W. Williams (David John William, I think) was the first Head after the Grammar/CMS merger. I left in 1976, and I think he left for a school in Devizes the following year. I attended his leaving do, assisting in a tape recording of the event. That was the first time that the whole school had been assembled in one building - the sports hall. Quite an experience - I don't know what the fire officer would have made of it. I've often wondered if it was ever repeated. I must try to find the tape.
Wilson, Mrs	Grandma. A chemistry teacher.
Wright, Carole	Carole was my 1st form teacher and she married Mr Graves. My chief memory of her is that she once let out an incredible fart during a biology lesson (like someone slowly letting the air out of a balloon) and collapsed in a fit of giggles, as did the class. As far as I know, the fart was incidental and not connected to the Biology lesson in any way
Young, Ian	Now happily retired, his eczema vanished within a week of leaving Trinity. 'Nuff said.