Sheffielder remembers his Granville College days

Tony Baker of Cotswold Road, Hillsborough remembered: “I attended Granville College, 1965-7, when I studied for Certificate in Office Studies. I then went to Richmond 1967-8 and then back to Granville 1968-9, when I studied for ONC Business Studies.

“The year at Richmond was hard as it entailed three nights per week, 6pm to 9pm, Monday and Wednesday and 6pm to 8.15pm Friday. This was on top of working 9am to 5.30pm for Sheffield Smelting.

“Travel was by bus and I lived at Malin Bridge in those days. Many students dropped out during the course of that year.

“I came top of the year twice in 1965-7 on the Certificate in Office Studies course.

I remember Mr Fawcett, Mr Derbyshire, who possessed a deadly aim with a piece of chalk, Mr Hardcastle, who let me sit my English exam at Richmond, despite the fact that I was unable to arrive on time due to not being able to leave work until 5.30pm, and Mr John Llewellyn Cooper, Social Studies, who in his leisure time assumed the role of Louis Martell, magician.

“Many of his lectures commenced with some of his tricks, which were quite mesmerising.

“Under Mr Fawcett’s tutorship I obtained 98 per cent in my 1965 year Business Calculations exam, which I recall him saying would be unlikely to be ever bettered. The following year I proved him wrong and scored 100 per cent.

“This is testament to Mr Fawcett as at City Grammar School I managed only 13 per cent in my GCE Maths trial exam. They wouldn’t let me anywhere near the final exam!

“I learned more at Granville than I did at City Grammar and effectively went from a failure to a success in academic terms, thanks to the skills of the teaching staff. I also remember Mr Haffner, who was Head of Year in 1969 and who taught Economics

“From Granville I moved on to the Polytechnic in 1969-71, when studied HNC Business Studies. I was fortunate to have a great lecturer in Statistics, Vicky Seddon.

“I see Vicky still writes occasional letters to The Star. I would love to see her again after all these years to thank her for the help she gave and the confidence she instilled in me.”

If, like Tony, you have memories or pictures to share of your college days, The Star Retro and The Sheffield College want to hear from you.

A competition will be won by the 10 people sending in the most interesting memories.

The winners, if they live in easy reach of Sheffield, get dinner for two at the college’s Silver Plate Restaurant, hosted by college chief executive and principal Angela Foulkes and Star editor Nancy Fielder .

Email [email protected] or write to Star Retro, College memories, The Balance, Pinfold Street, Sheffield S1 2GU.