A Look Back: Colin Jones (West House School 1963-68)

“I started at West House at the Lower School in 1963, where Alan Pratt was the teacher in charge.  Mrs Guinness was my teacher, though I think that it was her final year at West House.  I remember that the desks were similar to those that I saw in the Black Country Museum in Dudley recently – straight out of Victorian times!  We had a container on the desk that had an ink well, with which we filled our pens!  The Lower School, I am pretty sure was based at 18 St James’ Road in those days.

I have a good memory of most of my teachers.  Mr Mathias taught History and was very proud of his Welsh background.  The PE teacher was Dave Thomas who lost an eye in WW2, other wise he could have played football for Wolves.  He also taught swimming and I learned how to swim through his tuition.  He was also a very good football and hockey coach.  Mr Selby taught French and Geography, as well as Colts games.  I remember that one of his favourite questions was: “why is a desert”, to which I don’t think that I know the answer now!  Alan Pratt, a very tall gentleman, was my long suffering Maths teacher, but was also the 1st  X1 cricket coach.  Mr Tidd-Pratt was my Latin teacher.  He had been at the school since the 1930s and retired in 1968, at the same time as I left.  He was an excellent Latin tutor and obviously enjoyed being an important part of West House life.

The headmaster, David Douglas, was a very strict, academic man.  I remember that he introduced me to Shakespeare when I was a mere 11 – and I found that challenging to say the least, though I think that he was probably right to do so at such an early age.  You would be extremely stupid if you were to misbehave in any of Mr Douglas’ lessons, as he could really bawl you out.  He taught Latin as well as English.  I remember that we worked our way through a BBC course called “Books, Plays and Poems” with Mr Douglas, which was very interesting and fostered a life long love of literature for me, though when The Beatles song Penny Lane cropped up in the poetry section, Mr Douglas was most loathe to read it or give any credence to Lennon and McCartney, saying that their work would not last……possibly one of the few academic points that he got wrong!  He was a very good teacher and demanded hard work and exceptional concentration from all his charges.  He was also a very fair and understanding headteacher.

I enjoyed all the sports at West House and played in the football, hockey and cricket 1st X1s.  I was also captain of the Trojans in my final year at West House and we won the Aldren Cup in each term!  I have many fond memories of my time at West House, found it educationally stimulating and made many friends whilst there.

Since leaving West House, I went to Bromsgrove School where I completed my A levels in 1972.  I then worked for a couple of years including a period with Wesleyan and General, the insurance company in Colmore Circus.  I attended The City of Birmingham College of Education in 1974 and began a teaching career in 1977.  I taught for 12 years in London, working for the boroughs of Newham and Haringey.  I met my wife, Lorraine, who was working for British Airways in 1981.  We married in 1982.  I completed my B.Ed at Surrey University in 1985.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, particularly the English part of the degree where I studied Gothic and Fantastic Literature.

For family reasons, Lorraine and I moved to North Lincolnshire in 1989.  I changed career and worked in the Civil Service for 22 years, which I also enjoyed.  I retired over 11 years ago, early at 58, and Lorraine followed 2 years later.  We travelled extensively, both abroad and in this country.  We enjoyed visiting the USA and have so far covered 30 states.  We have also had great stays in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.  Our travelling ceased in the dark days of covid and we decided to move to Cornwall, a plan that we had intended to pursue, but Covid brought it forward.  Lorraine is Cornish, hailing from the lovely town of Falmouth, so we moved into that area in October 2020.

Besides travel, which we have resumed in the last couple of years through cruising, I swim as often as I am able.  We both follow the England Cricket team and I am still a keen West Bromwich Albion supporter.  I also enjoy the theatre, films and read extensively.  I have been very busy since retiring and, although it is a cliche, I don’t know how I fitted in work!  I am also a massive music fan and have a large CD collection that has lots of Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.”