I first went to Risinghill in 1954 when it was an infants and primary school. The school closed in 1956 to allow the building of Risinghill Comprehensive school. My primary school years were at Penton Primary school in White Lion Street. I enjoyed primary school very much, looking back the children all came from relatively poor backgrounds, however, we had fun and played together without any problems. There was none of the bullying we read about today.

I joined Risinghill Comprehensive in 1965 and it was a bit of a shock be part of such a large school. My first house was Fox, which was closed after one year when I was transferred to Johnson House. The head of Johnson House was Mark Wilson who in later years became my Commerce and Accounts teacher. Many of the 'old boys' would meet Mark on New Year's day in the late 60's to have a drink and talk about the things we had done since leaving school.

I still remember many of the teachers. I am particularly grateful to Miss Roney who taught me British Constitution. I left Risinghill at 16, when the school closed, so was only able to be taught to GCE 'O' level. However, I went on to pass 'A' level British Constitution and then achieve a degree level Diploma in Government studies. I believe my success was due to the solid foundation that Miss Roney had given us. I am also grateful to Miss De Swart who taught me to touch type, I use a computer keyboard all the time in my job so being able to type has proved to be an extremely useful skill.

I also remember many of my classmates, Ian (Moggy) Morkunas and John (Hairy) Howard, to name just two!

It's forty years since Risinghill closed and forty years since I started work! My wife and I celebrate our Silver Wedding anniversary in September so 2005 is a year of anniversaries. Congratulations to Isabel and Lynn for creating this web site which will be of great interest and give pleasure to everyone associated with Risinghill.