"He was a schoolteacher who lived near to my wife's home in Derby. She knew him as a neighbour and I met him casually around the period 1950 to 1960. To the best of my recollection he was a schoolmaster at Bemrose School but knowing that several Central School masters (Pritchard & Levi) to name two moved on to Bemrose it is just possible that he had unbeknown to me taught for a period at the Central. The recollection is very vague and should only be given credence if some else comes up with the same name." - AR

PM recalls him in a list of teachers. Pictures: Staff photo; School photo

In the 4th form we had the Art Room as our base classroom and Topliss was our form master. He would bend over to inspect each boys' work - and I (along with others) would flick my pen down his back as he tended to some kid up front. In time his jacket looked as though he had been bike riding in the rain with no rear mudguard! But Topliss was a Nazi - remember? One morning he grabbed Baz Perry down at Abbey Street and grilled him to let on who did the ink flicking. Perry told four names: Apart from mine I think he nailed Rog Finney and David Jackson and one other boy. Maybe Jasper Stevens? (Memory failing here.) 

The next day Topliss kept the us back in the Art room when the rest of the form went for assembly and confronted us with the crime. I recall his grinding his heel on to my toe  as he looked me in the eye. Now I knew he was a Nazi! We all confessed; hell, hadn't we all done it? We were wheeled off to the Boss who fined us all 2/6 (half-a-crown) to pay for the cleaning and then gave us six of the best. I stood up after 4 swipes of the came, and the Boss kindly said, "I haven't finished yet." I bent over for the last two swishes.  The debt was paid. I dropped French. - MB

Joe's biggest projects must have been the amazing scenery he painted for the school plays. I have dug out some old photos of shows depicting his artwork. For my second year my classroom was the room that contained the stage (overlooking the Rose Garden). I remember Joe quietly painting the grey clouds and the curved balustrades of the set for Julius Caesar.  

Most of all I appreciate Joe for teaching me French. Under Topliss I grew to loathe the subject because I disliked him. But I knew I needed a language if ever I was to go to university, so in the lower 6th (when I had moved to Henry Cavendish) Joe took a special series of French classes for me and a boy called Tunnicliffe. He was patient and kindly and took us step by step though all those blessed tenses and conjugations. I passed fairly comfortably the next summer and my pathway to higher education was open. Thank you Joe.

Joe Hawksby was a good art technician, but not blessed with a charismatic personality. I don't think he proved inspirational to many boys unless they just happened to like art. (He taught English as a secondary subject.) His art room as just about all that remains of the old school after its stupid demolition in the sixties. Now it is a cafeteria, with its walls festooned with pictures of the school when it stood proud and erect. The staff keep a visitors book on the counter where Old Boys can sign. Being the Art Room - Hawksby's room - we don't easily forget him! - MB

Dickie Bryden ran the PE program from at least 1937-41 and was evidently a great character.

"I remember him with a great deal of affection because I was one of the Banjo Boys for several years during the 1930s and took part in many special concerts. Mr. Bryden was always a dapper figure, often wearing a straw boater and spotted bow tie and sporting a long cigarette holder. He was one of the first to arouse my interest in music, which has been a great part of my life since then, and I would like to put on record my gratitude to him.” - JD

“Dickie” Bryden had a favourite saying: “Don't speak to me till you are twenty-one."  We were often sent on so-called cross country runs out along the Back Lane leading from the stable block to Darley Village. Sometimes it was a case of out of sight out of mind. He had a Morgan three-wheeler which could not  quite make it up the hill (Mile Ash Lane) and could often seen being boosted by three or four boy power. - RP

We asked Mr. Weston (Squeak) what he thought when Hitler invaded Russia. All he said was: Remember Napoleon and the Russian Winter.  He proved to be right as it happened but he clearly thought (with some truth) that we were trying to distract him from the serious business of learning – PM

Apart from Squeak Weston the other really fierce caner – PM 

If you do manage to make out the print you will see a reference to one of the teachers as "Squeak" Weston. He was at one time my form master and the bane of my life, but I was fated to meet him again long after I left school. It turned out that he and his wife were great friends of an old lady that my wife and I rented rooms from when we married in 1953. "Squeak" and his wife had originally retired to Bexhill-on-Sea, but apparently they weren’t happy there so they returned to Darley Abbey. Until they could get their accommodation sorted out they stayed in the same house as us, and he was as big a paragon with his wife as he was with us reprobates he had to teach. – CS

More about Squeak Weston
April 30, 2005: So you finally managed to run a picture of Squeak to earth!! My wife also recognised him as she saw more of him when he was staying in the same house as us, because at that time I was in the R.A.F. and only got home at week-ends. I think that Squeak retired soon after I left at the end of 1946. He was still teaching when we had a school photo that could have been taken around 1946. I know he retired and went to live at Bexhill-on-Sea before returning to live in Darley Abbey around late 1953 to early `54.  – CS

Another much feared wielder of the cane was one history master, "Squeak" Weston, so called because he had a remarkably high pitched voice. He didn't cane very often but when he did the victim suffered severely from the tremendous swipes inflicted on him. – PM 

Squeak Weston was a wizened little old man who taught history. He was  very handy with the cane but was the most boring teacher I ever experienced.  He managed to turn an interesting subject into a drag. Despite this I have retained an interest in the subject to this day.  To understand the present and the future you must have a knowledge of the past. - PE