With thanks to a reader who spotted this great article in a magazine I wouldn’t normally read, I can now share a fascinating item with readers of the blog who maybe missed it too. Erin O’Connor – supermodel and star of the Marks and Spencer adverts grew up in Brownhills, and it’s great to see such an apparently grounded, pleasant person talking up the town and it’s school for a change.
The article exists in an online form, but it’s a bit cut down in nature and I feel the print version is better. After the drubbing the New Statesman justifiably gave Brownhills, I’m rather chuffed to see something positive in the media, and it deserves a wider airing.
Do you have any memories of Miss Ferguson or any other memorable Brownhills teachers? Who left an impression on you (and not just with the board rubber…)?
My best wishes to Erin, it’s nice to see someone remembering their roots so fondly.
Thanks to the kind reader who pointed this out to me, from the Times Educational Supplement Magazine, 22nd April 2011. Click for a larger version.
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Erin was a year older than me and shone out like a beacon, as did Miss Ferguson. I didn’t take music but Miss Ferguson was still known to everyone!
I spent the last 2 years of my school life at Brownhills after Pelsall closed, and the most memorable teacher was Mr Greaves, the geordie maverick who made time for us Pelsall kids when some of the other teachers didn’t really make us welcome.
I’m not sure what happened to Mr Greaves and there are a few grizzly stories about him in Brownhills folklore. I hope some aren’t true. But whatever happened to him for those first few months he really did go the extra mile.
I remember Erin when she was classmates with my daughter at St Bernardettes Junior School in Narrow Lane – always a polite little girl – infact, the whole family were very nice people!
Everything she said about Miss Fergusson is true – she is lovely – and made everyone sing Beatles songs, especially let it be.
Does anyone remember William the school orchestra mascot? He used to go everywhere with the orchestra, even abroad. He had his own passport and I made a load of clothes for him. I help run a disabled centre which was housed in an old classroom at the comp. Miss Fergusson knew that our centre did handicrafts and she came and dragged me out of class to ask if we could could make some clothes for William the bear. She wanted a tuxedo, a santa outfit and something for the summer concerts. I made all the things she wanted, including a black satin tux, a red velvet santa suit and a bright bermuda shirt and a knotted hankie for William’s head.