Widden School

HM Meets Community Leaders
The Citizen
Pupils welcome HM
The Citizen
HM meets Graham Davis. Mrs Martin looks on.
The Citizen
The Court Circular
Daily Telegraph
Official Programme Ps 1& 2
Programme Ps 3 &4
Programme P 5

Living in Widden Street, my parents sharing a house with my grandparents, my first school was Widden Street School (as it was then called) which I attended until I was 5. Then in 1947, my father won £2,000 on the pools and we moved to Marlborough Road and I moved to Finlay Road School. My grandparents, Mr & Mrs Godding continued to live in Widden Street until the mid-60’s.  I remember little of Widden Street School except dark classrooms with very high windows (well, I was little!).  My great uncle, “Uncle Ted”, Mr Timms had been Headmaster of the Junior School.

Some 30 years later, our family association with (now) Widden School was renewed when my mother, Kathleen Smith, was appointed Chairman of Governors.  It was Mother who, spotting a report in the Citizen that the County Council was to build a Senior Citizens’ Home nearby, reminded them that a new School had been promised.  Working with Mrs Pat Martin, then Headmistress, the new school was built.  Imagine the thrill when Mother and Mrs Martin were told that the new school was to be opened officially by Her Majesty the Queen and Mother had to make the welcoming speech.  Mother loved Widden School and spent many happy hours there, going far beyond the commitment normally expected of a Chairman of Governors.  She particularly enjoyed giving the girls knitting lessons.  She presented a tree for planting in the grounds.  I wonder if it is still there.  After retiring as Chairman, she continued to visit regularly until ill health meant she could no longer do so.

I have added some photos but I do have more if required.

 

 

 

Comments about this page

  • Many thanks for adding the pic of me from 32 years ago! My 4 year old mentioned today about the Queen living in London, so I Googled the Queen and Widden School and this page popped up. Wonderful!
    I’m still in Gloucester, married with 2 children. A regular runner on the city streets.
    Many thanks again for sharing.
    Gray Davis

    By Gray Davis (08/04/2018)
  • I went to Widden St School, first to the infants.  I remember we used to go to sleep on camp beds and have a bottle of milk.  I then went up to juniors.  I would like to know if Mr. Bewley had ginger hair?  If so he taught me, and was a lovely teacher.  Is he still alive?  I remember embroidering some chair covers for his wife when I left.  I lived in Victoria Street and Mr Bewley used to walk past my house to go home.

    By Jillian Jones (03/12/2015)
  • I was looking through some of the old family books and came across a set of books each one inscribed to Mr P E Davis when he left Widden Boys School. I then looked up the school and found the history of the school. Philip E Davis was my father who was born (1911) at and lived at 68 Adelaide Street ( the house was finally sold in 1968).  He won a scholarship to the Crypt Grammar School ( I even have some old school reports for him).  He completed his teacher training at St Paul’s Cheltenham.  I have a full career history.

    By Lindsay Wyles (22/09/2015)
  • Thank you for these memories Lindsay.  Does anyone have any memories of Lindsay’s father, Philip E Davis, which you can share with us?

    By Paul Evans (22/09/2015)
  • I attended Widden St school from 1970-76; my memory is of the heat wave in 1976. We were playing in the school field, which is where the new school is now I believe, when a swarm of ladybirds came over and started biting everyone. I, and the other older pupils had to help get all the younger ones indoors. Its the only time I can remember ladybirds swarming aggressively,

    By Janeete Salisbury (nee Cook) (23/04/2014)
  • Thanks very much Mike for these memories.  We are very grateful to the Citizen for providing permission for its text and images to be displayed on Gloucestershire Archives’ partnership sites.  You can see a larger version of each image by clicking on it.  Do you have memories of Widden School to share?  If you do, please get in contact.

    By Paul Evans (25/03/2014)

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.