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The Life and Times of Ray Topham 

I attended Firth Park Grammar School in 1965 after being clever/stupid enough to get through the eleven plus .I was brought up around Pitsmoor on Earsham Street, where intelligence was a unknown commodity, in the main .There were very few of us that didn’t go to Burngreave around our way.

I do remember mother being so proud, telling everyone that her little boy was now a ‘Red Cap’. I do remember putting my foot down, insisting that I wouldn’t wear short trousers, although my mate Fred Booker did and he was a lot taller than me and looked a right dick in them.

I do remember a few of the lads from my year, Paul White, Andy Cull, who both work at BT, Andre Lovell, whose father ran a shop, so he supplied all the cigarettes to his friends, Neil South (Ned) who supplied all the pens to the school until the police turned up, we all had the pens with about a dozen different colours in them. I remember Neil Carter and Andrew Brown who were from the `posh end` of town, I remember Adrian Street from Heeley, a good lad.

Dinner times were spent down at Firth Park at the Paragon chippy or in the park having a punch up. I remember being a bit of a regular for a few weeks in the park.

There was an occasion one dinner time when Andy Cull dared me to push a custard pie in his face; I never refuse a dare and we had a good laugh about it.

The teachers were interesting, I wonder if Nebby Parker would get away with throwing a pupil at the blackboard nowadays for not doing his 100 lines. Jock McKay who must have been the hardest hitter with a slipper Silas who must have been the softest hitter. Dowling who was the most sadistic dealer out of punishment, the steel rule over the metal bench, in the metalwork room.

The sarcastic remarks on my report card from Pod (if Ray does not hand in homework on time his future looks very GRIMM ….I used to make up stories why an assignment wasn’t in on time and he likened me to the Brothers Grimm), in hindsight a very witty and sarcastic man with excellent taste in music.

Joe Plug was a great entertainer who made us all laugh.

I left school in December 1969, 3 days after my 16^th birthday, which is still one of my greatest regrets in life.

I still live within 15 minutes walk of the school and walked past it regularly, thinking about the old times and what things would have been like if things had worked out differently.

Raymond TOPHAM – 25.09.07