Coed Bel

Here are some comments concerning Coed Bel,
kindly provided by Stan Weeks:

The photograph was taken by Mike York, then resident at
Coed Bel as a student apprentice. The rear of the photograph is
stamped "Photograph by M.R.York, Imperial 1628." It was taken
whilst I was resident at Coed Bel, sometime between September,
1958 and November, 1961. We were some sixty student and craft
apprentices from all corners of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales.

We Welsh apprentices insisted that 'Coed' was Welsh for
'Wood' and should be pronounced 'Coid' as in 'Coil', the
remainder insisting that it should be pronounced 'Co-ed' as in
'Co-educational. This argument persisted throughout my entire stay
and I still insist to this day, some forty years on, that the
Welsh pronunciation is correct!

The very large window in the centre of the photograph was
used and equipped as a drawing office. It doubled as the ladies
dressing room during Hostel 'Socials' as they were known ("May I
have this dance please?"). I occupied the room with the smaller
window immediately to the left of the drawing room, close to
the groundfloor sloping roof.

The above photograph was taken about 1958 from the
'Drawing Office' window towards the church which was sited
diagonally opposite. This helps to locate the hostel in Lubbock
Road. The front entrance to Coed Bel (with exterior lamp) is
shown bottom left. The note on the rear of the photograph
indicates that this room was known as the 'Upper Study',
rather than the 'Drawing Office'.

The room below the drawing office was the junior apprentice
dining room, its counterpart on the far side of the main
entrance porch being the senior dining room for 5th year
apprentices. The rooms above the senior dining room were
used by Mr Parvin (the warden) and his family. The upper
structure to the left of the building (above the
'assembly' hall) was known to us as 'The Annexe'.

The roofed verandah to the right of the building fronted
the general lounge where much hot air was expelled during
intensive debate about things which didn't really matter.
The structure to the left of the building contained the main
'assembly' hall where the socials were held. This bore a plaque
commemorating an early head mistress. Many a story was told of her
being murdered by the pupils and that ghostly piano playing and
footsteps were often to be heard at night. I occupied an adjacent
room for the last six weeks of my apprenticeship and am pleased to
report no ghostly activity whatsoever! The 1881 Census Index for
Coed Bel features the premises as a school with Katherine E. Amos
as headmistress responsibile for 40 named resident staff & pupils.
She is shown to be aged 45 years, unmarried and born Manchester.
I am unable to say whether or not it was she who featured in the
plaque. There are various references to Coed Bel on the internet,
some referring to it as a prisoner-of-war camp, a school and a
WW1 hospital for wounded soldiers.

The above photograph is of the inevitable pub stop on the Coed Bel trip to
Hastings in 1959. It was taken by Mike York, the Coed Bel resident who took
the main Coed Bel photograph at the top of this page.

Standing from left to right.... Terry Norris (big hat) : 'not recollected' :
Blair McDermott : Dave Dundas : Mike Meredith : 'not recollected' :
Terry 'Tel' Poole (sunglasses) : Lionel Deering : Olly Hulf (tallest) : 'Dixie' Dean :
Gerry O'Reilly (specs) : Bill Kelly (leaning forward) : Brian 'Droski' Druce :
Roger Tull (tie) : Alan 'Felix' Reynolds : Ray Gould : Mike Baxter (sunglasses) : Don Pigg (in gap) :
Pete Thorpe (blazer) : 'Nez' Pierce. Squatting from your left to right are....
Phil ? : Barry Martin : John Stent : Tony Mayell : John 'Bimbo' Ludlam : Stoo' Reid (big hat) :
Johnny Jones : Robin Bankhead (specs) : Stan Weeks (naff hat) : Mick 'Goz' Belcher.

Here are some Coed Bel names recollected by Stan Weeks
They were resident there at various times between September, 1958
and November, 1961. Listed in surname alphabetical order.

Robin Bankhead : Mike Baxter : Mick 'Gos' Belcher : Ted Benson :
Barry 'Tosca' Blakesley : Clive Broadbent : Terry Burdett : Ray Cooke :
Alan 'Jim' Cundick : 'Dixie' Dean : Lionel Deering : Sid 'John' Dent :
Brian 'Droski' Druce : Dave Dundas : Tim Eilloart : Gwilym Evans :
Kendrick Evans : 'Gos' Gausby : Ray Gould : 'Greeny' Gillies : John 'Arri' Harrison :
Pete Hing : Olly Hulf John : 'Jack' Hutton : Barry James : Derek 'Jeff' Jeffries :
Johnny Jones : Bill Kelly : John Kemp : John 'Bimbo' Ludlam :
John 'Mac' MacDonald : Barry Martin : John Mason : Colin Matthews : Tony Mayell :
Blair McDermott : Olly McGrory : Mike Meredith : Colin Moore : Terry Norris :
Gerry O' Reilly : Patrick 'Paddy' Parry : 'Nez' Pierce :
Don Pigg : Terry 'Tel' Poole : Brian Purcell : 'Stoo' Read : Alan 'Felix' Reynolds :
George Scargill : C.J.G. 'Leo' Scott : Gerry Scott :
Pete Smith : John Stent : ? Sutherland : Clive Tattersall : Pete Thorpe :
Chris Titterington : Roger Tull : Roger Turner : Alan Wakefield :
Stan Weeks : Eric Woodcock : Mike York :

I have captioned the rear of the 'boat' shot "Returning the Stockwell Boat" and "1958 I think."
It features Derek 'Jeff' Jeffries (with sword), Olly McGrory (bottom left), C.J.G 'Leo' Scott
(2nd left - top), John Kemp (3rd left - top ) & 'Dixie' Dean ('one' leg). The other's are unknown to me.
I have no knowledge of the background to the event, though it is probable that the boat had been
'borrowed' in retaliation for something Stockwell had done to us. Location : Front drive of Coed Bel.
The other photograph shows Barry James working on his typical pre-war hostel car of the period.
This was prior to the introduction of the (then) '10 year MOT test' which dispatched many of them to
the scrapyard overnight. Colin Moore appears at the open window of a room named 'Windy Corner'.
The internal walkways to the main hall & upper annexe appear behind the car. Photograph taken from
the front of the hostel in 1959.