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Hi, Chris!
I sent you a message and some links about Bolton School on the PCT.
You may need to scroll down to find it...….

Hi elle

Yes, I saw them, thanks.

There was, for a time, a great rivalry between the schools at rugby - 2nd winter sport for both, but we used to play an end-of-season match at Orrell Rugby Club every year - I'm afraid to say that QEGS usually lost!

I don't think QEGS plays rugby any more, unfortunately.

QEGS began originally as a boys' school , didn't it, before becoming co-ed?
How many years did you teach there?

27 years, elle!
There were girls in the Sixth Form when I started, but girls throughout for about my last 7 or 8 years.
It's gone into the state system now, and quite a different place. I was shocked when I went back in to find security locks on all the many outside doors (though that's probably more of a "paedophile precaution" thing).

Goodness, that is very long time, Chris!
But you finished before retiring age, didn't you?
Regarding your re-visit...I guess one should never go back....
Many years ago, I took my children to see where I was brought up, in Bolton.....
I was horrified, as I'm sure they were, too.
What had once been a lovely quiet, proudly preserved, residential area had become a run down shabby (weeds growing between the cobbles in the road) very tatty place.
No, never go back.....

Yes, I retired (in fact, took voluntary redundancy) when I was 58 - best thing I ever did!

Things can change so rapidly. I went to the retirement do of my ex HoD a couple of years after mine. One of the colleagues I had taught with said "I know more people here than I do in the current Common Room"!

I've got that wrong - I was 30 soon after I started, so I must have been there for 28 years (I think!)