Links
This page includes links
to other sites which may be of interest but over which I
have no control.
The Wythenshawe
ex-pats page
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Strand/4269/index.html
This is Gill Berridge's superb site for exchanging news,
views, chat and gossip about "all things
Wythie". Many contributors are Old Poundswickians.
If you've not yet been there, do it now!
Old School Mates
http://www.oldschoolmates.co.uk
Lists almost every school in the U.K. (including
Poundswick) and provides a notice-board for finding old
school chums. You have to register to use the site, but
registration is currently free.
Friends Reunited
http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk
Similar to Old School Mates and with a rapidly-growing
list of Old Poundswickians. Basic registration is free
but if you want to send e-mails to people on the list it
will cost you a fiver a year.
St. Augustine's
R.C. Grammar School Old Boys site
http://www.staugs.org
St. Augustine's opened in 1965 and was built on land at
Sharston Mount, at the northern end of Hollyhedge Park.
It was about the same size as Poundswick and cost about
the same amount to build but it had a very short life.
St.Augustine's was led by its charismatic and strictly
traditional Headmaster, Monsignor F. J. McGuiness, under
whose guidance it produced exceptionally good academic
results. It survived as a Grammar School until 1977 when
it succumbed to the inevitable march of comprehensivism,
changing its name in the process firstly to St. John
Plessington High School and then, in 1984, to St.
Paul's High School. The building, then only 22 years
old, was abandoned to the vandals in 1987 and was finally
demolished in 1988. An enthusiastic Old Augustinian,
Peter Fay, has put together this superb website. If
you've enjoyed looking at the Poundswick site I guarantee
that you will enjoy this one, even if, like me, you never
knew St. Augustine's.
Brownley Green
Secondary / South Wythenshawe High School / South
Manchester High School Old Pupils site
http://members.tripod.com/south_wythenshawe/
A lively new site put together by Andrew Holden, a pupil
during B.G.'s South Wythenshawe era. It warms my
heart enormously to see B.G. alive and well again! Keep
up the good work, Andrew!
Wythenshawe
Anglican Team Ministry
http://www.wythenshawe-anglican.org.uk
The Church of England still thrives in Wythenshawe; five
churches have active and energetic congregations and this
well-researched website not only gives details of their
current activities but also contains interesting
historical information and old photographs.
Manchester Central
Library Local Studies Unit
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries/arls
An invaluable source of information about all aspects of
life in Manchester from the earliest times. A selection
of local images is accessible on-line with huge amounts
of additional material available by personal visit.
Parklands High
School Ofsted report - 2001
Click here to
download. It's a .pdf file so
you'll need Acrobat Reader to decipher it.
I thought this document might interest Old Poundswickians
who would like to know how their old school is doing now.
Reading between the lines, the report paints a picture of
a generally competent, dedicated and well-led staff doing
its valiant best against impossible odds to operate an
educational system which has, in my view, been utterly
discredited over the last four decades. It's hard to
imagine how the trendy educationalists, who in the 1960s
foisted comprehensive education on Manchester's
schoolchildren, can sleep soundly in their beds. Their
achievement, as far as Poundswick is concerned, is to
have transformed it in 35 short years from a jewel in
Manchester's crown to one of the lowest-achieving
comprehensives in the land. On reflection, it is perhaps
no bad thing that Messrs. Gilpin and Hutchinson are no
longer with us for they would have been deeply saddened
to have thus witnessed Poundswick's spectacular decline.
However, you don't have to take my word for any
of this; you were there. Read the report and
make your own mind up.
The Virus
Information Center
(It's an American site - they have difficulty spelling
English words)
http://www3.ca.com/virus/
A useful website which catalogues and gives details of
new computer viruses within a day or so of them
appearing. Worth a regular check so that you can keep an
eye out for new nasties that your resident virus scanner
won't be able to detect.
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