Ian Gill (RHS 1956 to 1969) sent in this Primary 5a photo taken around 1960. If you are in the photo we would love to hear from you. If anyone knows the name of the bespectacled chap standing next to David Leadbetter, or have any other comments, please use the form below. More boys had joined by the time we reached Primary 7a, see the 1962 photo of William Watsons class. If you were in 5B, with Miss Morrison in 1960, we have your picture too.
Scroll down to reveal the names =>
Previous Comments
Well—that was indeed a blast from the past!!! Strangely I could remember almost all the names apart from the guy next to David Leadbetter.You’re right about Douglas Dooner–you can remove the question mark. I always thought it was Robert Boog but my memory could be playing tricks. I remember going to the opening of the Forth Bridge (road!) with Neil McGilp and great times watching the “Edinburgh Monarchs” speedway team at Old Meadowbank with Neil McBeath.
Graeme Selkirk
“The bespectacled chap” memory does play tricks at our age but I’d put money on his surname being Fiskas or something similar.
Graeme Selkirk
Miss Roy
Miss Barbara E Roy M.A. retired in 1970 having taught at the school for 24 years. This paragraph is from Schola Regia –
See the same class 2 years later
Reveal the names
Hi! I’m John Love, the boy at the end of the front row, who couldn’t keep still for the photo. I remember Miss Roy saying I made it more interesting by moving, but I suspect she was just being kind.
I had forgotten Richard Fisker’s name, but I do remember his face. If I recall correctly he was Danish, and I was impressed by how quickly he learned English. As I recall he only stayed at the school for one or two years. He may have gone back to Denmark. It’s hard to be certain so long afterwards, and I was at the time only nine years old!
My class teachers at the Prep School were:
1956-57 Pr. 1B Mrs Pow
1957-58 Pr. 2B Miss Munro
1958-59 Pr. 3B Miss Hamilton
1959-60 Pr. 4B Miss Morrison
1960-61 Pr. 5A Miss Roy
1961-62 Pr. 6A Mr. Watson
1962-63 Pr. 7A Mr. Watson
(I should have had Miss Munro in Primary 1, but she was on an exchange visit to America.)
The blackboard says 1960, so the photograph must have been taken in the first term — i.e. September – December 1960. I was moved from the B class at the end of primary 4, so I’d really only be beginning to get to know the boys an the A class at that time. I can hardly believe we’re talking about things that happened 60 years ago. I’ll be 70 later this year. I think I still feel more like the nine-year-old boy in the photo!
There were some open days at the Prep School (now the Royal High Primary School) in 2011 and I went along with my mother. Some things had changed a lot, like the interior of the classrooms, but I was more impressed by how much was still exactly the same as I remembered it. The biggest change on the lower corridor seemed to be that 3A and 3B had swapped classrooms! I met some of the then current Primary 7 girls and sang “Schola Regia” in Latin with them with some gusto. I wish we’d had girls in the school in our day.
May I ask who “Will” is? I can only think of William Dunnett, who I’m still in touch with. (Sorry Miss Roy. Of course that should be “with whom I am still in touch”!) I seem to have lost touch with Colin Todd.
I now live in Musselburgh, having moved with my mother out of the family bungalow in Willowbrae in 2019. I found my copy of this photo when clearing out the attic of the old house. My mother will be 92 in a few days time, and I have effectively become her full-time carer.
Hello John,
Yes Will is William Dunnett pictured above.
I’ve just updated the photo of Miss Morrison’s class 5b with a higher resolution version. I know you weren’t in the class then but perhaps you’d can still recognise some of them?
http://www.royalhigh.org.uk/where-are-they-now/miss-morrisons-5b-1960/
Best Wishes
Will
Richard, the boy at the far right of the back row, is Richard Fisker. He appears to have left the school the following year as I can’t find him in the class lists.
This was a real surprise – a pleasant one I should add. Through Neil McBeath, I find myself walking down memory lane. Since leaving school, I have moved around the UK before leaving the UK shores for Sweden. Stockholm has been my home for over 44 years now. Interesting to ge som information on some of you. The only additional information I have is Stuart Buchanan who embarked on a teaching career. Unfortunately, I believe he passed away a number of years ago.
Happy to hear from you guys.
Cheers Campbell Peacock.
Miss Roy
Fond memories and a lovely teacher.
Not sure if she stayed with new arrivals each session and she was my teacher in 5A, but that would place me being in her class about 1957/58. Fellow pupils included from memory: Mike Paton (Paterson), Brian Lincoln, Jim Armstrong, Lawrence Keith, Gavin Booth, David Fraser (became School Captain), Ronald Taylor.
Apologies if I got some of these wrong.
A trip down memory lane!
I still keep in touch with some of the legends in the above photo( Miss Roy’s 5A class). The legends are listed below:
Grahame Lonie( residing in Aberdour), Adam Rennie(Edinburgh)Niall McGilp(Glasgow), PeterScrimgeour( North Berwick), Ian Hood(Gloucester).
Sadly, Colin Patten died a few years ago.
I ,personally, did not feature in the subsequent P7 class photo as my parents had moved house to Stirling. However, I did catch up with these guys when I returned to Edinburgh in order to study at the University.
Rgds
Fraser Chalmers( residing in Edinburgh)
Hello Fraser. I remember you, but didn’t know where you went after leaving the Royal High. Sorry to hear about Colin Patten. I met him at the 1999 reunion for our year group. I remember him as being very witty and clever. There is an on line announcement of his death dated October 2012.