Gosport and Fareham cricketers and schoolgirls remembered | Nostalgia

We return to Gosport today and I am sure several from the peninsula will recognise themselves. All three photographs come from Jeanne Sparshott (née Callaby).
The Gosport and Fareham cricket team with John Sparshott standing on the far right.The Gosport and Fareham cricket team with John Sparshott standing on the far right.
The Gosport and Fareham cricket team with John Sparshott standing on the far right.

In the main picture we see some of the members of a Gosport & Fareham cricket team plus some cheeky youths seen peering through the gaps between the players.

On the extreme right of the back row is Jeanne’s late husband John who was the side’s top bowler. Jeanne remembers he took five wickets on the day the photograph was taken.

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n The middle photograph captures girls from Grove Road School, Elson, Gosport, in 1953. The school is now St John’s C of E Primary School.

The girls of Grove Road School, Gosport, pictured in their final year. Jeanne Callaby is fourth from the left in the middle row.The girls of Grove Road School, Gosport, pictured in their final year. Jeanne Callaby is fourth from the left in the middle row.
The girls of Grove Road School, Gosport, pictured in their final year. Jeanne Callaby is fourth from the left in the middle row.

The girls were in their final term before leaving for the outside world. Their teacher was a Miss Dash, ‘a lovely lady’, Jeanne remembers.

I am sure we all remember when we called our teachers ‘Miss' even if they were married with five children and in their fifties!

If any of you can tell me more of the time please do. Jeanne is fourth from the left in the middle row.

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And the bottom picture shows the same ‘girls’ but 40 years after the first picture was taken.

The same group of girls 40 years on.The same group of girls 40 years on.
The same group of girls 40 years on.

A record of her time as headmistress

How many of you who went to Paulsgrove East Infant School in the 1960s remember headmistress Miss HM Smith? She retired after 40 years as a teacher in Portsmouth in 1966 and more than 100 guests attended a tea party in her honour.

She was appointed in 1959 after being headmistress at Albert Road Infant and Junior School, Cosham. She was presented with a record player from staff and friends and a photograph album.

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