School memories stay alive via Old Boys’ Association

HUGE numbers of Southport people owe their start in life to a tapestry of local schools that are now largely gone.
Those were the town’s independent schools, which numbered more than 20 at their height during the last century, but have been reduced to only a few today.
With impressive academic records often matching their strong individual identities and high social status, these fee-paying establishments flourished as wealth accumulated in Southport from the Victorian era onwards.

The oldest surviving photograph of Southport University School, probably dating from 1890. The school buildings were known as Brooklands. The sandhills at the forefront of the picture are where Allerton Road and Rawlinson Road now stand

But a raft of changes through the post-war era – from the social make-up of the town to Government policy – ensured that most exist now only in memory and historical record.
Priding itself on keeping memories of one such place of learning alive is the Old Boys’ Association (OBA) of Southport University School.
Eighty years on from its founding, the group boasts membership of more than a hundred, scattered across the United Kingdom and overseas.
Peter Dyer, OBA archives secretary, told LookBack the group enjoys “a regular trickle of new members� – despite the school in Cambridge Road closing its doors for the final time in July, 1972.

Southport University School in Cambridge Road, just months before it closed in 1972

The highlight of the association’s year is its annual dinner in November, which in 2007 was held for the first time at Duke Street Masonic Hall.
At its height, the University School had rolls of around 140 boys, comprising both day-students and boarders.
With an emblem bearing a phoenix and the motto ‘virtute ac labore’ (virtue through hard work), the school turned out two alumni notable for sporting success.

Infant boys’ sports day in 1952 or 1953. Headmaster Major MacNicol's Bentley is in the background

Neil Jackson was an Olympic backstroke swimmer for Great Britain in the 1940s, while Geoff Roberts was twice crowned British amateur golf champion in the same decade.
The late Nigerian boxer Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey, a world featherweight champion, also sent both his sons to Southport University School in the 1970s.
Mr Dyer said his memories were of a place of learning where “people got on quite well�, and had retained its reputation “as a reasonable place to send kids to� well into the 1960s.
The University School was founded in 1884 by Thomas Isherwood, who was then aged 40 and new to the town.

Dr Thomas Isherwood, University School founder and headmaster for its first two decades

By the time of his death 20 years later, Dr Isherwood had been councillor for Hesketh ward, the first Mayor of Southport of the 20th century and had built the school up from its initial intake of 12.
“There were only about four heads altogether in its entire history,� explained Mr Dyer, whose years at the school coincided with the headship of Major Duncan MacNicol from 1947 to 1969.
Other independent schools now lost to Southport include Brentwood Girls’ School in Morley Road and Bickerton House in Ainsdale.

Boys gather for University School sports day in the late 1940

“The trouble with independent schools is they were often run by one person, and so was very much in their hands.
“Also they were on very expensive land, of high value to developers,� said Mr Dyer, a former teacher who is writing a book on his experiences of life in Southport.
Any former students of Southport University School who are not already members of its Old Boys’ Association can call Mr Dyer on 01704-231685.
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