Back to 1973: Remembering the famous Hartlepool schools which closed 50 years ago

It is 50 years since we said goodbye to Galleys Field School and St Joseph’s Convent.

Let’s first take a look at Galleys Field which had been around since 1898 in the town.

But its days were numbered in the 1970s and it was closed 50 years ago this year.

Well known former pupils included the prolific recording artist Chick Henderson who had a dance band hit in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

His best known and biggest-selling recording was Begin the Beguine.

Reg Smythe, the man who created cartoon character Andy Capp, was another to have graced the Galleys Field classrooms.

After its closure, the building on the Headland was eventually demolished in December 1977, but by then, thousands of students had been taught there.

You never forgot this school

Pupils clearly loved the school. Even though it had been shut for 20 years, 150 former pupils got together for the annual reunion party in 1993 with a cake-cutting ceremony.

Some travelled from Canada and Australia to meet their old friends.

They were at it again in 2008 when former pupils reunited and had a great time catching up on their classroom days.

Were you one of them and what are your memories of the school? Can you remember your classmates or perhaps even the teachers who taught you?

Around since the 1880s

Perhaps you have better memories of St Joseph’s Convent in Hartlepool which closed for the last time to school children in 1973.

The 88-year-old school was phased out as part of a scheme for comprehensive secondary education for Hartlepool’s Roman Catholics. It was founded by the Order of the Faithful Companions of Jesus in Redcar in 1880 but was transferred to Hartlepool five years later. Though it began as a boarding school, it expanded rapidly as a day school for girls.

In 1969, six new classrooms were built to accommodate the sixth forms and extensions were carried out to the library, physics laboratory and art rooms. The plan to phase out the school was announced in 1970.

Tell us much more about the schools you remember from the past by emailing [email protected]