"rozzer" richards
by Peter "Stech" Stechman
Rozzer Richards was a Physical Education [PE] Teacher at Barnsbury. I never knew his first name, but someone will tell me, - Barry, no doubt. Fabian gave Rozzer a roasting, but I liked him and appreciated his help in the gym and with badminton and swimming, despite his remarks on the annual cross country run, which I’ve set out in a previous story. I don’t recall him ever giving me a belting, but he certainly threatened me with it and I took note of his enthusiasm for fitness.
In the 1970s, a work colleague who was a Royal Life Saving Society [RLSS] Examiner was going to Highbury Grove School to take some boys for their RLSS Bronze Medallion lifesaving award. I had heard that Rozzer was teaching there and thought I'd accompany my friend to the exam as I lived nearby at the time. We arrived in the afternoon, my friend went to the pool, I made enquiries about Rozzer and was escorted to his class.
I knocked on the door and went in. Rozzer hadn’t changed much; he still looked fit but the years of teaching had taken its toll, especially with no more slippering to keep the nasty thugs under control, but he could still shout - as he demonstrated! It was almost time for the 4 o'clock bell and the kids were getting restless. I introduced myself, ‘ Stech', Barnsbury Boys early 1960’s’ and extended my hand in a gesture of friendship, thinking that this was the best way to proceed.
Rozzer was clearly taken aback. Was I about to chin him, pull out a knife or cosh? Maybe he’d had previous experience of this; he was not a popular man, many teachers weren’t, [Sharr, Rice and Baylis]. Perhaps no-one had ever gone to see him. He told the boys to leave and after they filed out about 10 others came in. They were on detention, a modern day ineffectual substitute for the slipper or the cane. To their amazement and joy, Rozzer said that they were lucky he had a visitor, - their detention was cancelled! They checked me out as they went past, smiled and disappeared quickly before he changed his mind. I saw them go and the ghost of my former schooldays went with them.
Rozzer invited me to take a seat and we sat and talked for about an hour about teachers, Graham, Walton and a few others. He frowned when I told him that I was the one that had single-handedly flooded the outdoor pool at Merchants Hill when on a three week winter Adventure Course. We were forced into freezing water at 6am every morning. Johnny Pearce was my partner for 3 weeks in a tent once buried in deep snow and I almost burnt the tent down with us in it when trying to light our petrol fuel camping stove inside the tent.
I told Rozzer about some of the jobs I’d done since leaving Barnsbury, finally ending up in the Leisure Industry, as it was termed. At that time I was a Sports Centre Manager, amongst the best 10 in London, known to be firm but fair although, just like the teachers and most others in charge of people, probably disliked by many subordinates. Rozzer took particular interest in this achievement, perhaps believing that maybe ‘just a little’ of what he taught and I’d learnt from him had influenced my future and successful career.
All too soon there was a knock on the door and my colleague appeared. The Lifesaving Exam in the pool and theory exams were over and the news wasn’t good. Unfortunately, the pupils did not, ‘on this occasion’, [a common term] meet the exam requirements of the RLSS. In short, they had all failed. Rozzer was not a happy man and I bet he was soon on the case of whoever was responsible for the failure. With my colleague back, the atmosphere changed and Rozzer was once again back in 'strict teacher mode'. The distance between us had lessened considerably during that hour. Time had passed quickly, he had relaxed a little, maybe felt somewhat contented, - amused even moved, all probably very difficult for him, who can tell. Every word of that story is true.
This is not what the majority of Dear Good Ol' Barnsbury Boys [GoBB's] expected of ‘Stech, was it? To some, Rozzer Richards will always be as Fabian saw him, a rogue teacher, the worst, a nasty, sly, vindictive piece of work and not much good as a PE teacher either, Fabians words not mine. I didn’t see him that way and in that brief hour I spent talking to him as an adult, it just confirmed my view that everyone perceives and experiences people ‘differently’.
Stech
24.12.14
Rozzer Richards was a Physical Education [PE] Teacher at Barnsbury. I never knew his first name, but someone will tell me, - Barry, no doubt. Fabian gave Rozzer a roasting, but I liked him and appreciated his help in the gym and with badminton and swimming, despite his remarks on the annual cross country run, which I’ve set out in a previous story. I don’t recall him ever giving me a belting, but he certainly threatened me with it and I took note of his enthusiasm for fitness.
In the 1970s, a work colleague who was a Royal Life Saving Society [RLSS] Examiner was going to Highbury Grove School to take some boys for their RLSS Bronze Medallion lifesaving award. I had heard that Rozzer was teaching there and thought I'd accompany my friend to the exam as I lived nearby at the time. We arrived in the afternoon, my friend went to the pool, I made enquiries about Rozzer and was escorted to his class.
I knocked on the door and went in. Rozzer hadn’t changed much; he still looked fit but the years of teaching had taken its toll, especially with no more slippering to keep the nasty thugs under control, but he could still shout - as he demonstrated! It was almost time for the 4 o'clock bell and the kids were getting restless. I introduced myself, ‘ Stech', Barnsbury Boys early 1960’s’ and extended my hand in a gesture of friendship, thinking that this was the best way to proceed.
Rozzer was clearly taken aback. Was I about to chin him, pull out a knife or cosh? Maybe he’d had previous experience of this; he was not a popular man, many teachers weren’t, [Sharr, Rice and Baylis]. Perhaps no-one had ever gone to see him. He told the boys to leave and after they filed out about 10 others came in. They were on detention, a modern day ineffectual substitute for the slipper or the cane. To their amazement and joy, Rozzer said that they were lucky he had a visitor, - their detention was cancelled! They checked me out as they went past, smiled and disappeared quickly before he changed his mind. I saw them go and the ghost of my former schooldays went with them.
Rozzer invited me to take a seat and we sat and talked for about an hour about teachers, Graham, Walton and a few others. He frowned when I told him that I was the one that had single-handedly flooded the outdoor pool at Merchants Hill when on a three week winter Adventure Course. We were forced into freezing water at 6am every morning. Johnny Pearce was my partner for 3 weeks in a tent once buried in deep snow and I almost burnt the tent down with us in it when trying to light our petrol fuel camping stove inside the tent.
I told Rozzer about some of the jobs I’d done since leaving Barnsbury, finally ending up in the Leisure Industry, as it was termed. At that time I was a Sports Centre Manager, amongst the best 10 in London, known to be firm but fair although, just like the teachers and most others in charge of people, probably disliked by many subordinates. Rozzer took particular interest in this achievement, perhaps believing that maybe ‘just a little’ of what he taught and I’d learnt from him had influenced my future and successful career.
All too soon there was a knock on the door and my colleague appeared. The Lifesaving Exam in the pool and theory exams were over and the news wasn’t good. Unfortunately, the pupils did not, ‘on this occasion’, [a common term] meet the exam requirements of the RLSS. In short, they had all failed. Rozzer was not a happy man and I bet he was soon on the case of whoever was responsible for the failure. With my colleague back, the atmosphere changed and Rozzer was once again back in 'strict teacher mode'. The distance between us had lessened considerably during that hour. Time had passed quickly, he had relaxed a little, maybe felt somewhat contented, - amused even moved, all probably very difficult for him, who can tell. Every word of that story is true.
This is not what the majority of Dear Good Ol' Barnsbury Boys [GoBB's] expected of ‘Stech, was it? To some, Rozzer Richards will always be as Fabian saw him, a rogue teacher, the worst, a nasty, sly, vindictive piece of work and not much good as a PE teacher either, Fabians words not mine. I didn’t see him that way and in that brief hour I spent talking to him as an adult, it just confirmed my view that everyone perceives and experiences people ‘differently’.
Stech
24.12.14
