IN SEARCH OF A QUIET MAN:
A CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT
By Bill Rich and Peter Douglas
This is a two-part investigation,
initiated by Bill Rich, concerning Mike Roe. Mike was a
Chemistry Teacher at THS in the 1950's one of Bill's teaching
colleagues in the 1970s. The first part is by Peter Douglas, the
second part is by Bill Rich.
Peter starts:
In April 2007 I received an e-mail message from Bill Rich. Bill
was a fellow-pupil at Trinity High School, but although our time
there overlapped by a couple of years (1961-63), we never knew each
other back then. On the THS website, Bill had read my most recent
memory-essay on my school experiences, Other
School Moments Remembered, and one particular memory resonated:
“Making life hell for young, toothy Mr. Roe, our new
chemistry teacher, and fresh out of teachers’ training college.
I think we saw ourselves as part of his essential continuing
education, a sort of post-graduate teacher commando course,
courtesy of his rotten class!”
Bill had noted Mr Roe’s name before on the website and now he
again asked himself if this could be the same Mike Roe whom he had
known as fellow teacher in a school in Malvern in the 1970s. The
Malvern Mr Roe, whom Bill knew as Mike, also taught chemistry and
came from Northampton, so that this was all just a coincidence was
already doubtful.
Bill recalled that Mike Roe’s family lived somewhere near the
County Ground; he had attended the Grammar School in Northampton,
and had gone on to Oxford. Bill and Mike had chatted about
Northampton and the Cobblers, but Trinity High School came up only
once in their conversation. Bill speculated that, if this is the
same Mike Roe, his school experience should have been something he
wanted to forget! Bill informed me that “his” Mike Roe had retired
from teaching, and had subsequently died. He was eager to know if I
had any more information about or memories of my chemistry teacher
to help us determine whether or not this was the same person.
I responded, regretting that I had no additional details of
“young, toothy Mr. Roe.” I said that he took over from Stan Guffogg
as my chemistry teacher and all I had were his remarks on my school
reports for the spring and summer terms of 1960, when I was in 4A.
As that was the last year I did chemistry, Mr. Roe vanished from my
life after that. I did say that his initials were “MR” and I thought
that his first name was Michael. I reiterated what I’d said in my
essay, that he was nervous, hopeless controlling the class, and that
we had consequently taken many liberties and ragged him mercilessly.
I had to confess that I new nothing at all about his personal
life or background apart from the apparently well-known fact (or at
least, under the circumstances, the reasonable deduction) that the
poor bugger was fresh out of teachers’ training college, wet behind
the ears, and that we were probably his first teaching experience.
The scraps I could provide certainly led nowhere and the evidence
seemed inconclusive, though Bill was more convinced than I was that
we were discussing the same person. It was a fascinating
possibility, but for me at that point the jury was still out.
Attached to Bill’s next e-mail, which contained some more stories
of the Malvern Mike Roe, was a somewhat grainy photograph (above) of
the Malvern school’s staff line up, showing Mike Roe, bearded, in
the middle row. It was taken in the summer of 1975, and Bill
estimated that the teacher was around 36 years old at that time,
which would have made him twenty-one around 1960—about right for Mr
Roe my chemistry teacher.
I subsequently replied to Bill saying that I had real hopes for a
jolt of recognition, but the image didn’t allow me to say anything
certain about the identification. For one thing, the beard got in
the way. For me, the photographic evidence was still strong, though
not certain. It was other evidence that convinced me. Although my
memories of Mr Roe are pretty vague, Bill’s description of Mike Roe
as being somewhat quiet and shy definitely fit. However, the
clincher for me was Bill’s story of how, on the one time when
Trinity High School came up in their conversation, his Mike Roe made
references to certain matters specific to the school (see below).
The connection had to be there.
Skip ahead a few months to early last October. When I heard from
Bill again, his message had attachments consisting of two more
photographs of his Mike Roe that he had obtained from a fellow
teacher at Malvern. Here he is clean-shaven but costumed for a
Gilbert and Sullivan production and wearing a lace collar and a big
wig, like a judge (Photos 2 & 3). He is not smiling, and no teeth
are showing, but there is a certain look around the mouth that
suggests a fine set of prominent choppers. He is wearing make-up
too, which rather gets in the way, though now I was feeling more
sure that the two Mr. Roes were the same person, and I told Bill as
much. These pictures show a certain overbite that bolsters the
resemblance for me, which, along with all the other personal facts,
statements, and characteristics that Bill had referred to, convinced
me that this was Mr Roe, my chemistry teacher. There were just too
many matching details for this to be an unrelated coincidence.
This is how things were at the time of the October 2007 THS
Reunion. At the bar in The Old Bank Bill and I were discussing our
investigatory efforts with David James, who also remembered Mr Roe
well. We talked about those chemistry lessons and his were as crazy
as mine, and we both felt a bit rotten in retrospect at the way we
all “played him up.” It was, said David, “a combination of
adolescence, rats hunting in packs, and the time (1959 was the era
of the Teddy Boy).” David later mentioned that he recalls seeing Mr
Roe on the rugby pitch at school wearing a Grammar School rugby
jersey, so we can add that to the evidence about the school he
attended; this also fits neatly with Bill’s remarks about Mike Roe
refereeing varsity matches.
David took us by complete surprise by saying that he had a
photograph of Mr. Roe at school, and he would be pleased to send it
on later by e-mail! We couldn’t believe our luck! Now we could do a
comparison the other way—we would have a picture of Mr Roe as he was
at school that Bill could show to the teachers in Malvern. (Bill
explains the outcome of this in his part of this tale below.) David
transmitted the eagerly awaited image immediately following the
reunion.
 |
|
An enlargement of
Mike Roe from the photo below |
The photograph left (enlarged, with the full photo below) shows
Mr. Roe as I knew him, here in the middle of a smiling jostle of
boys, some with their fists raised as if in triumph or
accomplishment. David thinks that the photograph was taken in the
winter of 1959-60, probably around November as some of the lads are
sporting distinctly non-uniform pullovers. David identified the boys
as (L-R) Derek “Gents” Morrison, David Row, Bill Sixton, Bob Cadd,
David James, possibly Dick Finnis(?), Paddy Davies, and Alan
Lucking. Mr Roe, looking scarcely much older than those around him,
is in profile and is bending slightly forward. According to David,
someone was holding a penknife to the teacher’s chest! David says
that the photo was a set-up, a pre-arranged happening for the end of
a chemistry period, and, as we can see, there was a lot of cheering
and jeering. “We were little sods!” David adds.
 Meanwhile,
Bill had forwarded to David the other Malvern pictures of Mike Roe
and David is “absolutely sure” that this is our Mr Roe from Trinity,
adding, “There are too many coincidences for him not to be,” and I
have to agree.
We are pleased with the results of our detective work, this
“archaeological dig” into Mr Roe’s story. We want to share what we
unearthed with others from that era at school who remember him and
may be interested in what became of him, and perhaps now mumble a
few belated penitent words for what we did to him! Clearly, despite
our combined efforts, we didn’t drive him out of teaching.
Bill Rich continues:
As Peter wrote, my interest in Mr Roe came from the fact that I
had taught in the same school as a chemistry teacher called Mike
Roe. It must have taken about eighteen months before we actually
spoke to each other. I saw Mike as one of the older members of staff
who tended to sit with the other science teachers. At breaks he
would come into the staffroom, get a cup of tea, and probably have a
smoke. I would sit on the other side of the room chatting to anyone
who was interested in football, going for a drink, a cycle ride, or
looking to play a prank.
One day, it must have been in about March 1977, I was concerned
about the Cobblers as they looked as though they would be relegated
yet again. Someone suggested that I should ring home, so I used the
public callbox that was in the staffroom. As I came off the phone
Mike, who was sitting close to it, said something along the lines
of, “You have never seen the Cobblers play real football.” This was
the first time that we had ever spoken to each other, and I joined
the school in September 1975!
Mike then, if I remember correctly, asked me if I was from
Northampton and which school I went to. When I said Trinity I am now
convinced that he said, “So you will know Buzzer and Gunner?” At
this point I asked him if he went to Trinity and he replied, “No,
the Boys’ Grammar.” After that there was no mention of THS and we
never spoke about our respective schools again. Thus Peter’s article
some thirty years later got me wondering if we had both met Mike.
I have been in contact with colleagues from the school in
Malvern, and Mike’s past is shrouded in mystery. What I will say is
that I, along with three other members of staff, have compared the
photo of Mr Roe at Trinity with the memories we have of him and all
four of us think it is the same person. Peter Douglas and David
James are also in agreement that we a dealing with the same person.
For completeness I shall attempt to write a little about Mike as
I knew him. He was a quiet person who would not be drawn into
conversation. When I thought that I was getting close to him he
would leave the staffroom. With hindsight perhaps he did not want me
to find out about his THS experience. Certainly he had an affection
for the Cobblers and would tell me about Jack English and Freddie
Ramscar. Regularly I would be told about the cup game with
Southampton and how the cricket side was built up to get more
spectators in. At about the time of a staff versus pupil football
match he told me that he had refereed university matches. I recall
him saying that he went to Oxford. When I suggested that he should
referee our game he simply smiled.
He once took an assembly for the second year and played some
classical music. His theme was that everyone has an interest and
that tastes change over the years. We should not dismiss things out
of hand as we will never know when our opinions will change. It’s
strange that I remember this.
The closest that I ever got to Mike was in December 1978. We met
at Edgar Street for the game between the Cobblers and Hereford (the
Cobblers lost 4-3). Mike gave me a lift back to my digs in Malvern
and as I got out of the car he turned to his son, who was in the
back, and said, “This is where the Rich people live.” He then smiled
and winked at me as he drove off. I left the Malvern in December
1980 and saw him once or twice after that, when I visited the
school.
Coming up to date, sadly Mike died, in his sleep, from a massive
heart attack, having retired from teaching at, we assume, sixty. It
has been hard to find anyone who knew much about him. Even someone
close to him, who had taken part in Gilbert and Sullivan
performances with him, could only say that he came into teaching
late having worked for the Education Department in Worcester. It was
thought that the chemistry post in Malvern was his first in
teaching!
Yes, Mike was a quiet man.
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