Shropshire Star

Young singers smiling in the rain

The smiles may be broad, but according to one of these young choristers in Shrewsbury, they were getting a bit miserable.

Published
The young choristers outside Shrewsbury Castle

"I remember having the picture taken because it was drizzling with rain and we were all fed up," said Mrs Helga Davies who was delighted when this photo, which she had never seen before, was carried in our Pictures From The Past slot.

It shows the junior choir of the Featherbed Lane school junior school at Harlescott outside Shrewsbury Castle in 1951.

The photo was emailed in by Christine Abram whose husband John Abram is on it, but like her, Mrs Davies does not know the event or occasion which led to the picture being taken.

"That's me with the ribbon, back row second from right," said Mrs Davies, who was back then Helga Leach.

"My mother had put a ribbon in my hair but because it was raining it all flopped.

"I would have been 11. Back right is the music teacher, Miss Gaynor Richards. She was lovely. Then she married in about 1955 or 1956 and became Mrs Jones.

"First row up, second from left is Gwen Lloyd. We called her Gwennie. They lived just down the road from us.

"It was a wonderful school. The teachers were great, we had a wonderful canteen, and the food was fantastic.

"We lived in Sundorne Avenue and I can remember walking across the fields to the school. Now it's a big housing estate," said Mrs Davies, of Reabrook.

"They had just built Corndon Crescent school in Shrewsbury, which was the bigger girls school, and I went there when I was 14 or 15, but was only there one year, then left school to go to work."