Remembering Frank Chatterton

If you were at the Gilberd in the 1970s you might remember the hugely popular school caretaker Frank Chatterton. (Eddie Ross paid tribute to Frank in our virtual tour of the Gilberd School, which you can watch here.)

We have recently been contacted by Frank's daughter, Alisa, who explained:

My dad, Mr Chatterton, was the head caretaker at the school until he died in 1976. I remember Mr Ross well, when he brought his daughters to the school for events we used to play together. I have a black and white photograph he took of me sitting on the stage in the small hall, when I was about 7.

It was lovely to look through the blog, lots of memories and although I wasn't a pupil at the school I spent a lot of time there with my dad. We lived in the caretakers house in the lower school. I remember a couple of the pupils there but mostly the teachers: Mr Little, a science technician; Barbara Czarneski, English; Mrs Roberts in the office; Mr Firth the headmaster and many more.

I came back to the school about 16 years ago with my young son. We talked about grandad often and I wanted to show him where he had worked and his mummy had grown up. The staff were kind enough to let us have a wander around. Some things had certainly changed! A shame to see the lower school had gone, but amazing that the original floors, doors and some windows remained in the main building. 

I'm sure it is insignificant to anyone else, but the fact that my dad is still remembered by Mr Ross and pupils that were at the school all these years later means a great deal to me. He loved The Gilberd School, he was very proud of it. He loved the staff and pupils there and apart from his long service in the RAF, it was definitely somewhere he was at his happiest. 

Knowing him, he would have spun many tales to make the children laugh. I remember my mum used to tell him off because he used to share sneaky cigarettes with pupils! 

My brother told me he remembers the crematorium absolutely packed with pupils and staff at his funeral, and they were very grateful that people came and showed their respects to him. I was only 10 when he died and I didn't attend.

I wondered if amongst your archive of photographs, you may have a photo of my dad at the school? 

Although Eddie and Alisa have been able to correspond, unfortunately Eddie doesn't have any photos of Frank in his collection. Alisa would love to hear from past pupils or teachers who would be willing to share their memories or photos of her dad. Can you help? If so, do get in touch with us at eddiesphotos@icloud.com and we will forward your email on to Alisa.