Steve Parkes (QM 1961-1967)
I passed my eleven-plus examination in 1961 and was lucky enough to have been accepted at Queen Mary's Grammar School - no doubt helped in that by the fact that my elder brother, Jeffrey, was already a pupil at the school, having started his first year at Moss Close in 1958.
By 1961, Moss Close had been sold off - and so I and all my fellow 'fusties' began our first term at the Lichfield Street campus, which is now part of the Girls' High School, of course. In those days, the girls were completely separate next door.
My first, second and third years and part of my fourth year were all spent at Lichfield Street, until we all moved, lock, stock and barrel, to the brand-new buildings at Mayfield on Monday 1st March, 1965.
During my time at QM, my best subject, by far, had always been Art - nurtured by our wonderful Art Master, Mr. Kedwards.
I'd always had a fondness for English as well, and at different times I'd been taught by Mr. Jack Jones and Mr. Eric Foers (pronounced 'Forz') - who had both collaborated in writing a memorable text book used at the school: Comprehension and Précis - a copy of which I managed to acquire for myself in recent years!
I managed to get five passes in my GCE O-Levels and had made a start on my A-Level courses, but fate had other ideas!
My Mom and Stepfather didn't approve of my steady girlfriend and I was forced to choose between her or my studies - but love won in the end and I managed to get taken on as an apprentice artist at Walsall Lithographic Company - who were the biggest printers in Walsall at the time - and that set me up in a lifetime as a graphic artist - a job I loved!
I was GREATLY helped in that by my headmaster, Mr. S.L. Darby, who pulled a lot of strings with the Managing Director, Jack Aspinall, who was a school governor at that time!
My girlfriend and I eventually married and we produced four, wonderful children. We stayed together for almost 46 years before she passed away in 2015.
After I'd left school, I must confess I didn't stay in touch for many years - but in May 2012 I came across three very old editions of the Queen Mary's School Magazine (pre-'Marian') from 1915, 1916 and 1925 which I'd 'borrowed' from the book room one time and I was overcome with guilt and remorse that I'd kept them all these years. I packaged them up and posted them back to the then headmaster with an apologetic letter.
I received an email reply from the legend that was Gill Columbine, the Alumni and Development Officer, and we stayed in touch down the years until she retired in 2020.
It wasn't until Judy McCoy took over from Gill and she changed the drawing of the griffin head logo from an older, green one which Gill had always used, which faced the wrong way - and which I'd never taken any notice of before. Once I DID notice it, I asked Judy about it and discovered that it was supposed to be the crest used on the Nicholas and George Hawe coat of arms which (I think) is up on the wall of the Hall somewhere...?
She sent me a full-sized image of the original drawing, which she told me that "someone at the school" had drawn for her, as she wanted it to look more like the one on top of the coat of arms.
Being a graphic artist myself - and having always had a particular interest in heraldry, as it happens, I was quite appalled by the poor quality of the amateur drawing that was being used, and I set about producing a 'proper' heraldic griffin-head crest, complete with its obligatory 'wreath' on the bottom of it.
If I might explain... in heraldry, a complete coat of arms should consist of the shield, bearing its essential 'arms' (the device or pattern which was painted on the shield).
Above the shield, there should appear a 'helm' - like a medieval, whole head helmet, always facing to the left, unless you were royalty. On top of the helm was always a crest. In battle, the knights always wore some sort of 3-dimensional, sculpted device on top of their helms, usually made from boiled leather, to distinguish and identify themselves individually while they were wearing the kings colours.
To hide the join where the crest was attached to the top of the helm, they wrapped two, twisted strips of different-coloured cloth around its base - and that 'wreath' was always represented in the coat of arms (or 'achievement of arms', to give it its proper name).
Some people erroneously refer to a whole coat of arms as a "crest" - but you will see now that the "crest" is only the small part of it that goes on top of the helm.
For some reason, the Nicholas and George Hawe coat of arms you have at the school is shown without its helm - and the griffin-head crest is just sitting on its wreath directly on top of the shield - see the attached photo which Judy sent me last March.
Not to worry, though, as it's only the crest that we're concerned with, to use as the logo for the QMGS Alumni Club.
Judy had wanted the crest to be re-drawn to resemble the crest above the shield in all its essentials - proportion-wise, etc - which was what I did to try to improve on the 'amateur' one which had been drawn by someone who had not seen the coat of arms that's now on the wall.
I hope that clears up the story for you? If I've confused you about anything, please just ask me and I'll ty to explain better.
You should have me on record as S.J.Parkes, started September 1961, left November 1966.
Current address: 69 Watts Corner, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8FD
Telephone: 01458 830166
Mobile: 07479 518105
I'm attaching a colourised photograph of me, sitting on my old bike in front of the old toilet block in 1963 - which stood right where the High School later made their new gateway entrance from the corner of Upper Forster Street.