Paul Brennan – History of The Ryleys School and Harden House School
Thank you to Paul Brennan for sharing this really interesting insight into his time at The Ryleys, following its merger with Harden House School in the early 1960s.
We'd love to hear more from any alumni. Please share our page and hopefully we can increase our community.
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Time Travel Tuesday
When did you attend The Ryleys School?
I went to Harden House Prep School in Alderley in 1962, and when that school merged (lock stock and barrel i.e. all school pupils and school teachers moved across) in 1963/64(?) I joined Ryleys, in Elstob, until I left after Common Entrance in 1970. Of course, the fact the Ryleys tie still has a blue stripe in it, and the playing fields are where they are is due to HH having blue/grey as their colours and those fields originally being next to HH school - which later became a hotel and after many (sad) years as a boarded up place is just in the process of being demolished.
Where did you go after The Ryleys School?
Along with many I went onto Shrewsbury School.
What is your favourite memory of your time at The Ryleys School?
Probably our football team and focus on football. The Maths teacher was also our football coach and had played some soccer for Wolves I believe as a young man (although he was of course still young in the 1960s!). Don Capes by name- no idea what became of him. He and an English/History teacher called David Sharples pushed us along to be quite a good local team. David actually left teaching and joined the Church in the late 1960s , and a few years ago was still alive albeit now retired from the Church and living in the Salford area. Our team was enhanced by us wearing quite smart - for the time - proper soccer strips in yellow with black piping that came to us via Umbro, as the original owners had a son at the school (indeed in my year).
Do you keep in touch with friends you made during your time here?
Sadly not. In those days , as one moved onto other schools, contact drifted. No mobile tel. numbers and email addresses in those days, just a phone number/address of ones friends parents, so harder to maintain dialogue!
A short career summary?
After Shrewsbury and a Business Degree from Manchester University I joined the corporate world and over 30 years climbed the greasy pole via major PLCs and VC backed organisations in brewing, retail, financial services and private healthcare. Then for the last 10 years of my career I used my expertise and experience as a management and marketing consultant.
What advice would you have for pupils / parents considering The Ryleys School?
Whilst clearly it is a very different school now than when I attended, the whole ethos of private schools and the focus on the pupils, at an impressionable age , I still believe is well worth pursuing.
Any final words?
Thanks for the chance to share some thoughts. Where have the past 60 years gone - all in the blink of an eye!! Intriguing to know if any of the original Harden House pupils are still in contact and what they have to say about their lives and what they may know happened to any past pupils/teachers at HH and Ryleys.
If you were a pupil at The Ryleys School, we'd love to hear from you. Please do drop us a message us on using the form below to and we'll get in touch with you for your story: