Mrs Sutcliffe

I think Mrs Sutcliffe lived somewhere in Guiseley.

Memories … click here to submit yours.

• My own memory is the time she wore tiny mirrors mounted on the corners of her glasses – thus being able to see what we were doing while her back was turned. Wasn’t one J Crowther surprised! [Bernard]
• I think we used to scoff at Mrs Sutcliffe a little as she was elderly (to us) and fussy and uncool, but looking back she was quite an inventive and innovative French teacher, for those days. She had us practise the unfamiliar French vowels by singing them to the ‘le grillon’ song, and had us enact a cafe scene to practise ordering coffee etc. Her idea that we would develop vocabulary and fluency by producing a ‘French Sentence’ in every class was less successful, resulting in lame last minute fragments in most cases. Some better organised spirits however had sentences prepared on time and even spares to donate to desperate friends – Catherine was one of these well organised souls. Do we all remember the time (first year? Second year?) where we got a class average of over 80% in the exams – instead of assuming as most would that the exam had been too easy, she credited us all with exceptional French skills, and brought in ice-creams for everybody from the tuck-shop! She also started us off on Latin in the second year, with Fabulae Antiquae. Mrs Curry took over in year three. [Glenda Leeming]

· She certainly was a French teacher ahead of her time. I too remember the cafes she set up, and I have recollections of red and white Spangle sweets being doled out for red or white wine! She used to play us a record sung by Les Compagnons de la Chanson (!!) which I think was La Mer, but she also had a record of them singing Little Jimmy Brown in English with a fantastic French accent - we all loved this! I think she used to keep her hanky tucked into her bloomer elastic, at least we all thought that!! She was visited every year by the French onion seller, known to me as Johnny Onion, and I think I know this as she was a friend of my parents so we’d occasionally go to her house which was in a terrace on the right hand side of the main road heading from AGS towards Rawdon. Do you remember the French names she gave us all? I believe I was Irene, and Hilary was Adele, I think. The great thing was, she got us speaking French which is a wonderful way to learn a language. I certainly wasn’t interested in the grammar! [Brenda Martin]

· What a delightful person Mrs Sutcliffe was. She used to carry a table and umbrella from her home to school so that we could role play a French cafe. Happy memories [Malcolm French]

· Mrs Sutcliffe was quite a chararcter.  She used to bring Breton onion sellers into the classroom.  I remember her playing French records such as Charles Trenet singing "La Mer" and "Boum".  On a school trip to Paris we later saw Charles Trenet at the Maison de la Radio.  Does anyone else remember that Mrs Sutcliffe kept her hankie up her knicker leg?  Was it with Mrs Sutcliffe that we each had to say a sentence in French at the end of the lesson? We performed little sketches in French in the hall.  I was in one about a woman taking off her hat to try on hats in a store and then seeing another woman walk off with her hat. {Janet Myers] Yes, I was in that sketch as the saleswoman -- but I remember it as ending with my trying to sell the woman her own hat! (Funny how our memories vary!) [Glenda Leeming]

· I remember Mrs Sutcliffe teaching us the Marseillaise and regretting that it was such a blood thirsty national anthem. We of course thought that was fine and made it better than dull old God save the Queen so we all sang it with great gusto. Result is I know still know it word for word, first verse anyway. [Susan Schofield]

· In 2018 we had a set of email exchanges on the subject of her various French assistant(e)s;-

1. Gilberte … lodged at our house; eventually married and lived in the St Malo area [Bernard]

2. Pierre Lowis … He lived in a flat above her house and used to hang out of the window to smoke, he was quite short and very well dressed [Brian Leng]. I remember him losing his cool on one occasion ..he had discipline problems [Roger Jones]. 

3. In addition to Pierre Lowys, does anyone else also remember another French assistant, mamselle Ozou, pronounced oh zoo? [David Longley]

• More to come

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