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Bill Ellis (1932 - 1937)

Hello....I was delighted to see your web page re Elmgrove School, as I attended it when it opened till 1937. My teacher in my final year was a Mr. Marks. Kids being kids we caled him baldy (but) behind his back as he had a vicious cane. He had two in fact which he respectively named Strawberry Flavour and Black Doctor. The Principal was a John Sullivan who once administered to me six of the best for putting frogs from the local stream through a classroom. I pleaded "Not Guilty" but to no avail.
A brief resume since I started at Elmgrove:-
Trandferred from Simpson Memorial September 3rd 1933. Finished JULY (??) 1937. We always called it the pigeon box. I lived literaly next door at 41 Dunraven Avenue. I worked for a short time on "The Island" - moved to Coventry on March 11th 1940 - just in time for all the air raids! I served in ARP through all the Coventry raids with only one "INCIDENT" in our area due to a land mine with lots of damage but by the grace of God no deaths.
I served an indentured apprenticeship with Armstrong Siddeley as a tool maker and served as a radio operator in the Royal Signals. I married in 1951 and emigrated to Canada in 1957. I abandoned toolmaking to become technical applications representative for Western Canada in the application of Tungsten Carbide tools. I held the position of Field Engineer for a period of a few years till the economy nosedived in 1980 and I was slotted as half a technical rep., and half a sales rep. Later I once more became full time Tech. Rep. for Western Canada and remained so till retirement. I was approximately 20 years with the same company.
In 1992 I decided to make use of my army training, and sat for my licence as a "HAM" radio operator and had the pleasure of talking to people all round the world. I have up radio and sold my station (VE7WFE) and invested the proceeds in a computer including furniture printer, scanner and digital modem.
I remember well the "ELMGROVE JOURNAL" and the 1937 one in particular because I still remember one "corny" joke. It went thus: Is it true that (girl's name forgotten) fries her bacon in Lux (a soap powder) to keep it from shrinking? I recall Mr. Mac Roberts well - an excellent teacher and when he had finished with us we could go through all 48 propositions of the first book Euclid. I wish I had absorbed algebra as well as it would have saved me a lot of "back tracking" later in life. 
I would love to correspond with someone if interested. I am now 78 years. My e-mail address isve7wfe@shaw.ca
I now live in British Columbia Canada on Vancouver Island.
Sincerely....William F. (Bill) Ellis
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