Charles Harcourt: Arbury Road - Bellerbys College Memories

Bellerbys College Manor House Student Residence. For generations of schoolchildren the old Manor School/Community College tower block and boys' gym will be instantly recognisable.

Charles Harcourt is an old friend of the Arbury Blog and has shared a few of his memories of the time he worked as a teacher at Bellerbys College, on the Manor School site.

When Charles first came to Bellerbys, around January 2009, he knew nothing of the prehistoric Arbury Camp and the other iron age and Roman remains found in Arbury: 'When I first arrived at Arbury Road, I had no idea of the ancient history of Arbury or anything like that. It was never discussed. I don't think any of the students knew either, though I think they would have been fascinated!

'I came to teach English as a Foreign Language to Bellerbys students, to prepare them for other courses. Bellerbys also taught maths, sciences and lots of other subjects.

'Students came from all over the world - China, Saudi Arabia, Russia...

'The Manor School, or North Cambridge Academy, was on the right hand side as you entered the site from Arbury Road, and Bellerbys on the left.

Bellerbys named the campus at Arbury Road 'Manor House'. There was never actually a manor house in Arbury, although the Manor Farmhouse, home to the tenant farmers, was often locally referred to by this name many years ago. Bellerbys took the 'Manor' name from the school, and added the 'House' perhaps as a nod to the fact that the site was residential. The old school tower block was converted into accommodation for Bellerbys students.

'I used to cycle in usually, but occasionally used the car,' Charles told us.

The entrance was the old Manor Upper School entrance, originally the Boys' School entrance, and the car park to the right was used by Bellerbys teachers.

The entrance, with Bellerbys and North Cambridge Academy signs. The two, trees planted by Colonel Charles Bennett in the garden of the Manor Farmhouse around the 1930s, can be seen on the left. This was some years after Charles Harcourt's era at Bellerbys and car parking was also provided to the left of the entrance at this point, in part of the old school playground.

'The students were a wonderful crowd, very happy to be studying here, and a joy to teach. Well... I remember one young lad, from Kazakhstan, a very wealthy family. He was very likeable, great fun, but didn't want to do any work in lessons. I had to tell him to leave the class several times for chatting and disrupting things. There were a total of six people in the class, a small group, so it was quite easy to disrupt things. I hated sending him out because he was such fun to have around!

'I recall some of the Chinese students decided to adopt names that were easy to pronounce in English while they were here, and they really enjoyed this. Should it be this? Should it be that? What name suits me as a person?

'One of the girls gave herself the name "Sharon", but after she'd discussed it with others decided it was a bit dated and chose something else.'

Andy recalled his old Manor days, when there were quite a lot of Sharons around. Funny how names come in and out of fashion...

Charles continued: 'One of the students, smart, clever, thoughtful, gave himself the name "Perish". I had a chat with him about this regarding the definition, but he was already aware, had thought about it, and was quite happy with it.

The tower block from Arbury Road during the Bellerbys era.

'The other teachers were great. There was a lovely team spirit, and I really enjoyed marking the students' end of term tests with them... Mark, Luke and Sean. Sean was a font of knowledge. He was in his early forties, well-spoken, and had a long pony tail. He was very entertaining to chat with and full of wisdom and hints for lessons.'

Thanks to Charles for this glimpse into life at Bellerbys. If anybody else, staff or students, would like to share memories, please get in touch - either via Blogger comments or our e-mail address, arburyestate@btinternet.com.

Andy's mind boggles at the idea of students living in the old school tower block, completely unimaginable during his years at the Manor in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and would love to hear about it. So, please, get in touch!

The new North Cambridge Academy buildings standing alongside the remaining old Manor buildings, which housed Bellerbys. Also highlighted are the Arbury Town Park and Arbury Community Centre in Campkin Road, No 3 Manor Farm Cottages, the site of the old Manor Farmhouse and other buildings, plus Colonel Bennett's trees which once stood in the Manor Farmhouse garden.

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