Barrie Hudson looks at the people & events hitting the Adver headlines

IT is 39 years since a group of girls at the old Park School in Walcot faced severe disciplinary action.

Their crime? Wearing trousers instead of skirts in the midst of a bitter winter.

It was the sort of dispute that would be unthinkable barely a decade later, but in 1976 few adults saw anything wrong in imposing such a rule.

The dispute at the school in Marlowe Avenue was the subject of several stories in the second week of February.

“Seven girl pupils at Park School, Swindon,” we wrote, “were told to go home and change today when they turned up to classes wearing trousers.

“The girls, all fourth and fifth formers, have been protesting against the ‘no trousers’ rule for the past week.

“And today, three of the girls went home to put on skirts. The four who refused were sent to the library.”

One of the dissidents, 15-year-old Julie Hedges of Shrewsbury Road, said: “I don’t see anything wrong with them. It’s been really freezing these last few weeks.”

The deputy head teacher, Mrs Alice Chambers, said girls were welcome to wear trousers while travelling to school but had to change on arrival. She added that there were good reasons for not allowing girls to wear trousers at school, but didn’t reveal those reasons.

By the Tuesday more than 50 girls had joined the protest and we said: “The girls in the trousers row at Park School, Swindon, were today threatened with detention and bad job references if they kept up their protest.

“Waiting for them outside the school gates before they went in were television cameras and national Sunday newspaper correspondents.”

Pupil Mary Dowie, 15, revealed the threats and added: “It’s just like Colditz in the school at the moment.”

In a later story, she said: “We were shut in at break and there was a teacher at every door.”

Susan Wilson, 16, confirmed that threats had been made, and added: “I think it’s stupid – it’s just blackmailing us. If they can’t teach us in trousers then they can’t teach us in skirts.”

We’d like to say the Adver backed the young protesters in their stance against a silly and outdated rule, but if we did we’d be lying.

An opinion piece came down firmly on the side of the school and added: “Come on, girls. You’ve had your little rebellion.”

When we left the story, the matter was due for debate by the school council. We can find no further mention of it in our archives, but if veterans of the protest are reading this we’d love to hear from them.

The school, as many Rewind readers will recall, was eventually renamed Oakfield and closed at the turn of the century.

This week in 1976 also saw us interview a children’s book illustrator whose rich style was familiar to generations of young people: “In a wooden shed at the side of her garden in Belmont Crescent, Swindon, Pamela Adams, 55, spends her working day drawing.

“She produces colourful cows comic cats and funny old ladies which are delighting boys and girls in dozens of countries around the world.”

Born in Swindon, Pamela studied at the old Art College which still stands in Victoria Road.

Following a successful career in illustration and commercial art in London, she returned to her home town to look after her elderly mother.

By the time of our interview she had already illustrated countless books, provided drawings for children’s programme You and Me and produced exquisite Christmas cards for UNICEF. She worked for local publisher Child’s Play International, which still stocks many of her works.

Many artists of the era swore by ingesting interesting substances and Pamela was no exception – she enjoyed wine gums. Pamela continued to work in Swindon, producing her final book in 2006. She died in 2010.

It was an important week for a local band called Scallywag, who were billed as a cabaret group and photographed in matching suits and ties.

They were gearing up to play three shows in three different places that Saturday.

We said: “After their regular monthly slot at the Willie Wyvern Club in Swindon, they’ll be off to a charity concert at Leyhill Prison near Wotton-under-Edge in the afternoon.

“The evening concert is much further afield – in Hereford.”

The members of the band, previously known as Mickey Finn, were Michael Palmer, Mickey Dobie, Melvyn Cook and Ivan Robinson. Can any readers tell us more about them?

Another Swindon musician soon to be going places was young French horn player Bernard Lovell of Kenilworth Lawns.

The London College of Music student, we revealed, was about to swap Beethoven for the blues: “Next month he will set off with other members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra on a three-week tour of California, including an appearance at the Reno Jazz Festival.”

Bernard, we added, was set to graduate that summer and had started playing while at Churchfields School. The jazz orchestra was due to be featured in a BBC Omnibus documentary and planned to release a single – called Marianne – and album on the RCA label.

Unsurprisingly, online searches for Bernard are hampered by his sharing a name with the late, great astronomer, but a horn player of that name seems to have played a Berlioz piece with the Bristol Symphony Orchestra as recently as 2011.