Bid to find owners of 1950s school exercise books

A man is trying to reunite Brummies with their 1950s school exercise books, after unexpectedly finding them during a house clear-out.

David Cobb found the pile of exercise books while clearing out the house of his late uncle, who was a teacher at Mapledene Primary School in Sheldon 70 years ago.

“It would be nice to reunite them,” said Mr Cobb, who lives in Newcastle and whose uncle Raymond Gooch died in 2010.

The school said it would put a message in its weekly newsletter, in the hope that families would come forward.

Mr Cobb, a 73-year-old retired electrician, also found a school magazine from 1954 and class photographs in his late uncle’s house.

The exercise books contain arithmetic, pressed flowers, and even a short story written by a girl who imagined what it would be like to be a cat.

“We would love to reunite the books with their families,” said Mel Faulkner, the school’s acting assistant head.

She added that the school was part of a tight-knit community and she expected that there would be "a really strong response” to the call for information in the newsletter.

Mapledene Primary School first opened in 1950.

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