Joyce (Sheppard) Draycott was there when the connection between EGS and the newly-conceived Coronation Street was first made public. Miss Baker, who was reputed to recite Shakespeare as she rode her bicyle up and down the road between the school and her prominent house on Monton Green, taught A level English to Joyce. Miss Baker -- who would guess it ? -- had a personal connection to the series creator, Tony Warren (pictured above on the set in 1985).

It has been in the news this week that "Coronation Street" is celebrating it's 60th year as a soap and being updated in the Guinness Book of Records. It brought back memories of when I first heard about it.

It was in the early summer of 1960, I was in 6UA, our A level exams were behind us and in those days you still had to attend school till the end of term, unlike now. I was in Miss Baker's English class when she suddenly said she had some exciting news for us. One of her former pupils, Tony Simpson, [now known as Tony Warren] had written a series for Granada TV which would be broadcast towards the end of the year. [Photos of Tony and Miss Baker in 1949 are shown at the side.] We had never seen her so animated and excited before, and we were all amazed when she told us how talented he was and how he had kept in touch with her since he had left EGS. Apparently he skipped school quite a lot except for her lessons, but what got us keen to watch this new series [which as yet had no name] was that she ended her description of him by saying "he was a lovely boy and walked in such an artistic way!"

It must have been wonderful for her to know how successful he became after all her encouragement in his early years. It was only supposed to run for 13 episodes, so has really made history. One can only wonder if any of the famous characters we all loved -- Ena Sharples, Minnie Caldwell, Hilda Ogden, Ken Barlow, Jack Walker and the rest -- were based on our cast of teachers !

Joyce Sheppard (1953-60). December 2020.