Margaret (Muskett) Moxon was at EGS 1959-1966. She wrote a charming article "Just One Look" in November 2009 in the Salford local history journal, describing how she induced the famous pop artist, Graham Nash, to open the School Christmas Faire in 1965. The article is reproduced below. (Margaret is in the white blouse.)

Just One Look

If I had been a little more streetwise and a little less gormless in December 1965, my life might have taken a different turn altogether. I might have given Jennifer Eccles a run for her money or even booked a ticket on the Marrakesh Express.

As a Sixth Former at Eccles Grammar School, my Saturday job was in Mr and Mrs Summerville's 'cake-shop' on Regent Street in Eccles. The cake-shop was one of the row of shops that marked the route to Eccles Market and all the excitements (?) of Eccles Town Centre for those indefatigable women making the weekly trek from Ladywell Estate and beyond.

When I explained to Mr Summerville that we were looking for someone to open the annual Sixth Form Christmas Fair, his round face beamed under his floppy baker's hat.

"Should I ask if Graham will do it?"

"Graham?"

"Graham Nash -- you know, his mother has one large white and a small Hovis of a Saturday."

Graham Nash! Graham Nash of The Hollies, Ladywell's answer to The Everly Brothers!

Mr Summerville duly asked, Graham Nash said he would and that was that. No 'phone calls, no letters, no formal arrangements -- well, it was the sixties and we were all working class.

On the day, Mr Summerville abandoned the mince pies, threw aside his enormous white apron and we drove our hero to the school. Mr Summerville and Graham chatted amiably in the front and I sat dumbstruck in the back. But at the school gates, our roles changed dramatically. Mr Summerville sat transfixed as Graham and I ran like demons, pursued by screaming banshees until we scrambled into the Music Room.

The Christmas Fair had never been so crammed, thrilling or noisy.

I guess that the Headmaster tactfully advised an emergency stand-in vicar or councillor that their services would not be required, secretly dreading the sort of speech a 'pop star' would make and wondering what on earth a 'hound dog' was anyway.

He needn't have worried. Somehow, Graham had remained immaculate. His three-piece suit and polished Cuban heels showed that he was taking his duties seriously and the speech itself took me by surprise. He advised us all to work hard at school and to make the most of our opportunities. I don't know what I expected but if he had asked us all to join him in a revolution, I'm sure that there would have been a stampede. That was the trouble with the sixties: even then most of us were too polite to do anything without being asked first.

One way or another, Mr Summerville managed to get Graham back to the cake shop and a fabulous and psychedelic future with The Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I remained gormless for quite a while and never thanked Graham Nash properly for being such a good guy that Christmas. So, thank you Graham for "Just One Look".