A selection of photos that appeared in The Tower, the school magazine for which we have the original 8 x 10s.

The Edinburgh Schools’ Rowing Club had been started in spring 1961 by Mr Mackay, Headmaster of Firhill Secondary. Membership was open to boys from Leith and Portobello. The membership of 20 was mostly made up from our school. They regularly took to the Forth in a “four-oared jolly-boat”.

The Golf Section flourished under the twice-weekly tuition of Duddingston professional John Shade, father of Ronnie Shade who was a former pupil. Ronnie won five Scottish Amateur championships from 1963 to 1967. He is pictured here in 1956.

The Tennis Club had a mixed season, affected in part by the introduction of the new Scottish Certificate of Examination ‘O Grades’ which took place in May, thus affecting the length of the tennis season for senior pupils.

The 1st XI hockey team had a successful year, including beating Gillespie’s on the way to winning the Meggetland Trophy. Also shown is the 2nd year team.

The Rugby 1st XV was considered to have the best record in the previous 6 years. An Under-15 team (pictured) won the Junior Rugby section of the Meggetland Trophy. Mr Cuthbertson recorded that “enthusiasm is very high in the first year” (their picture is also shown).

Janice Anderson and Wilson Robertson continued to dominate at the swimming gala. Janice won the Girls’ Individual Championship for the third occasion, whilst Wilson was Boys’ champion for a fourth time. Portobello teams won both the Girls’ and Boys’ Inter-Schools Team Races.

Miss Hazel Christman was an “exchange teacher” who joined the school at the start of the session whilst our own Miss Marshall took up a similar post at Miss Christman’s school in Abingdon, Pennsylvania.

With credit to Ian Small