This site is for former pupils of Downhills Central School,
Philip Lane, Tottenham and is run by Jim Franklin and
Roger Beckwith. Here's some information about us.

Site Map | Homepage | Email us

I went to Downhills 1956-62. After a career in engineering project management, I am embarking on a new career as a lecturer in Information Technology. I married Pearl Hadwick, who attended Downhills 1956-61 and have two grown up children, one married.

As there was not a web site for the school, I though I would start one, hoping help would come along. It soon did in the form of Roger.

Interests include Shooting, Fishing, Cycle Sport, Real Ale and convivial company. On the artistic front, I collect late 19th/early 20th century crested ware, specialising in examples from the City of London.

I hold the old school in great affection. It provided me with a great start in life and it is a pity it is no longer there. It would have been nice to be able to repay the debt, so to speak.

I started at the school in 1956, leaving in 1961. After taking A-levels elsewhere I started working in BBC Radio. Following a lengthy battle with cancer in the early 80s I decided the best career plan was the earliest possible retirement, a scheme I duly carried out a few years ago.

My main interests are oil painting and classical music (as a listener). I display some of my paintings on my web site (click here to visit it) and also show a selection of photographs of a village with which I have family connections. These photos show the village over a period of about a hundred years. I'm also working on archiving old family photographs in an attempt to bring some order to them and to preserve them for future generations.

Jim's idea of starting a DCS site gave a further opportunity to 'digitise' the past, and I now look after the Archive and Photos sections of this site.

Please note that the content of this site is split across our two servers. Jim's pages are at Virgin.net and Roger's at Beeb Net. The Site Map lists all the pages and indicates which are the latest additions to the site. All the 'email us' links will send messages to Jim. If you wish to contact Roger, you can do so via his own website.