Images (click to enlarge) and information supplied by Igor Andronov.

'A level' Chemistry students did need to do quite a bit of practical work, most of it was Quantitative and Qualitative analysis.
However, some of us found or made time to do some 'Organic Preps' which were much more fun.

Here are some samples of things made and yes, one of them is Ethyl Alcohol...
I had a large flask fermenting on the window ledge over the radiator for a few days prior to distilling and then drying with sodium.
Completely illegal to distil, but a blind eye was turned by the then Head of Science, Mr Duffield.
The lab was running short of Ethanol and this was a cheap way of getting some.

The 'phials' in more detail...