House structure

Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, but that's still CH related.

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scrub
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Re: House structure

Post by scrub »

Avon wrote: Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:38 am
Bishbashbosh wrote: Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:06 am
marty wrote: Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:00 am

"Hemel" Hempstead?
I think it may have been. That definitely rings bells.
Yes, he was Housemaster of Th B
Yep, David Hempstead, he taught French(?). Was a nice guy IIRC, one of the few teachers that I was disappointed that they left at the time.

I was in ThB as well, then transferred to PeA. My year was the first one that could choose which senior house they went to. Well, choose is a strong word, suggest is more apt. I remember PeA was one house very few boys wanted to go to and it was rumoured that anyone who didn't put it down as the house they absolutely did not want to go to, got put there.
ThB 89-91, PeA 93-96
bakunin
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Re: House structure

Post by bakunin »

I was in the same year as scrub and marty, when the "choice" system was introduced. I believe Mr McDonald was one of the prime movers behind the change to this new system (1992?).

I found it to be very disruptive and upsetting, because my need for stability was very high as a child. I had only just found my place in my year group, made friends and gained confidence on my LE. Suddenly the social environment was shuffled around and I had to make new friends and face a new set of potential older boy bullies.
bakunin
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Re: House structure

Post by bakunin »

Although, come to think of it, Dobbie became housemaster of Mid A shortly after I would have moved there (it was my first choice). So maybe that was a blessing in disguise...
wagenman
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Re: House structure

Post by wagenman »

bakunin wrote: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:45 pm I was in the same year as scrub and marty, when the "choice" system was introduced. I believe Mr McDonald was one of the prime movers behind the change to this new system (1992?).
Interesting. I'm certain that when i first started at CH in the early 80's you could still choose your senior house. This was then changed when the school moved to junior house being the 'B' house and senior house the 'A' house. I wasn't previously aware it changed back again.
jakew
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Re: House structure

Post by jakew »

From previous comments made, I think I was a year or two ahead of BishBashBosh, also in Thornton B / A in the late 80s/early 90s. When I joined, the older boys in Th B, and all of them in Th A, had transferred from Barnes A, where they had been in the care of R Martin, previously mentioned in despatches.

I agree that "Hemel" was a pretty sympathetic character, I'm not surprised he didn't last long at CH.

During this period, there was entry at 10 or 11, but everyone went into the 2nd form, regardless of age. This meant that in the ordinary course of things, the 10yo entrants would finish A-levels at 17. The downside, of course, was the delayed entry into the Grecian's club, and the teasing and worse from one's peer group in the early years on account of being "underage".

At the end of the LE, you could choose between "going up" into Th A, or "staying down" in Th B to be a power-crazed monitor. I remember some really nasty UF monitors, and some more sympathetic ones. It had never occurred to me until this thread that the motive for this system might simply have been the need to split the UF year in half to maintain parity in the size of the houses.

Naturally, any self-respecting "rebel" chose to go up, as the true test of rebelliousness was the ability to maintain it in the face of opposition from noted onanist T. Alexander (q.v. the "housey rap") and his evil sidekick Rowley, also discussed recently on the forum.

For some, there was never really an option to "stay down", and indeed I'm sure I remember that for exceptionally bad behaviour, being "sent up early" - i.e. mid-LE - was also available, so that the big boys next door could "sort you out", under the watchful eye of their hand-jiving housemaster. I only remember one occurrence of this.

The other feature of this period was the disparity in the standard of accomodation between the houses. Th B had an open dormitory for 2nd and 3rd formers, but individual cubicles for the LE and UF.

Th A, by contrast, had open dormitories for everyone. Other houses, in particular the girls' ones, were thought to resemble the Ritz-Carlton by comparison. I also remember Lamb A being pretty plush.

The spartan nature of the facilities in Th A was often ascribed at the time to Mr Alexander's charming personality, but I suppose could equally have been due to parsimony on the part of the foundation.
Last edited by jakew on Wed Jul 18, 2018 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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CHAZ
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Re: House structure

Post by CHAZ »

In the 80s you could choose your Senior House in theory but you did not always get it!
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LongGone
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Re: House structure

Post by LongGone »

richardb wrote: Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:10 am This has probably been covered before but here we go.

Talking to JR on Friday, he is a throwback to the old prep days whereas I was a pupil of the 70s.

When I started boys usually joined at 11 and went through to 18. The first three years were spent at the junior end (11-14) and the rest of the time at the senior end.

Houseblocks were split into A and B. The junior end had three houseblocks - Barnes A and B, Maine A and B, and Leigh Hunt A and B.

The senior end houseblocks were Lamb, Coleridge, Middleton, Thornton and Peele.

Can someone tell me the current set up? Which houseblocks are for girls and which for boys? What are the age ranges?

It would help me to understand.
My memory from the 50s is that, with rare exceptions, we stayed in one house for our entire time and we’re not encouraged to interact with pupils from other houses. This led to a very parochial viewpoint and members of other houses were viewed with suspicion. I remember Barnes was seen as full of ruffians, Lamb as swots, Middleton as athletes etc. Do others from this period (including Hertford houses) have similar recollections?
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Foureyes
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Re: House structure

Post by Foureyes »

"... Lamb as swots..."
Well, they got that right!
:shock: David
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jhopgood
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Re: House structure

Post by jhopgood »

I have always claimed that I was the last senior boy to leave Barnes B for the outside world.
I left Barnes B in 1966 and there was one other leaver, Savins, who was junior to me and hence called first.
I spent all of my time in Barnes B, which converted to a Junior House after I left.
Over 1964 - 1966, there was a gentle migration to other houses so that for 1965 - 66 we were basically a junior house with senior monitors and a few others.
My housemasters were Cherniavsky for one year, CJ Miller up until about 1965, with Simms, Brotherton as Junior Housemasters, followed by Bwana Goodall and Johnson.
Because of the age split, for sports the juniors had their own teams, but at senior level, we had to join up with Barnes A and Maine A/B to complete a team. Despite that we still got to the finals of one of the rugby cups and did win the Relays Cup.
The house was still run on "traditional" lines, ie, by the monitors, with juniors going to bed at 8.30 and 9.15, followed by the rest of us somewhere around 10.30.
The dayroom was laid out in traditional style with the two studies, one for the House Captain, Colin Bright, and the other occupied by me, with two top tables across the dayroom, one down the centre and the bottom table across the dayroom.
From recollection, we had little difficulty with discipline, and apart from senior raid on Maine A, very little of note seemed to happen.
After I left, monitors moved on to Senior Houses, where I understand they only stayed a term to enter for Oxbridge and then move on.
To be honest, it all seemed quite a normal progression and seemed to work quite well.
Barnes B 25 (59 - 66)
Katharine
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Re: House structure

Post by Katharine »

LongGone wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:30 pm My memory from the 50s is that, with rare exceptions, we stayed in one house for our entire time and we’re not encouraged to interact with pupils from other houses. This led to a very parochial viewpoint and members of other houses were viewed with suspicion. I remember Barnes was seen as full of ruffians, Lamb as swots, Middleton as athletes etc. Do others from this period (including Hertford houses) have similar recollections?
At Hertford in my time it wasn't very easy to have friends from other houses, if you went to visit you had to have permission from both Housemistresses. Sisters were put in the same house, but I believe that changed soon after I left and even twins were separated. Most of the time I was there, there were two Junior Houses and six Senior ones. As I was one of the few who went straight to a Senior House, having failed the Almoners exam the first time I tried, I don't know whether the juniors made a choice or not. I believe I was in 6s because my aunt had asked that I should follow her.

The Junior houses, 1s&5s, became all through when I was in the VI form, I think. Then it was possible to ask to go into one of them. I don't remember anyone ever moving House at any other time. If there weren't two suitable people in the Upper VI to be Monitresses then somebody from the Lower VI become one, it only happened a couple of times that I remember. I believe it happened to Mary, Englishangel, who used to post here - she was the suitable younger girl if I remember rightly.

Yes different houses had different characters, 2s & 8s were the sporty ones, 6s prided itself in being different and having some customs nobody else had. The personality of the Housemistress was crucial in determining the personality of the House. Some lasted a long time, others didn't!
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
DazedandConfused
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Re: House structure

Post by DazedandConfused »

I believe LHA became a girls house in 1992, possibly 1993. Mid B became a senior boys house at the same time I think, with the existing Junior boys dispersed around the rest of the school.

The newer Grecians houses were after my time.

Reading about Hammer after so many years has bought back vivid memories of being a petrified 2nd former in his French classes with his dog snoring at the front of the classroom. He left that year I think. I knew the lyrics of the Housey Rap well (I believe I still have a cassette tape copy somewhere) but I hadn’t realised he was a literal w****r.
coliemore
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Re: House structure

Post by coliemore »

Houses were indeed unhealthily insular in the 1950's. Much influenced in "personality" by the Housemasters. Martin Barker was a great junior housemaster of Lamb B with whom I am still in touch by email (in his 90's). I'm astonished that Lamb B in the 1950's was characterized as "swots". Tom Archbold was a scientist so gave a bit of a science orientation perhaps. Van Praagh nurtured many scientists/engineers throughout CH including at one point several FRS's and a clutch of metallurgists one of whom has attained FRS. Lamb A seemed to me very much more scholarly/swottish - with Alan Ryan and Stuart Holland famous international academics nurtured by Cherniavsky. It could be interesting to develop this House characterization - now the evidence is in. Middleton A produced several Knights of the Realm and a Peer via, I think, the much respected Housemaster Arthur Rider. The main competition between Houses was. I think, how many House Sporting Cups were able to be placed in foreground of the annual House photograph..
Avon
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Re: House structure

Post by Avon »

I’ve always thought it strange that the houses were so different on terms of rules and standards - it seemed unfair. Increasingly as we learn that there was very little conscious design or governance at the school it’s less curious I guess.

I remember being in a state of envy that some houses were allowed duvets and had bedroom studies whilst others still had hospital corners and en masse dormitories were the norm in others. Now I realise that nobody really cared.
jakew
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Re: House structure

Post by jakew »

DazedandConfused wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:06 pm He left that year I think. I knew the lyrics of the Housey Rap well (I believe I still have a cassette tape copy somewhere) but I hadn’t realised he was a literal w****r.
Well, my only source for this is the Housey Rap, which I imagine is referring to his personality rather than his habits. On the bright side, I think it's safe to say he hated kids far too much to be a paedophile.
DazedandConfused
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Re: House structure

Post by DazedandConfused »

jakew wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:38 pm
DazedandConfused wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:06 pm He left that year I think. I knew the lyrics of the Housey Rap well (I believe I still have a cassette tape copy somewhere) but I hadn’t realised he was a literal w****r.
Well, my only source for this is the Housey Rap, which I imagine is referring to his personality rather than his habits. On the bright side, I think it's safe to say he hated kids far too much to be a paedophile.
I thought he just hated junior girls, it’s reassuring to know he hated all of us. Also, recent events are clearly making me too quick to jump to conclusions.
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