Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

In Col A facing camera, from head of table,
Gunton, Allen, McClean, Bailie, Blackeston, Whitehead, ?, ?, Waller, Dines, Fiddy, ?, ?, Edsall, ?whipp J, ?, McKie, Cockburn, rest not identified

Too early for me, David, though it is nice to see a well regimented meal being taken, over-seen by a housemaster.

(Sorry - I'm feeling old again !)

Can't quite see where I am sitting.... third table up from the far end.. Hmmm!
John

[quote="John Knight"]Can't quite see where I am sitting.... third table up from the far end.. Hmmm!
John[/qu

Sorry, I could not work out how to load a larger image.

If you double-click on it, it will re-open enlarged, AND give you the facility to zoom-in.

J.R. wrote:If you double-click on it, it will re-open enlarged, AND give you the facility to zoom-in.

Ah Yes, - Oh dear, it looks like I have got my bands in the kiff bowl again...

[Ah Yes, - Oh dear, it looks like I have got my bands in the kiff bowl again... [/quote]

In those days the junior forms did not have housie dress, it might have been your tie.

Interesting that Col B seem to be using mugs whilst Col A and Mid B seem to have slightly small Kiff bowls. Is that a sugar bowl in front of the Col B housemaster? if so, wow; our kiff came pre-sweetened.

I am also surprised at the wide gaps on the benches; nobody seems to be serving and, whilst I was in Col A we were squeezed in like wood in a vice.

I also see that the monitor next to the Col A house captain has his elbows on the table - that would not normally be permitted in front of Kit. Several boys in Mid A and Mid B are also resting on their elbows - hard work chewing through all that gristle!

I think that it was probably lunch, when we drank our water from china mugs.
Maybe Bucky had sugar for himself; I am not sure what he would have used it for.
Probably the gaps are due to those waiting to serve. It is just possible that some were due to members of the band.

Who's that at the head of the Mid A table? Looks like a woman, but can't be.

michael scuffil wrote:Who's that at the head of the Mid A table? Looks like a woman, but can't be.

Looking at the original I think it is a man, wearing trousers (and glasses).However, not wearing a suit, as all other housemasters are. Rider was Mid A housemaster at the time, I don't know who was his junior.

michael scuffil wrote:Who's that at the head of the Mid A table? Looks like a woman, but can't be.

Looking through some of my stuff I found the Blue books. In 1948 and 1949 Mid A had Miss Eller as junior house master! When I started in 1946 there were several women on the teaching staff. They were always addressed as "Sir".

Col B facing camera from R - Naylor (2nd monitor), Malim (Canadian), n.k., Chips Walker, n.k., then there is a gap and then ?Butler, Humfress still not in a bluecoat so in LE. LE went into bluecoats when I moved up into it in September 1948, this pic is from 1947-8. Taken at dinnertime as that was the only meal that housemasters sat with their houses.

sejintenej wrote:Interesting that Col B seem to be using mugs whilst Col A and Mid B seem to have slightly small Kiff bowls. Is that a sugar bowl in front of the Col B housemaster?

I think that's a salt-bowl in front of Bucky. Our salt came in bowls like that 10 years later. If you look, you can see the top of a pepper pot projecting from behind a mug a little to the left. I think these mugs were replaced by glasses in 1954 (just before I arrived). The glasses had a habit of exploding spectacularly if they were stacked too vigorously.