Hertford photos mid/late 60s to early 70s

[Alexandra Thrift]

Wonderful pics Caroline.

Thanks "Friend of Alex" for reposting the pics from the other general pic. thread where they had disappeared.

The Midsummer Revels CAUGHT ON CAMERA.I love that one!! Proof at last.We really did it ! SIXES FOREVER ! The pic is rather a good one ...slightly shadowy and mysterious. There is another thread where Midsummer Revels as practised only by Sixes (why sixes??) is discussed.
Looking at that particular pic it's all Oh so 1920s and 30s,when they believed in faeries , ectoplasm and the woodland folk. In fact much about Hertford had remained in that time warp/frame.

Re: The Ascension Day rounders pic. ; that is Rachel Salisbury (the Rev.s daughter from Berwick,wasn't she ?) ready to bat. I am near the front of the batting queue with my hair in strange little bunches (for some reason we all dressed up and made our hair funny for Ascension Day ?).

I hadn't seen that last pic., of the big Sixes crowd,before.I can see
Mary McDonagh (shy Mary had moments of total extroversion and got herself into every pic!) top,far left. Angela Marsh " Munch" (now Woodford...we giggled on the phone together the other night...hadn't spoken for years) with Catherine Ennis next to her.At the back Rachel Salisbury with a faint shadow of Ann Bonfanti and then Judith Staines (another Rev's daughter).I can see Pam Jones (blonde and wavy)behind Judith.In the front there is Susan Knight next to Siobhan Kierans,Francis Haywood,Diana Garnham. Then far right Elaine Appleby( now Hayward),next or near Roberta Ayles ( incredibly artistic...what happened to Roberta? ) and behind Elaine I think I can see Christine ( surname?...she was Danish).

Love the Dining Room pic. Janessa ( is that definitely Janessa?) and Mary; and Susan Knight wearing an exotic headress/ towel thing ( we girls did like to dress up! )....I think it was a weekend pic. as it's quite relaxed.

For anyone who is interested Catherine Ennis is giving a concert ( Organ) at The Royal Festival Hall,South Bank on the 27th November 2006 at 7pm.I haven't got the link but try Catherine's website or google RFH to find out more.

Best wishes to all.

[englishangel]

I think that hats were abandoned at the end of our Lower Vth, Fourth form, year 10, 15 year-old year.
If anyone wants to correct me I am happy to be corrected.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Wonderful pics Caroline.

Re: The Ascension Day rounders pic. ; that is Rachel Salisbury (the Rev.s daughter from Berwick,wasn't she ?) ready to bat. I am near the front of the batting queue with my hair in strange little bunches (for some reason we all dressed up and made our hair funny for Ascension Day ?).

I had forgotten Rachel's surname, and then forgot to list her at all .

Love the Dining Room pic. Janessa ( is that definitely Janessa?) and Mary; and Susan Knight wearing an exotic headress/ towel thing ( we girls did like to dress up! )....I think it was a weekend pic. as it's quite relaxed.


I had second thoughts about it being Janessa, but I couldn't think who else it might be. Can anyone help with this one?


For anyone who is interested Catherine Ennis is giving a concert ( Organ) at The Royal Festival Hall,South Bank on the 27th November 2006 at 7pm.I haven't got the link but try Catherine's website or google RFH to find out more.

No chance of me making the concert, unfortunately, but the last time I saw Cathy was at the RFH - probably not long after I picked you up from a bus stop somewhere in South London . I was working there at the time (with Jean and Siobhan), so wearing a shapeless green outfit, possibly adorned with cream and bits of cheesecake. Bumped into Cathy on the main staircase - she was looking as beautiful as ever, and was accompanied by a very acceptable piece of eye candy: suave and mature piece of eye candy, and I was sufficiently young and inexperienced to be blown away by her style and maturity. Actually, I probably would be if it happened again tomorrow:rolleyes:

[UserRequestedRemoval]

EA are you actually in any of the photos in this thread? And the group photo with just the single teacher, is that school monitoresses (how were the prefects described at Hertford?

Just how many uniforms did you girls have in the 60s/70s?

Is it me or does that photo with the rounders bats look almost like St Trinians. All that is missing is George Cole!

[icomefromalanddownunder]

EA are you actually in any of the photos in this thread? And the group photo with just the single teacher, is that school monitoresses (how were the prefects described at Hertford?

I'll leave Mary to answer that one, except to say that she isn't in any of mine as, although contemporaries, she was in 2s and my photos are exclusively of 6s.

Just how many uniforms did you girls have in the 60s/70s?

OK, for starters: winter everyday wear, winter Sunday wear, summer everyday wear and Sunday summer wear, sports gear.......... I give up

In the 'girls with daisies' photos Alex, Pam, Mary Mc and Bun are modelling, I think, summer sunday dress c1966. Grey woollen coat frock with short sleeved blouse (blue and white striped??). Oh, and Ashbourne hats (sports wear) - should have been Panamas, unless they had already been abandoned.


Sports gear in the St Trinian's photo, including trendy sexy Ashbourne hats (Ashbourne being out off-campus sports ground).

Shame I had on off-centre view finder on my camera of the time, as I believe that the photo on the fire escape should have included all items of uniform then on offer. As it is, I managed to capture Siobhan in sexy blues and aertex shirt, Mary in the then summer Sunday wear, someone in the previously discussed flannalette nightie, and someone else in pj's (which I had forgotten about).

The group shot on the lawn shows summer dresses with/without woollen jumper (modelled by Susan) and pinies modelled by many, including Munch (second from left, second row back).

In the Day Room shot Mary Mc (back to camera) is wearing her BA (Black Apron). Juniors wore the blue pinnies and BAs were awarded on merit in the UV, then green aprons in the UVI. I think that we made our own aprons in needlework, but that may be the stuff of one of my many nightmares . I finally got my BA late in the year (and was leaving at the end of that year), and had it removed the same day. Can't remember what I did wrong - probably mouthed off at Pot (Housemistress). Can't remember quite what privileges or responsibilities went with the aprons, but think that a BA meant that you could go into town in small groups, rather than in a crocodile with the rest of the class/house. Can anyone elaborate on this?

Is it me or does that photo with the rounders bats look almost like St Trinians. All that is missing is George Cole!

And Matron Or was she in The Carry On films?

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Hmmmm

Not sure what I'm up to, but my message has got tangled into soc's.

[UserRequestedRemoval]

Thank you very much for all of that Caroline. Weren't those woolen garments hellishly hot?

The uniform sure did it's level best to hide the fact that you were blossoming young women!

It does look as if you enjoyed your time at CH, I hope so.

[englishangel]

I think Caroline has told the truth but perhaps not all of it.

At some stage in needlework we had to make a blue pinny, worn for meals, cleaning etc. then in Lower Vth (year 10) we made a black apron, I don't think we made green aprons.

At some time, and I thought it was before Caroline left we changed grey woollen frock coats to blue linen shift dresses on Sundays. No warmer than Housie I should think. This is what we are wearing in the pic with the single mistress. The dreaded DR.

I am front left sitting, in the photo with DR, and we were the Monitresses (green aprons) Usually Upper Sixth and three to a house. 2's had 2 and 7's had 6. 4's only had one Upper Sixth so 2 of their Lower Sixth were made Mons.

There was also a Head Girl, Carolyn (at DRs right hand), a Deputy Head girl, Penny (to her left) and four prefects, the remainder of the front row except me.

Our summer dresses were just like you see little girls wearing to primary school nowadays, striped gingham, could be lots of different coloiurs though which was quite nice. We also had navy blazers with gold cord piping and the crest on the breast pocket in the summer. In the wineter we wore nave school macs.

Incidentally the last time I saw Caroline was when her sister had a baby and I was the sister on the post-natal ward, it must about 25 years ago now.

[UserRequestedRemoval]

Wow thanks for all of that Mary. Was the dreaded Dr really that bad? I have to be honest, she does look pretty formidible

[Katharine]

Wow thanks for all of that Mary. Was the dreaded Dr really that bad? I have to be honest, she does look pretty formidible

If you trawl through all the Hertford threads you will find reference after reference to DR (Dorothy Ruth West). She was formidable in many ways, but also had a heart of gold that I think she found hard to show.

When I was 18, after A levels staying on for Oxbridge entrance, I went to Ireland in term time to go to a cousin's wedding. As I needed to catch the sleeper from Paddington and was a country bumpkin (not quite her words!) she drove me to Paddington. She did say that as all the other third year Sixth lived in London, she would not have done it for any of them.

As to uniform it changed a lot during the 60s & 70s having been pretty fixed for most of the first half of the century.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Hmmmm

Not sure what I'm up to, but my message has got tangled into soc's.

Fixed it, I think.

Thank you Simon

I realised what I had done wrong while watching Dr Who.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

I think Caroline has told the truth but perhaps not all of it.



At some time, and I thought it was before Caroline left we changed grey woollen frock coats to blue linen shift dresses on Sundays.

Incidentally the last time I saw Caroline was when her sister had a baby and I was the sister on the post-natal ward, it must about 25 years ago now.

Er. yes, well, ahem Your Honour. It's more a case of what I do and don't remember than me telling porky pies, or deliberately omitting information.

We did change to the shift dresses for Sunday before I left, as evidenced by what Mary Mc is wearing in one of the photos.

As for failing memory - were you really working in the hospital where my niece or nephew were born, or were you referring to Carolyn? Either way, you didn't see me, as I had already left England, and didn't meet Michelle (niece) until she was about 18 months old, and Paul (nephew, born two or so years later) until he was almost 5.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

It does look as if you enjoyed your time at CH, I hope so.

Hi soc

Thank you for that kind thought. I hated the place, for many reasons, but I had won a scholarship, and my parents were so proud ............. When I finally summoned up the courage to ask if I could leave, my parents immediately agreed, and I realised that, although they knew how unhappy I was, they were waiting for me to broach the subject of leaving.

Pam Jones and I exchanged photos a couple of years ago - she has some almost identical ones to those I have, except that I am in hers and she is in mine . When I first looked at the ones Pam sent me, my biggest surprise was to see that I am actually smiling in some of them. Prior to communicating with people via Friends Reunited and this forum, my memories of CH brought on only negative emotions, and reminded me of how unhappy I was, totally lacking self-esteem and desperately wanting to be accepted, all the time thinking that I was the only one of us who felt this way.

I left CH at the end of the UV, completed my schooling at a day school near home, where the academic standard was no better or worse than at CH, and where I was once again encouraged to participate in music, art and sport, despite the fact that I wasn't very good at any of it, and I even managed to produce homemade garments without incorporating blood, sweat and tears (literally) into the fabric. I forgive the staff for the way we were treated by some of them - if they behaved that way because they believed that it was how they would encourage us to reach our potential, then they were misguided. If they did it because they enjoyed being bullies, then they are poor, sad individuals.

Blimey, I need a coffee and a Tim Tam after that little episode of catharsis. Hope you don't regret making your statement, soc .

[UserRequestedRemoval]

Not at all, Caroline.

One of the great things about this forum is that we share our memories and get a more balanced view of the school. I have always wondered about Hertford. The memories of Hertford seem to tell me that the place was almost draconian in its ways. I had bad times as well as the good but I wouldn't have swapped them for anything.

I bow to your courage to talk to your parents, I saw a couple of boys endure the school rather than talk to their parents.

[UserRequestedRemoval]

And Caroline you had to say Tam Tams didn't you. We have a friend from Sydney and she sent us a load of TTs. The family went crazy over them