School Needlework

Share your memories and stories from the Hertford Christ's Hospital School, which closed in 1985, when the two schools integrated to the Horsham site....

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
Katharine
Button Grecian
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:44 pm
Real Name: Katharine Dobson
Location: Gwynedd

Re: Why?

Post by Katharine »

loringa wrote:Incidentally, as a bloke who can barely operate a sewing machine, I find this topic absolutely fascinating. It amazes me not only that a teacher should be so feared but that you felt obliged to stay up all night to finish something so unimportant compared with the rest of your education. You all have my deepest sympathy but please keep the stories coming!
I read this message during my lunch break and have been pondering it during the afternoon. I can't honestly say why we all felt that we had to get the piece completed each term. Was it a sense of not letting each other down? Obviously when we were juniors it was fear of the seniors in the house (who actually went to great lengths to ensure that everyone did finish in time). When we were seniors was it the same, not letting the house down?

Why did I finish that polo neck and not do any revision for my Cambridge entrance exam? All I know, and I am sure the other Hertford survivors will understand, at the time it seemed the natural thing to do. (BTW Oxford was my first choice anyway :lol: :lol: )
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
sejintenej
Button Grecian
Posts: 4092
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:19 pm
Real Name: David Brown ColA '52-'61
Location: Essex

Post by sejintenej »

englishangel wrote::mutley:

Sitting at work sniggering at that exchange.

Lovely word 'snigger' don't you think?
JR: the first vowel is "I", not what you are thinking. (I can hear the wheels grinding from here)


:twisted: :evil: :twisted: :evil: :twisted: :evil:
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
User avatar
kayinbaja
3rd Former
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 10:47 pm
Real Name: kay scorah
Location: mexico/ireland

Miss R******s

Post by kayinbaja »

Jo wrote:I suffered doubly because she was the wardrobe mistress as well, and being somewhat larger than standard size I always copped a good ticking off for causing extra work and special orders for my uniform.
Jo, If it's any consolation, being small was also cause for complaint. "Well, if you can't put on any weight, your blues will just have to live around your ankles!"

Which may explain why I wasn't too good at hurdling. Well, you just try it with your knickers round your ankles.
midget
Button Grecian
Posts: 3186
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:49 pm
Real Name: Margaret O`Riordan
Location: Barnstaple Devon

Re: Why?

Post by midget »

Katharine wrote:
loringa wrote:Incidentally, as a bloke who can barely operate a sewing machine, I find this topic absolutely fascinating. It amazes me not only that a teacher should be so feared but that you felt obliged to stay up all night to finish something so unimportant compared with the rest of your education. You all have my deepest sympathy but please keep the stories coming!
I read this message during my lunch break and have been pondering it during the afternoon. I can't honestly say why we all felt that we had to get the piece completed each term. Was it a sense of not letting each other down? Obviously when we were juniors it was fear of the seniors in the house (who actually went to great lengths to ensure that everyone did finish in time). When we were seniors was it the same, not letting the house down?

Why did I finish that polo neck and not do any revision for my Cambridge entrance exam? All I know, and I am sure the other Hertford survivors will understand, at the time it seemed the natural thing to do. (BTW Oxford was my first choice anyway :lol: :lol: )
I think you are right- the need to finish (properly) one's needlework was deeply embedded in the Herford psyche. WHAT ONEARTH AM I TALKING ABOUT?
I don't thinf we would have got away with it in 3s if we had been stitching in the loos for half the night, but there was certainly a sense of shame if anyone was read out at mark reading as below standard.


Maggie
Thou shalt not sit with statisticians nor commit a social science.
Katharine
Button Grecian
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:44 pm
Real Name: Katharine Dobson
Location: Gwynedd

Post by Katharine »

Did school needlework last to the end of Hertford? (calling cj!!!) I wonder when it started? Maggie's posting shows it wasn't just in the days of you know who that it was in our psyche.
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
Vonny
Button Grecian
Posts: 1625
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:33 pm
Real Name: Yvonne Payne

Post by Vonny »

Katharine wrote:Did school needlework last to the end of Hertford?
Yes it did. Luckily I only had one year of it in my first year as a senior. We had to do 2 a year. My first offering was a blouse I had made in needlework (with Mrs Newbold) a couple of years before :oops: And I got commended for it in assembly :shock:
The second was a skirt someone else had made :oops:
2's 1981-1985 2:12 BaB 1985-1988 BaB 41
Katharine
Button Grecian
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:44 pm
Real Name: Katharine Dobson
Location: Gwynedd

Post by Katharine »

Vonny wrote:
Katharine wrote:Did school needlework last to the end of Hertford?
Yes it did. Luckily I only had one year of it in my first year as a senior. We had to do 2 a year. My first offering was a blouse I had made in needlework (with Mrs Newbold) a couple of years before :oops: And I got commended for it in assembly :shock:
The second was a skirt someone else had made :oops:
Sorry Vonny, I knew there was another regular poster who made the move, as well as cj but forgot it was you. :oops: :oops:

I can't imagine anyone in my time handing in work that they hadn't made themselves in the relevant term. We all 'knew' the regulations - you could cut it out at home but no more than that before term started. AFAIR this knowledge was passed on in house - perhaps other houses allowed other things?
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
User avatar
icomefromalanddownunder
Button Grecian
Posts: 1228
Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:13 am
Real Name: Caroline Payne (nee Barrett)
Location: Adelaide, South Australia

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

Katharine wrote: I can't imagine anyone in my time handing in work that they hadn't made themselves in the relevant term. We all 'knew' the regulations - you could cut it out at home but no more than that before term started. AFAIR this knowledge was passed on in house - perhaps other houses allowed other things?
I can't imagine even attempting to smuggle something made by another past SWSNBN - the thought of her reaction is causing me to hyperventilate even now.

Why was I so fearful of her? Maybe she was the first bully I had encountered, so had still to develop my defenses? Can anyone remember precisely how she controlled us, other than by her demeanour and disparaging turns of phrase?

Off for a lie down :roll:
Angela Woodford
Button Grecian
Posts: 2880
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:55 am
Real Name: Angela Marsh
Location: Exiled Londoner, now in Staffordshire.

Re: Why?

Post by Angela Woodford »

loringa wrote:Incidentally, as a bloke who can barely operate a sewing machine, I find this topic absolutely fascinating. It amazes me not only that a teacher should be so feared but that you felt obliged to stay up all night to finish something so unimportant compared with the rest of your education. You all have my deepest sympathy but please keep the stories coming!
I've been thinking about this.

Firstly there was the deeply ingrained knowledge that if you got a "Below Standard" it would wipe out the "Commendation" of someone else in your House. Letting the House down!

Then, there was the sheer fear of being berated by SWSNBN if you were behind or incompetent. On finishing the work, you felt an incredible elation and lifting of worry and anxiety when the little cross-stitched label was sewn on and it hung in the Wardrobe Room - completed! and hopefully was admired by others. Perhaps somebody else had given you a hand - bit of a bonding experience. Perhaps you could encourage a sobbing junior, who was "behind".

And (this is a bit my own feelings) when you were making a garment, maybe something that was up-to-date, it was a little bit of you in that enclosed world of everybody-dressed-the-same. Never even a lick of a prettifying touch of makeup! It was an opportunity of expressing your own sense of colour and style. Or your care and thoughts of mother, brother or whoever the garment was destined for.

Maybe a chance to demonstrate your skills, and create an immaculate garment, thwarting SWSNBN of a chance to quiver with fury at you! (She seemed to control by exuding an aura of sheer malignancy.) Yah - boo - foiled again!

Munch
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
User avatar
kayinbaja
3rd Former
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 10:47 pm
Real Name: kay scorah
Location: mexico/ireland

Post by kayinbaja »

Why was I so fearful of her? Maybe she was the first bully I had encountered, so had still to develop my defenses? Can anyone remember precisely how she controlled us, other than by her demeanour and disparaging turns of phrase?

Off for a lie down :roll:[/quote]

This seems to me to be a VERY interesting question. Precisely how she struck fear into our hearts is hard to recall at this distance. With my clients, I always encourage them to try to go beyond what they think and feel and identify what actually HAPPENED to provoke that response in them, and honestly that is very difficult in this case. I can remember her telling Dickensian horror stories of badly behaved girls in the past who had to sew and wear headbands bearing the initial of their misdemeanor, ("S" for SLUT being the only one I can remember!). I felt, as she told those stories, that she wished she could do the same to us. Her class felt like being in a scene from the Crucible. And then, not so much what she did, but what she didn't do; she never smiled, she never praised, and like all the other teachers, she never touched us. For me she crystallised in one person the misery of being away from home; away from my jokey dad and my cuddly mum, the constant chatter and music, and the coming and going of neighbours and family... Not sure I want to go for a lie down, must go and demand hug from husband and invite neighbours in for drinks.
User avatar
icomefromalanddownunder
Button Grecian
Posts: 1228
Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:13 am
Real Name: Caroline Payne (nee Barrett)
Location: Adelaide, South Australia

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

Hi Kay

I think that you are absolutely correct. I was thinking about my question at about 2am and decided that I sensed her inner nastiness/misery.

I'm sure that Queenie was more vocal in her low opinion of me, but in her I sensed inner fun and caring (I know that not everyone will agree with me on this). With DR I sensed no deliberate nastiness, but a lack of understanding of teenage girls and the outside world of the 60s.

Has anyone ever checked to see whether JK is an Old Blue? SWSNBN certainly sucked all happiness and hope out of me.

xx
User avatar
englishangel
Forum Moderator
Posts: 6956
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:22 pm
Real Name: Mary Faulkner (Vincett)
Location: Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Post by englishangel »

What a thought, I think she is Scottish isn't she?

I agree with Munch's assessment of clothes we made for ourselves. I made a pinafore dress in bright orange double wale corduroy with gold buttone whaich was probably as short as anything girls wear today, and I made a beige pleated skirt (also very short) and waistcoat suit, lined with bright pink.
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Ajarn Philip
Button Grecian
Posts: 1902
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:30 pm
Real Name: AP

Post by Ajarn Philip »

englishangel wrote: I made a pinafore dress in bright orange double wale corduroy with gold buttone whaich was probably as short as anything girls wear today, and I made a beige pleated skirt (also very short) and waistcoat suit, lined with bright pink.
I've been thinking a lot about this posting, and I've reached the conclusion that photographic evidence is definitely required.
User avatar
englishangel
Forum Moderator
Posts: 6956
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:22 pm
Real Name: Mary Faulkner (Vincett)
Location: Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Post by englishangel »

I have a photo of the former, unfortunately in black and white, and I still have the pattern for the latter, but no photographiv evidence I'm afraid, though I propbably still have a pice of the fabric somewhere (sfter 35 years I hear you cry?)
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Ajarn Philip
Button Grecian
Posts: 1902
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:30 pm
Real Name: AP

Post by Ajarn Philip »

A pattern of the latter is probably, to be perfectly honest, not a great deal of use to me. A posting of the photo of the former, even b&w, might just earn you my eternal gratitude. (Well, "eternal" might be stretching it a bit, but I'm sure you know what I mean. After all, I never got to see those now infamous Bums on the Bridge. Have some sympathy.)

The piece of fabric will only be of interest to sniffer dogs, should you ever become a wanted criminal. God forbid.
Post Reply